Everyone is always looking for the easiest way to ensure their diet is meeting their needs as almost no one wants to fuss with having to track ever morsel of food that enters their mouth, nor do most people want to abide by a rigid food guide that will only allow them a single specified food at certain times throughout the day.

You don't necessarily have to follow a place like this though in order to lose weight and become healthier. By following some simple guidelines you can be sure that you are doing good things for your body, both as far as your looks are concerned as well as your overall health.

Try and implement the following tips into your day.

1. Snack more frequently. Rather than letting yourself become overly famished trying to only eat 2 or 3 larger meals a day, break this up into 6 or 7 mini-meals. You've probably heard that this will help to boost your metabolism slightly due to the process of digestion but more importantly it will prevent overeating at your next meal.

2. Focus on vegetables over starches. If you try and get most of your carbohydrates from vegetable sources or potatoes rather than the more processed foods such as breads, cereals, pastas and crackers, you will automatically eat a lower calorie diet. Not to mention the vegetables will provide your body with a far greater number of nutrients helping keep you in optimum health.

3. Make sure you are getting enough omega-3 fatty acids. If there is one important thing you need to ensure about your diet it is that you are getting enough omega-3 fatty acids. These have so many positive health benefits and to skimp on them will definitely place you at a higher risk for disease. It is important to take notice of this as well as most people naturally do not get enough of them in their diets - unless you are one of the few individuals who does consume a great deal of fatty fish on a regular basis. This issue can be easily solved by buying some fish oil capsules at your local vitamin store and taking up to 6 a day. It is an easy and effective way to meet your needs.

4. Never let yourself get thirsty. If you are starting to feel thirst, chances are you could already be dehydrated. So many people mistake thirst for hunger and start turning to food when all they need is a simple glass of water. Staying properly hydrated will not only tide over your hunger but it will also give you energy and remove toxins from the body. Try and aim for at least 8 glasses a day, more if you are active or live in a very hot and humid climate.

5. Pay attention to the scale but don't obsess. There are usually two groups of people. Those who are slaves to the scale, weighing themselves like clockwork on a daily basis and those who write the scale off altogether as an evil demon that is not needed in their life. Both cases are not exactly ideal. The person who is weighing themselves daily is likely a little too caught up in that number and will experience wide fluctuations in mood based on what that number tells them. You must remember that your weight can go up or down by close to 5 pounds depending on what you ate the day before and for women, what time of the month it is. Getting all upset over a three pound weight gain in one day is going to do nothing for your self-confidence and is not going to be a 'true weight gain' anyway. On the flip side, the person who writes off the scale is more likely to avoid facing their weight issue should it start creeping up. If they would make an effort to weigh themselves every so often they could catch themselves if they did start to gain a few pounds and stop it before it gets out of hand. It is much easier to lose 2-3 pounds by cutting back on serving sizes for a few weeks than it is to lose 10 to 20 pounds by having to go on a more formalized, structured diet.

So don't let the intimidation of feeling like you have to come up with some complicated meal plan make it so that you don't give any effort to achieving a healthy weight. By keeping these tips in mind it should be relatively easy to stay within a 5 pound weight range that is healthy for your body type and height.