How to help you lose weight and survive the first weeks! - Part 2
To help you lose weight, let’s crack the code to total health and change your yo-yo dieting into sustained weight-loss.
Have you tried low-carb or low-fat diets?
Are you struggling to find the perfect diet for you?
The easiest way to help you lose weight is for you to add nutritious food into your diet. And I know that you already know this (I did too back in the day) but getting to actually eat them is the tricky part, right?
Deep down, we all know that in order to lose weight and be healthy we should: eat more fruits and veggies, eat lean meats, eat less carbs and starches, drink more water and move.
So, why is it so difficult?
Now that I’ve been eating fruits and vegetables and making sure my diet is clean, I have understood and experienced that most health problems and weight issues can be related to dietary deficiencies. Stick with me here.
Nutrient-dense foods will help you lose weight because your body will not be triggering hunger in order to get you to feed it.
Food packed with protein, vitamins and minerals is what your body craves but if you don’t feed it, then it will just keep asking for more.
And years ago, I did not understand this – and maybe it has not clicked for you either, yet
But the truth of the matter is that your body is a metabolic machine that functions according to the quality of the food it is fed.
Your body is just like your car, if you put sub-prime gas on it you can’t expect the car to function in full gear! Cheap gas will clog the filter, spoil the fuel pump and cause engine sputter and ultimately engine failure.
How do you think junk food impacts your body?
It is truly accurate to say that eating healthy foods will help you lose weight because you won’t need all the other “food” that is just making you fat.
After two years of getting my health back in check and my weight back to normal I have understood that moderation – eating less (such a common motto of diets) is wrong.
What you need to do is not eat less but eat better.
Eat better quality food and you’ll end up eating less
According to The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, in the early 2,000’s the concept of “there are no good or bad foods, only bad diets” was starting to get challenged by the notion of the nutrient quality of foods. It states that this may assist consumers - like you and me – in substituting the foods in their diets with healthier more nutrient-dense options.
But I get it, not many people fancy broccoli or a bunch of kale… but we all know, deep down, what types of food make a healthy diet, we’re just not used to them.
It’s not only about eating more nutrient-dense food, it’s also about how we prepare our food so that they keep being nutrient-dense foods after preparation, more on that later.
To help you lose weight, add these delicious and nutritious foods into your diet:
- Avocados
- Cabbage
- Spinach
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Baby kale
- Asparagus
The problem with food cravings, especially craving for unhealthy foods, is that we don’t understand that it’s the body’s cry for help because it’s in nutrient deficiency.
Hunger is your body telling you to fuel it but cravings is your body telling you it needs nutrients. And we mistakenly reach out for cake, chips, chocolate or ice-cream instead of wholesome foods.
It shouldn’t surprise you that half hour later we are wanting one more slice of cake or another bag of chips…
To help you lose weight and get out of an eternal yo-yo dieting rut, I suggest you really give yourself a chance to eat well for a period of time. A period of time that will allow your body to give you the sense of well being you crave but have forgotten or have never experienced.
I find broccoli is best if you steam it.Let’s say you allow yourself a 10-day trial period to get new eating habits
Understand what food is, what is the makeup of food and how to better use it to your advantage and to help you lose weight.
How does food work?
We hope to shed some light on the subject and hopefully, help you lose weight in the process.
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Concept of a nutritious food: toward a nutrient density score (2005), academic.oup.com
International Food Information Council Foundation, Go further with food: nutrient density, www.foodinsight.org
National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability (NCHPAD), Food and your mood, www.nchpad.org
