Low carbohydrate diet; fat free; cayenne pepper and cabbage soup; strictly yellow dragee and water. It seems like every day there's a new weight loss meal plan that promises quick results from the smart to the crazy. Proper nutrition for weight loss is something that many of us have tried to do at least once. 🇧🇷🇧🇷or two. 🇧🇷🇧🇷or, let's face it, many times.
Important points about proper nutrition
Her cousin swears that giving up bread for a few weeks helped her lose weight just before entering university. On the other hand, you couldn't have eaten a piece of bread for five years and still not have lost the last few pounds. As soon as you learn the ins and outs of one diet, another appears, threatening to be even more effective.
Take, for example, a study conducted in August 2015. It found that for obese adults, cutting back on fatty foods helped them lose weight 68% faster than cutting back on their carb intake. What good news!
But before you start ditching your favorite full-fat dairy, check out another study from just two months later. According to this study, following a low-carb diet, much like a Mediterranean diet, is more effective at losing weight than restricting your carbohydrate intake. Scientists say that no diet works well in the long run, and a low-fat diet for weight loss can even be harmful.
However, hope dies last. In fact, there is an ideal nutritional plan that will help you lose weight. This is the meal plan that works for you. Not in the case of your spouse, sibling or co-worker, but one that meets your body's needs and, combined with regular exercise, makes you feel good.
So what is the right diet for weight loss? An eating plan shouldn't be seen as something you stick to for weeks or months until you reach your ideal weight, after which you can fall back into old habits. In fact, going back to old eating habits is why researchers say diets don't work.
Instead, a healthy eating plan should be a lifestyle change you can stick to because, unlike restrictive diets or fancy ways, it's sustainable. The way you eat should make you feel better, providing your body with the nutrients it needs so you can live a long, happy, healthy life.
How to eat right to lose weight
Below is information on the best healthy eating plans for weight loss that can help you make the most informed decision.
low carb diet
By following a low carb diet or a ketogenic diet (extremely low carb diet), you drastically reduce or eliminate your glucose intake. Once your body runs out of glucose and there are little or no carbohydrates in your diet that your body uses for energy, your body will start using stored fat for this purpose, helping you to lose weight quickly.
Benefits:
- You will likely experience rapid weight loss, especially in the first few weeks and months. When we eat foods with sugar and carbohydrates, our body releases insulin, a hormone responsible for storing energy and body fat. It sends a signal to your cells to store as much energy as possible in the form of glycogen. By drastically reducing carbohydrate intake, our bodies produce less insulin. Less insulin in the blood means that glycogen is used by the body for energy and not stored, and when it runs out, fat starts to be used.
- You can reduce your risk of developing diabetes. When you switch to a low-carb diet, you naturally consume a lot less sugar and starch. On the other hand, a diet high in carbohydrates can increase the risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity.
- Since you'll be replacing grains and other carbs with foods high in protein and healthy fats, you'll feel fuller and less hungry. Fats and proteins are known for their satiety effect, while cutting back on carbs helps turn off ghrelin, the "hunger hormone".
Imperfections:
- Reducing or completely eliminating carbohydrates from your diet can lead to a lack of energy and feeling tired. If you are particularly active (for example, you play sports), a low-carb diet can reduce your much-needed stamina during training.
- Carbohydrates hide in unexpected places like fruits, vegetables and quinoa. Eliminating them completely from your diet can negatively affect your intake of essential vitamins and minerals.
low fat diet
Nutrition for weight loss in the form of a low-fat diet reduces the amount of fat consumed, both plant and animal. This diet became especially popular in the United States after the release of the federal government's dietary guidelines in 1980, which led to the introduction of low-fat foods.
Benefits:
- Foods high in fat are also generally high in calories. If you're on a calorie-restricted diet, cutting out high-calorie foods will likely help you lose weight.
- Limiting your intake of unhealthy fats (such as trans fats) found in candy, fast food, processed foods, and other processed foods can help you lose weight; moreover, it will heal your body.
Imperfections:
- Low-fat foods are usually processed foods that contain refined sugar and unnatural ingredients designed to make low-calorie foods taste like their natural fatty counterparts. These added ingredients can actually cause weight gain.
- Giving preference to fat-free foods, people often abuse them. That's for two reasons: low-fat foods just can't match the taste and nutritional value of regular foods, and we're more likely to eat more of them because we know they're low in calories.
- Our body needs fat! While foods like avocados or butter can be high in calories, they contain healthy fats that our bodies need to function properly. Which do you prefer: butter made from cow's cream or a lab-created "butter substance"?
mediterranean diet
The Mediterranean diet has its origins in Mediterranean countries like Italy, Spain, Greece, etc. The Mediterranean diet cannot be called a diet per se - it is a regular diet that contains fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy fats such as olive oil, -quality homemade poultry and seafood, all natural and grown without the use of synthetic fertilizers, rations, etc.
Benefits:
- As this diet focuses on natural foods, you will consume very few processed or sugary foods. You are more likely to eat nuts than cookies, for example.
- An abundance of foods rich in healthy fats helps reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
Imperfections:
- Although healthy fats are good for us, we need to control our food intake. Because it tastes so good, it's easy to give in to the urge to eat a little more, which can lead to overeating.
- While the Mediterranean diet is great for your body in the long run, if you're looking to lose weight fast, it's probably not for you.
vegetarianism or veganism
While there are different levels of vegetarianism and veganism, most vegetarians avoid eating meat, including seafood and poultry. What do vegans eat? Well, they avoid all animal products, including dairy and eggs.
Benefits:
- A plant-based diet is naturally low in fat and high in fiber. You don't have to count calories when you eat lettuce.
- Vegetarian diets have been linked to lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol levels. If you want to control these conditions naturally, cutting back on meat can help.
- Good quality meat can be expensive! Eliminating it from your diet can really help save money in your budget.
Imperfections:
- Avoiding animal products does not guarantee that you will eat healthy and nutritious food.
- High-quality animal meat provides the body with essential nutrients that are difficult to obtain from plant-based foods. Vegans especially need to beware of their dietary deficiencies and should consider taking supplements.
paleo diet
What about the paleo diet and veganism? These are the two most elegant diets. "Go paleo" is something we hear more and more these days, especially in the sports community. Paleolithic diet, consisting of food that our ancestors ate - natural animal meat (fed natural food for them), wild fish, nuts, roots, vegetables and fruits.
Benefits:
- Switching to a grain-free diet can be very beneficial as you cut out the insulin-raising carbohydrates in grains and replace them with more vegetables.
- Following a hunter-gatherer diet can help you get more minerals, omega-3 fatty acids, protein, and healthy fats from your diet. In fact, if you follow the Paleo diet correctly, it can help improve autoimmune conditions and help you lose weight naturally.
- Along with the elimination of grains, sugar (the main product that causes inflammation and chronic diseases) is also completely eliminated from the diet. Instead, the diet is filled with popular anti-inflammatory foods like wild salmon (or similar fish), blueberries, leafy greens, and walnuts.
Imperfections:
- Unfortunately, many who follow the Paleo diet tend to consume too much meat, as well as some of the toxic substances of animal origin.
- Also, people often consume non-organic foods including meat, butter, vegetables and fruits. Unless you can afford exclusively organic food, this diet cannot be considered a Paleo diet.
Remember that you do not need to follow the rules of a specific diet, drawing up a strict menu of proper nutrition for weight loss. Some aspects of a specific diet may appeal to you, while others may not.
For example, you might want to go vegan one or two days a week to give your pocket a break and encourage your family to try different seasonal vegetables.
Or you can reduce your carbohydrate intake for a few weeks to balance your insulin levels and then switch to a Mediterranean diet where whole grains are eaten in moderation. All this is very good!
It is not necessary to consume specific foods to lose weight day after day, week after week. It's important to simply eat right, eating mostly organic produce and excluding processed foods and sweets whenever possible. In the end, the "best" diets (dietary systems for weight loss) come and go, but organizing a diet based on natural vegetables and fruits, meat and fish, nuts and whole grains never goes out of style.