We’ve all been there, wanting to lose weight and eat right. It’s not always easy, and dieting and exercising can be hard to commit yourself to. There are ways to become healthy through body and mind, it just takes a lot of self-discipline down the road. It’s important to remember that our body does need all the basic food groups, and that there are healthy ways to lose weight without going hungry.

Diets don’t work:

Dieting, while maybe working for a while, usually tends to backfire once you go off of it. According to the Phycology of Eating Institute, 95% of dieters will gain the weight back once they stop their diet. When you cut your calorie intake, your body begins to create stress hormones. This is the body perceiving lack of nutrition as a threat to survival, and thus begins the slowing down of the metabolism. So biologically, the body purposefully slows down weight loss when you stop consuming the right calorie intake per day, which is around 2,000 calories. Cutting out entire food groups won’t work, that’s why they’re on that little pyramid we learned in health class, they’re important.

Portion control:

Instead of eliminating entire food groups from your diet, try limiting the amount you consume daily instead. Portioning meals while still eating the required healthy food groups is a great start to weight loss. It can even solve the habit of binge eating, which is the high consumption of food in a small amount of time. Getting your body use to portioning can actually make your stomach smaller, eliminating the need to eat all the time.

Plan out a mid-day snack:

Even with portion control, we still can get hungry throughout the day. But this should be another opportunity to eat right, not dish out on the vending machine junk food at the office. Make it a habit to carry around healthy snacks that can solve that 4 pm hunger strike. Taking a bag of pistachios, raisins, or plain Greek yogurt are healthy and filling ways to prevent over eating when you get home at the end of the day.

Exercise!:

Along with eating right, exercise is also an important factor if you’re trying to lose weight. We’ve heard it all before: you can’t just exercise and you can’t just diet to lose weight, it needs to be both. In fact, losing weight is contributed by 70% of food and 30% of exercise. Finding a routine that works for you will make it more fun and enjoyable to lose weight.

There are good carbs and bad carbs:

There can be a big misconception on carbohydrates: people think they have to cut them out almost completely to lose weight, but there are good and bad carbs. Our body needs carbs daily, but that doesn’t mean you have to eat a big cookie to get the nutrients you need. There are three types of carbohydrates: sugars, fibers, and starches. Carbs you should avoid are sugary beverages like soda, white bread, white rice, white pasta and pastries. Whole wheat or grain food are good carbs, like wheat bread, pasta and brown rice. And of course, veggies, fruits, and potatoes are good for you too.

Health Life Magazine / South Georgia / July – August 2017

Medical Category Article

Eating for Weight Loss

Written by Alex Dunn