Weight Losing Diet

In our fast-food, eat-on-the-run culture, maintaining a healthy body weight can be a major challenge; for many of us, trying to lose those extra pounds is an enormous struggle. The diet industry (a billion-dollar concern in the U.S. alone) is a big part of the problem – fad diets, rapid weight loss supplements, and innumerable other programs that guarantee instant results only serve to contradict each other and confuse dieters, ultimately doing nothing to help us lose weight and keep it off.

Being overweight significantly increases your risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, cancer ... the list seems almost endless. Plus, if you do get sick or need surgery, being overweight can make any treatments riskier. While it is normal to want to lose unwanted weight as quickly as possible, rapid weight loss is rarely a good idea. To begin with, most of the weight lost in this fashion comes from water and muscle tissue, and the weight is quickly regained once the diet is over.

Dieters make the mistake of embarking on some type of fad diet which dramatically restricts the number of calories they consume. Weight loss programs such as the lemon juice diet, the cabbage soup diet, and the various low-carb diets can cause you to lose weight quickly at first, but again, the majority of the weight lost in this fashion comes from muscle and water. Follow these simple tips to lose weight –

1. Eat small meals at frequent intervals. Avoiding both starving and binging. Eat slowly, that gives our body time to tell us that it is full before we've eaten more than we need.

2. Avoid simple sugars and processed carbohydrates. Choose whole cereals or whole wheat products and avoid white flour and its products as far as possible. Eat healthy, mostly unprocessed foods, including fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and limited amounts of lean animal protein. This also includes fiber in your diet which makes you feel full soon and also moves fat through our digestive system faster so that less of it is absorbed.

3. Consume at least 8-9 servings of fruits and vegetables including 1 green leafy vegetable daily.

4. Eating salads is a healthy option, but don’t replace your meals only with salads, and be careful with salad dressings, mayonnaise, and other condiments that are high in fat content. They greatly increase the calorie count and can negate the healthy aspects of a meal.

5. Avoid too much of deep fried, oily or fried foods. Include good proteins in the form of pulses, sprouts, milk, eggs, fish, and lean meats or de skinned chicken.

6. The most important nutrient that is always forgotten is water. Drink sufficient water daily to keep yourself well hydrated.

7. Keep in mind ‘fat free’ or ‘sugar free’ products do not mean calorie free. Make sure to read the food labels before any food item you consume. Be an aware customer.

8. Physical activity or exercise is a very important criterion to remain fit and lose weight. Just a simple brisk walk for 40-45 minutes or stretching exercises for lower body will help. Exercise makes it possible to create a calorie deficit and lose weight without starving your body and slowing your metabolism.