Losing weight is no simple feat. Besides figuring out what you should eat, what you shouldn’t be eating and what workouts will best work for you, it’s hard to discern what diet tips are true and what diet types are completely false. Online sources, books and media may be telling you one thing, when in reality it’s the exact opposite. Before you go about your weight loss plan, here are 5 common weight loss tips that are actually just weight loss myths:
It seems like a new diet is hitting the marketplace every other day, and every new diet seems to be dubbed as the one that works. There are so many diets out there, that if you want to lose weight, it can be hard to decide where to begin.
The latest dieting craze to hit the marketplace is called Paleo, and many people are wondering if they should give it a try.
What is the Paleo diet?
The Paleo diet basically refers to only eating the foods that our historic ancestors ate, which includes fruits, vegetables, meat, fish and nuts. This means that you should cut out legumes, grains and dairy. Basically, you want to eat only those items that can be hunted or gathered and refrain from eating anything that has been processed or sealed (so no canned vegetables). Fresh foods contain more vitamins and nutrients than those that have been processed, and they’re more healthy for you than those that tell you they’re healthy.
What’s the point of the Paleo diet?
The Paleo diet doesn’t cut out fat or carbs. Instead, it relies on you eating a healthy amount of food in order to maintain a decent body weight. Eating these foods will increase your metabolism and give you more energy throughout the day. And since you tend to eat more fruits and vegetables than whole grains, you may actually cut out a good deal of the carbs you eat on a regular basis.
Along with keeping you at a healthy weight, the Paleo diet is also known to reduce the risk of major diseases, such as heart attack, stroke and diabetes. By keeping your food intake simple, you are not clogging your body full of supplements or processed foods.
What are the benefits of the Paleo diet?
The Paleo diet doesn’t require you to count points, read labels or consume a great deal of protein shakes. The foods used in the Paleo diet are simple and real, and you know exactly what you’re getting.
Preparing Paleo-approved meals is simple. Choose a meat, choose a vegetable and you’re done. There is no need to read a ton of cookbooks or think too long about what to prepare for dinner. This will also help you decide what to eat more quickly when dining out at restaurants. Rather than spend a great amount of time reading over the menu, you can choose the option that fits best with the Paleo diet.
Is the Paleo diet right for me?
The Paleo diet hasn’t hurt anyone, so as long as you’re okay with eating meat and vegetables and cutting out dairy, grains and legumes, trying the Paleo diet shouldn’t be that hard to accomplish. And since there is not counting points or reading labels, you can choose Paleo-approved foods more easily than other diets. People have been using the Paleo diet for years. If you start the Paleo diet, you will see an increase in your energy levels, and you’ll start to look better too.
Everyone knows, it’s easy to go on a diet. And that the hard part is sticking with it for a long period of time. Every year, millions of people resolve to eat differently. They want to shed some pounds, and reevaluating their eating habits is an essential way to achieve their goal. However, old habits die hard, and it can be tough to stay on a diet, no matter how well you do in the beginning. If you’re determined to eat differently, here are some tips that will help you stay on your diet and meet your goals.
Enlist Some Support
Don’t go at your diet alone. If you live with other people, speak with them about your diet, and ask for their support. Maybe they’ll want to do it with you. If you’re accountable to more people than just yourself, it can really motivate you to stay on track. If you can’t find support within your friends or family, find a weight loss group in your area, like Weight Watchers, or an online community.
Define Your Diet
Figure out exactly what your diet is going to be, and set clear rules for yourself. Know exactly which foods you can eat and which you can’t. Determine the main purpose of your diet. Is it to stick to a certain number of calories? Is it to eat on a regular schedule? Is it to limit certain foods or food groups? Try to anticipate what breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks will look like.
Set Realistic Goals
If you feel discouraged by your diet, it will be easier for you to stray. Do not set goals for yourself that are not realistic, because you may quit if you don’t feel you’re progressing enough. The trick is to set small, realistic goals. Once you reach a small goal, you should set another small goal that’s a little more difficult. Do not try to do it all at once.
Keep a Food Diary
When you write down the things you eat, you’re more likely to stay on track with your diet. A food diary will help you see how you’re doing and how you can improve. It will be tangible proof of your habits, and it’s a great way to evaluate your progress.
Reward Yourself
Your diet won’t work if it’s all work and no play. Understand that it’s alright to cheat on the diet every now and then. You should enjoy eating. You won’t derail all your progress if you have a small dessert now and then. Try to reward yourself with treats here and there. It will help you stay on your diet in the long run.
Rethink Success
Are you too preoccupied with the number on the scale? When you’re dieting, you’re going to see more results than just shedding the points. If you’re eating healthier, you should notice an increase in your energy level and self-esteem. You may notice some of your health problems have improved, such as having lower blood pressure. Anything can be a measure of your success. If you notice all the benefits of your diet, you’ll have more reason to stick with it than just losing weight.
Katherine Taylor is a therapist and avid writer who loves to spend what time she can traveling the world. She already has a wonderful summer trip booked at a beach hotel in Mauritius. She wants to mix with the locals, practice her french, and see as many beautiful beaches as possible while staying at her hotel in Mauritius.
Anytime you put food into your mouth when you are not hungry is called emotional eating. Rather than hunger fueling your desire to eat something, an emotion is driving you to binge on something you do not really want. Emotional eating is not something people only do when they are feeling down (think the newly single girl on television who indulges in a gallon of her favorite ice cream to feel better about her break up). It is something you do when an emotion drives you. That emotion could be sadness, such as when you are hurt by a loved one or lose your job. That emotion could also be simple boredom; the house is clean, the kids are in bed and you are wandering around trying to find something to do when you decide that eating cookies is the right choice. Emotional eating can lead to weight gain, depression and feelings of guilt, which is why you need to know the difference between being hungry and being emotional in the kitchen.
Knowing the Difference
There are a number of ways to differentiate between emotional eating and actual hunger. By being in tune with your body, you will easily be able to tell the difference. The first difference between emotional eating and hunger is that hunger occurs gradually. You typically begin to feel hungry over time, becoming hungrier as time passes, whereas emotional eating is something that happens suddenly. Additionally, when you are truly hungry you are open to eating anything. When you are eating emotionally you crave something specific, because it is the only food that will satisfy that craving.
When you are hungry you don’t feel as if though you have to eat immediately. When you are eating because of an emotion you want to eat immediately. Finally, when you eat for emotional reasons instead of hunger, you often feel guilty afterward.
Stop Emotional Eating
By recognizing when you are making a food decision based off of an emotion rather than hunger, you can avoid emotional eating and the subsequent feelings of guilt that come with it. The first thing you need to do when an emotional eating feeling strikes is to distract yourself. When you are craving a food because of an emotion, you are attempting to either remove or create a feeling in yourself that you are currently missing. Instead of feeding your emotions, find a healthier alternative. The next time you feel the need to eat emotionally, take a walk. Exercise helps to increase your mood and boost your level of happiness. By replacing emotional eating with exercise, you are making yourself healthier and happier.
You can also try making a list of things that always make you feel good. The next time you feel the need to eat something because of your emotions, refer to this list and try something on it instead. Keeping a food journal is another way to help you stop overeating due to emotional eating. This allows you to keep a tangible record of when you tend to feel the most emotional and are most likely going to overeat for the wrong reasons. By establishing this pattern, you will be able to help yourself to avoid emotional eating and maybe even figure out what the cause of your emotional eating is.
There is nothing wrong with indulging in something sweet from time to time. The key is not to go overboard and spend your time eating for emotions rather than hunger. Feeding your emotions has a very negative effect on your overall health, which is far more difficult to improve than your mood.
Richard Hasson. Finished psychology at Washington university, currently working for Long Island divorce attorneys as an consultant for people who are going through tough divorce. He also likes to write about self-help for depression and life in general.
Learning about food is crucial if you want to get control of your body. What you eat will determine how you look more than anything else, including exercise.
I used to be a lot heavier than I am now, and that was mostly because of food. Even after I started working out, I got fatter. This happened because of food. Working out can’t always be enough to offset your diet, especially if your diet is really bad. For a while, mine was.
Avoiding foods that make us gain weight is huge if you want to ‘own’ your body. This lesson will help you to do just that. Here are the biggest culprits:
Processed Sugars
Processed sugars are one of the most likely of foods to make you fat. You can find them in a variety of sources including pretty much all sweets, sodas, and sweet tasting baked goods such as cookies, brownies, cakes, etc.
You will also find a large amount of sugars in many breakfast foods including waffles, pancakes, crepes, and most cereals.
Processed sugars wreak havoc on your blood sugar and cause excessive insulin response. Since excessive insulin response causes appetite issues, your eating can really get out of whack if you consume processed sugar. Get them out of your diet.
Unhealthy Fats
Eating weird, manufactured fats can really mess up the hormones that regulate your body. Many oils are hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated to increase the shelf life. Unfortunately, this process also increases your waist line. These oils make your body believe that it needs to store fat and when you eat them, it does just that.
The oils and fats that you need to avoid are sunflower, canola, and vegetables oils, and fully hydrogenated fats such as Crisco and other shortenings.
Grains
I’ll admit that refined grains are much worse than whole grains, but grains are a problem in general. Your body converts grains to sugar and does it in a hurry. There are definitely times when grains are ok to eat, but eating a lot of grains will add to your fat levels, even if you’re eating the ‘whole’ variety.
Artificial Sweeteners
Artificial sweeteners are perhaps the worst thing you can consume if you want to control your weight. They will really mess with your appetite and I can promise you that you will consume more calories overall if you use these little devils. They trick your body into thinking that calories should be coming and when they don’t, it freaks your body out. If there’s one thing I’ve learned by working with people at The Skinny School, it’s that sweeteners must be completely eliminated before significant, lasting progress can be made.
If you want to make lasting changes to your body, you should start eating whole foods with an emphasis on fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats. This will help your body to heal itself hormonally and get on the right track. Be very careful with processed foods. Nothing from a box will make your body healthier.
Sticking to your new years resolutions health goals can be tricky if you don’t have the right resources to help you accomplish your goals. Understanding that willpower and positive thinking can only get you so far, is half of the battle. By incorporating whole nutrients foods into your diet you can not only feel healthier but improve your mind as well. Here are some tips to help you feel great and reach your health goals.
Eat Your Veggies
Just what the doctor ordered, eating your vegetables and juicy leafy greens is good for you. The greener the vegetables the more nutritious they are. Eat slower to enjoy the rich nutrients and leafy satisfaction.
Eat Uncooked Foods
Cooking foods often removes some of the health benefits of food. Eating raw foods like fruits and steamed vegetables can help you feel satisfied and full longer. You will have more nutrition pumped into your body as well.
Keep it Simple
Sauces, condiments, gravy’s and salt can make any food even more addictive. Consider eliminating extra calories by reducing the condiments.
Eat More Fruit
Avoid sweets and added sugars but load up on fresh fruit. Apples, and pears along with most fruit are naturally sweet. You will learn to love the natural sweet flavors the are in fruits rather then the artificial flavors found in cookies and candy.
Avoid Caffeine
Caffeine is a drug that hypes the blood pressure. It is addiction and makes us feel awake when our body needs to rest. Limit the amount of caffeine to stabilize your blood pressure and have a more consistent heart rate.
Skip the Fried Foods
The American diet is full of fatty fried foods and super sized meals. Detox your mind, body and soul by skipping the fried food. By reducing and eliminating fried foods your will feel more healthy all around. Your body will naturally balance out and you will feel cleaner.
Drink Water
Drinking water is one of the best-kept health secrets. It flushes away toxins and helps our digestive system. It isn’t just great for the inside of your body it is great for your skin and teeth. When we eat, food particles stick to our teeth, but when we drink water it washes away particles and bacteria. This can prevent plaque build up.
Keep a Food Journal
Writing and keeping track of your food intake is one of the best ways to stay on track with new eating goals. When you write what you eat down you are more likely to be accountable.
Shannon Kaiser is a health and wellness writer for many online and print publications. For more health tips TenderCare Dental, a Dentist in Portland.
