Low carbohydrate diet; fat free; cayenne pepper and cabbage soup; rigorously yellow candy 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 many of us have tried to do at least once. . . or two. . . or, let's face it, many times.
Important points about proper nutrition
Your cousin swears that giving up bread for a few weeks helped her lose weight just before entering university. On the other hand, she couldn't have eaten a loaf of bread for five years and still not lost those last few pounds. As soon as you learn the intricacies of one diet, another appears, which threatens 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 carbohydrate intake. That good news!
But before you start ditching your favorite full-fat dairy products, check out another study from just two months later. According to this study, following a low-carb diet and a Mediterranean diet is more effective in weight loss than limiting your carbohydrate intake. Scientists say no diet works well in the long run, and a low-fat diet for weight loss can even be harmful.
However, hope dies last. Indeed, there is an optimal nutrition 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 works with 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 follow for weeks or months until you reach your target weight, after which you can go back to your old habits. In fact, reverting to old eating habits is why researchers say fad diets don't work.
Instead, a healthy eating plan should be a lifestyle change that you can stick to because, unlike restrictive diets or fancy ways, it's something sustainable. The way you eat should make you feel better by providing your body with the nutrients it needs to live a long, happy and healthy life.
How to eat right to lose weight
Below is information on the best healthy meal plans for weight loss that can help you make the most informed decision.
low carbohydrate diet
By following a low-carb diet or a ketogenic diet (extremely low-carb diet), you dramatically 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 that purpose, helping you lose weight fast.
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. Send a signal to your cells to store as much energy as possible in the form of glycogen. By drastically reducing carbohydrate intake, our body produces less insulin. Less insulin in our blood means that glycogen is used by our 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 much less sugar and starch. Conversely, a diet high in carbohydrates can increase the risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity.
- Since you'll ideally be replacing grains and other carbohydrates with foods high in protein and healthy fats, you'll feel fuller and less hungry. Fats and proteins are known for their satiety effects, while reducing carbohydrates helps deactivate the hunger hormone ghrelin.
Cracking:
- Reducing or completely eliminating carbohydrates from your diet can lead to a lack of energy and a feeling of fatigue. If you are particularly active (for example, you play sports), a low-carb diet can reduce your endurance, which is so necessary during training.
- Carbohydrates hide in unexpected places like fruits, legumes and quinoa. Eliminating them completely from your diet can negatively impact 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 of plant and animal origin. This diet became especially popular in the United States after the federal government's dietary guidelines were released in 1980, which led to the introduction of low-fat foods.
Benefits:
- High-fat foods are also usually high in calories. If you're on a low-calorie diet, cutting back on high-calorie foods will likely help you lose weight.
- Limiting your intake of unhealthy fats (such as trans fats) found in sweets, fast foods, processed foods, and other processed foods can help you lose weight; moreover, it will heal your body.
Cracking:
- Low-fat foods are often processed foods containing refined sugar and unnatural ingredients designed to make low-calorie foods seem like their naturally fatty counterparts. These added ingredients can actually cause weight gain.
- Preferring fat-free foods, people often abuse them. This happens for two reasons: Low-fat foods simply 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 bodies need fat! While foods like avocados or butter may be high in calories, they contain healthy fats that our bodies need to function properly. What would 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 such as Italy, Spain, Greece, etc. The Mediterranean diet cannot be called a diet in itself - it is a regular diet that contains fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy fats such as olive oil, quality home-cooked poultry and seafood, all natural and grown without use of synthetic fertilizers, animal feed, etc.
Benefits:
- Since this diet focuses on natural foods, you will consume very few processed or sugary foods. For example, you're more likely to snack on nuts than cookies.
- An abundance of foods high in healthy fats helps reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
Cracking:
- While healthy fats are good for us, we need to control our food intake. Because it's so delicious, 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 quickly, it's probably not for you.
Vegetarianism or veganism
While there are varying degrees 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 products and eggs.
Benefits:
- A plant-based diet is naturally low in fat and high in fiber. You don't need 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! Cutting it out of your diet can really help save money in your budget.
Cracking:
- Avoiding animal products does not guarantee that you will eat healthy, nutritious foods.
- High-quality animal meat supplies the body with essential nutrients that are difficult to obtain from plant-based foods. Vegans especially need to watch out for their dietary deficiencies and should consider taking supplements.
paleo diet
What about paleo diet and veganism? These are the two most fashionable diets. "Go paleo" is something we hear more and more these days, especially in the sports community. Paleolithic diet, consisting of foods that our ancient 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 eliminate the carbohydrates found in grains that raise your insulin levels and instead 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 food. 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 causing inflammation and chronic disease) is also completely eliminated from the food. Instead, the diet is filled with popular anti-inflammatory foods like wild salmon (or similar fish), blueberries, leafy greens, and nuts.
Cracking:
- Unfortunately, many who follow the Paleo diet often consume too much meat, as well as some of the animal-based toxic substances.
- Additionally, people often consume non-organic foods, including meat, butter, vegetables, and fruit. Unless you can afford to buy organic foods exclusively, this diet cannot be considered a Paleo diet.
Remember that you don't have to follow the rules of a specific diet, creating a strict menu of proper nutrition for weight loss. Some aspects of a particular diet you may like, while others you may not.
For example, you might want to go vegan one or two days a week to give your wallet a break and encourage your family to try different seasonal vegetables.
Or you can reduce your carbohydrate intake for a few weeks to even out 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 factory-made foods and sweets whenever possible. At the end of the day, the "best" diets (weight loss diet systems) come and go, but planning a diet around natural fruits and vegetables, meat and fish, nuts and whole grains never goes out of style.