If you are hoping to lose weight, having a healthy diet is the principal thing. Of course, exercise is important and very beneficial, but when it comes to weight control, diet is king. I hope this article gives you some useful, easy-to-follow guidance for making healthy changes to your everyday eating habits.
1. Be sure to include “healthy fats” in your meals whenever possible. This is an important factor in maintaining your body’s required hormone levels both for fat burning and also for muscle building. Having adequate healthy fats in your diet also ensures that your appetite is kept under control.
The best sources of these healthy fats are raw nuts, seeds, organic egg yolks, avocados, extra virgin olive oil (this has the highest level of antioxidants), coconut oil (contain medium chain triglycerides, which are a great source of healty saturated fats), and meat which comes from grass-fed animals (this contains conjugated linoleic acid,, which helps burn fat and build muscle).
You could try this tip – have a handful of raw nuts (walnuts, pecans or almonds are all very good choices) about a half-hour before meals, 3 times a day. They are great for helping to suppress your appetite, and also to give your body protein, some fiber and of course, “healthy fat”. You don’t need to eat a lot of nuts – they are high in nutrients.
2. Try to include at least one high-protein item with each of your meals. I prefer a grass-fed dairy product, a grass-fed meat product or something high-protein like beans or nuts. It helps to keep the appetite under control, and reduces the calorie intake.
When you get these proteins, and you are working out regularly, your body will pack on lean muscle mass. And your metabolism will be able to run faster which will result in getting fat burned off quicker.
3. When you eat a lot of protein with your meals, you also help your body to control both insulin and blood sugar levels. This is because the protein helps to slow down the breakdown of carbohydrates which are ingested. And although I am not in favour of those “low-carb” diets, I feel that the reason so many people find it such a struggle to lose weight, is that their intake of processed carbohydrates, and refined sugar, is so high.
Although fruits contain sugars also, they are fine because the fiber within fruit helps to slow down the blood sugar response. But fruit juice should be avoided, because it has been stripped of fiber by the processing of the juice.
It usually follows, when people start to reduce their intake of grain (from bread, pasta,cereals, bagels etc), they begin to lose fat much easier. I would recommend that you minimize your consumption of grains, and concentrate on eating just fruits and vegetables. Just by doing this, losing weight will get a whole lot easier.
If you take action on these 3 steps towards a healthier diet, I am sure that you will soon see the evidence of a leaner body and increased energy levels.
See our review of the best weight-loss programs over at Weight Loss Review. If you want to lose body fat faster, check out these 5 tips for Fat Burning. A great abs toning program is reviewed at Lose Weight Fast.
