Have you ever tried to lose weight by simply deciding you are going to stop being a junk food junkie? You finish off the last 4 Oreos in the bag and then spend the next three or four days eating nothing but yogurt, chicken and bland salads. Then what happens? You find yourself opening up a new bag of Oreos because you feel that life is not worth living if you can not be happy about what you eat.

Do not worry. This happens to most junk food junkies because they think they can only lose weight with will power and an abrupt change in their diet. Although this looks great on paper, it does not work for the majority of people because the approach is what we call cold turkey. Change needs to happen gradually in order for it to work long term.

First face the facts. You are a junk food junkie. You have been eating junk food for a long time and it is extremely difficult for you to eat a carrot instead of those tasty McDonald french fries. It has taken you years upon years to get out of shape and become sedentary. If it happened overnight, you would have noticed it. No one can break a long-time habit easily.

In order for anyone to lose weight and keep it off for good, a person must lead a healthy lifestyle. Knowing this is important because it is the ultimate goal for anyone wanting to lose weight. Leading a healthy lifestyle includes exercise, proper nutrition and a sense of well-being for the areas in your life that give you joy. All on a daily basis.

Your first thought is probably that it takes too much work to to kick the junk food junkie habit and lead a healthy lifestyle. Exercise every day? Who has the time and energy for that?! And proper nutrition will just take you back to those bland salads again, right? Wrong! People who lead a healthy lifestyle eat McDonald’s french fries and Oreos. They just do not eat them all the time.

As far as exercise is concerned, all a person needs to keep themselves fit and active is 30 minutes. Walking, running, bike riding, dancing, roller skating, skiing…it does not matter. If you can not set aside a half hour each day to ensure the health of the only body you have to take care of in your life, you need to make more changes than just weight loss!

What does all of this have to do with how you can quit being a junk food junkie? A lot! Now that you know leading a healthy lifestyle is the ultimate goal, you can set up a road map to get there. Everyone wants to be there overnight, but setting a realistic time frame to achieve your goals is a more effective and productive approach.

Your parents probably told you to eat your vegetables when you were a child. Somewhere along the way you decided to eat for yourself and junk food replaced what you have always known was a healthier choice. The shock value of going back to those vegetables without continuing to eat your junk food will not feel right to you. I say keep eating your junk food.

What? Keep eating junk food? Yep, that is my advice. But here is the catch. Instead of eating junk food every time you sit down to a meal or a snack, choose one meal a day that you will change to better food choices. I told you this would be gradual. If you usually eat Cheez-its every day at 3pm for a snack, eat a bowl of granola cereal instead.

After making this small daily change for a few weeks, discipline yourself to take it to the next level. Now that you are OK with eating good once a day, go for two! This could be two snacks, two meals or a snack and a meal. I would go for a meal this time because it will accelerate your weight loss more than changing your snack habits every day.

So after a month of this, you are not really eating junk food all the time are you? You have probably lost some weight but you still get to eat pizza every Friday night. Hmmm…interesting how this works. Now that you are well on your way to eating properly without giving up the foods you love, it is time to think about exercise.

We have already established that you do not have 30 minutes a day to sweat on the treadmill. OK, how about 5 minutes? Everyone has 5 minutes to walk around the block. Spend 5 minutes a day doing this for a week. Once you start feeling better, which you will, you will want to do it more often. I can almost guarantee you will find 10 minutes in your busy schedule.

Keep going at this speed. Increase your exercise time each week by 5 minutes. After a month and a half you will be up to 30 minutes and that is it! Whether you want to continue improving your health is your own choice, but for the most part, people only need 30 minutes of sustained exercise a day to maintain a healthy weight.

Even if you are reading this and you know you can eat better than one meal a day, or exercise longer than 30 minutes, do not do it. You will just burn out like all the other times you have tried to lose weight. Keep it gradual and eventually you will get to the point where you are actually exercising and eating healthy most of the time without thinking twice about it.

This approach worked for me 15 years ago and I have maintained a weight loss of 70 pounds ever since. I had severe asthma and could not exercise at first, but as my body became healthy, I suddenly found myself off medications and outside on a bicycle every day. Words cannot describe how happy I am to be able to do this now and breath properly now.

For things to change, you have got to change. Just remember kicking the junk food junkie habit does not have to be overnight. In fact, the more gradual it is, the more effective it will be in the long run.

In order to lose weight and keep it off for good, a healthy way of eating foods is required. The more you add nutrient-dense foods into your daily diet, the more success you will have with leading a healthy lifestyle. Eating junk food all the time is what made you become fat. When you return to eating traditional and natural foods, you restore your health. When the body is healthy, it can perform its own miracles.

Most people think that the way to eat better for weight loss is through bland salads and products that say Fat Free on their labels. Nothing could be further from the truth, and that is why so many people struggle with their weight. All you really need to know is that the more colorful your plate looks, the healthier it is for you to consume.

Healthy foods can be classified by their color energy, which organizes their nutritional effects, taste, and actions of their properties and common healing qualities. The following list is of food categorized by color and the reasons why each group helps a person to lose weight in a healthy way.

Colorful Healthy Foods #1. Red Foods = Protein

Red foods such as strawberries, raspberries, cherries, tomatoes, watermelon are a great source of protein. Protein is essential for weight loss because it builds muscle, and the more muscle you have the more calories you burn. What happens when you try to lose weight without eating protein? You get a sickly look like you are not getting enough nutrition. Red foods are also provide lots of vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin C and beta-carotene.

Colorful Healthy Foods #2. Orange Foods = Detoxification

Eating lots of apricots, peaches, oranges, mango, sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkins, squash, orange/yellow peppers will help detoxify the body and help you maintain good vision, bone and tooth development. This is because they help rid your body of toxins. Orange foods also make the skin healthy so when you lose weight in a healthy way, you will not wind up with a sagging look.

Colorful Healthy Foods #3. Yellow Foods = Power

When you lack energy in your diet, it can lead to poor memory, lack of concentration, tension, irritability, digestive problems and a lack of proper nutrient absorption. Add yellow foods into your diet, such as lemons, bananas, grapefruits, rice, corn, and eggs. Energy from these foods is essential for weight loss because a busy person burns calories a lot faster than someone too sedentary to get off the couch and move around.

Colorful Healthy Foods #4. Green Foods= Well Being

Green foods such as asparagus, spinach, broccoli, romaine lettuce, zucchini, green peppers, green apples, pears, avocados, green grapes, kiwi and limes, contain the most powerful combination of nutrients in any grain, herb or food source. Not only do they maintain your energy all day long, but they will also create a sense of well-being. This means you will experience an optimum balance for total health, so you will not feel hunger cravings as much.

Colorful Healthy Foods #5. Blue And Purple Foods = Improved Circulation

These foods are considered high in anti-cancer properties, and are helpful for the voice, and the organs and glands of the neck. These foods also contain nutrients that help improve circulation after eating, so they work best when added to any meal that is high in fat which causes the body to become sluggish because blood flow slows. Blueberries, plums, grapes are all great examples.

Colorful Healthy Foods #6. No Color Food = Meal Replacement

Whenever you are in doubt, help yourself to a soy-based protein shake. This is how I lost 70 pounds in 4 months and have kept if off for over 15 years. Sometimes you need a break from traditional food, specifically to get the kind of nutrition that can only come from soy. Adding colorful fruits into a shake will help accelerate weight loss and good health even more. Want an added special bonus tip? Drinking one cup of green tea burns off almost 100 calories and speeds up metabolism at the same time!

Colorful Healthy Foods #7. Beige and Tan Foods = Danger

Last but certainly not least is the food color group you want to stay away from whenever possible. If you look at your plate and see nothing but browns, tans and beiges, chances are good that you are not getting the best nutrition possible and it will slow down your weight loss. Stay away from cookies, cakes, burgers, hot dogs, pies, donuts…you know, all the stuff that made you fat. Eating these foods in moderation is OK, but more often than not you should be replacing them with colorful foods.

Eating has different purposes but the bottom line is that the more colorful ealthy Foods are in your diet, the better chance you will have at keeping yourself healthy and at an ideal weight. Living a healthy lifestyle and developing the mindset that goes along with it are the components of weight loss that most people never grasp. Instead of struggling with diet fads and magic pills, pay more attention to the colors on your plate and you will find yourself well on your way to weight loss success.