Okay, so let's assume you've made the wise choice of keeping your hard earned money in your purse and you're going to begin your healthy and attractive lifestyle the traditional way. First of all, eating should be viewed as one of life's necessities in order to live. This may not be unconventional and exciting, but experts agree that it will provide you with the best long term results.

Now, you're going to need to develop an exercise regimen, but that's an article for another day. What we want to focus on here is what you should eat. A balanced diet is the key to optimal, healthy and attractive living. It will also help you fight cravings and the urge to cheat by making sure you're never hungry.

One of the main ingredients to losing weight and being attractive is to lower your daily caloric intake. The general rule of thumb is that in order to lose one pound a week you need to lower your caloric intake by 500 calories, i.e. if you normally eat 2,000 calories a day you need to start eating only 1,500 per day.

You can do this by taking the following steps:

Suggestion for What to Eat When Dieting #1 Follow these guidelines

Eat foods that are low in calories

Eat less high fat foods

Eat smaller portions

Avoid second helpings

In order to do this, you're going to have to learn how to read the packaging on foods. All come with a label that lists the caloric, fat, carbohydrate, protein, and nutrient content. It may take time to better understand what exactly the label means. To help you get started, you should consider focusing on the following foods.

Suggestion for What to Eat When Dieting #2 Eat more vegetables and fruits

Make sure they are fresh and not canned. Canned often comes with fattening preservatives that defeat the whole purpose of weight loss.

Suggestion for What to Eat When Dieting #3 Eat pasta, rice, breads, and cereals

Make sure you buy the kinds that have little or no sugars or fats added, i.e. avoid buying white bread, which is chocked full of sugar, and buy wheat. In fact, whole grain is the best way to go with all four of these food types.

Suggestion for What to Eat When Dieting #4 Eat some fatty foods

Not much, though. Fat is not completely unhealthy for you. You do need it in order to get energy and help absorb some nutrients. However, too much of a good thing can completely throw off your healthy and attractive lifestyle. Eating too much high fat foods can lead to high cholesterol and heart disease in the long run. No more than 15% of your diet should consist of fatty foods.

Suggestion for What to Eat When Dieting #5 Avoid sugar and salt

A little is okay, but just as is the case with fatty foods, too much of a good thing can lead your healthy lifestyle astray. You only need about one teaspoon of salt per day. As far as sugar goes, you should try avoiding it as much as possible. You may want to consider using sugar substitutes, such as Equal or Splenda instead. You should avoid alcohol as well. There is enough sugar and carbohydrates in a six pack of beer to equal an entire loaf of bread. If you insist on drinking, then stick to light or low carb beer.

These guidelines will help you get started. Remember, there are hundreds of ways to mix and match food to help keep it interesting. If you start doing this from the beginning, then you can better avoid those unhealthy late night cravings. By changing your eating habits, you can better ensure that once you begin living a healthy and attractive lifestyle, you will continue to do so for good.