Most of us grew up with the food pyramid that had grains at the base of what we should be eating. Then about 10 years ago, researchers announced that was out of date. Because there is a natural lag time between research and translation into public materials, we are just now seeing an updated food pyramid filter into the system.

The updated food pyramid has fruits and vegetables at the base of what we should be eating, and grains have moved up to take the previous place of fruits and vegetables. If you read the fine print, it says the grains you should be consuming are whole grains rather than the highly-processed products many of us depend on.

The food pyramid was designed to visualize the structure of a healthy diet for maintaining a healthy weight. But if you are looking to lose weight, your diet is going to be different. When I work with clients to get them down to a healthy weight, I help them create a fat-burning state. This is not the kind of diet you want to be on for the rest of your life. It is merely a temporary intervention to help get clients to a healthy weight before transitioning to a healthy maintenance diet. It is this second transition that is the most challenging because people tend to want to revert back to the old habits that got them to the unhealthy weight to begin with. Your goal should always be to develop healthy habits that become part of your lifestyle.

How do you maintain a healthy lifestyle?