Introduction
There is a new and trendy diet each time we blink our eyes. Remember Keto and all the rage it used to be? Since it is important for each of us to eat in a way that satisfies us, it can be tricky to ignore diets as they rise and dip in popularity. It’s also important to remember that being on a diet can limit our joy around people. Given that social engagements and family interaction often revolve around food & eating, prolonged diets often reduce these meetings.
Additionally, the macro and micro nutrients required will vary from person to person; following a fad diet can be detrimental to your well-being. However, following a diet without a doctor’s guidance can do more harm than help.
Can these help in sustainable weight loss?
These fad diets can help you lose weight for some time. But you may get back the lost weight after a few months. Accompanied by physical activity, diets are an effective and sustainable way to lose and keep weight off.
However, many of us tend to hit a plateau during this process. This means that it becomes harder to lose weight past a certain point, or that rate at which we lose weight slows sharply. This state forms the basis of the metabolic set point, indicating that while our weight may increase or decrease, it does so within a broad, predetermined range. Therefore, taking a doctor’s assessment before starting a weight loss diet becomes extremely crucial.
How to eat better
1. The importance of fruit and vegetables: Increasing fruit and vegetable portions in your meals is the simplest way to eat healthier. The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) recommends a ‘5 A Day’ approach to meet your fruit and vegetable quota.
You can include more servings of vegetable sides or salads in your meals. To achieve this, consume fresh and seasonal fruits as a part of your diet more regularly.
It is also best to eat your greens first. As they reduce, the pace at which carbs you consume are absorbed into your bloodstream. This can benefit diabetics or pre-diabetics, who should moderate their blood sugar in the long and short term.
2. Stay hydrated: Our body requires adequate fluids to function well. Typically, this should be around 8 glasses of water a day. Possibly more in cases of exertion or exposure to hot weather.
Although all non-alcoholic drinks can count towards this fluid quota, tea, and coffee are better choices than other fizzy drinks. Juices or smoothies without added sugar may also be high in naturally occurring sugar and can impact your teeth poorly.
3. Reduce consuming saturated fat and sugar: Saturated fat is broadly unhealthy. And unsaturated fat is comparatively healthy in moderation. Reducing the amount of saturated fat we consume, is important for good health. Processed foods and oil generally have this kind of fat. Simply switching to vegetable oils is an effective way of moderating saturated fat in our food.
Sugar is another ingredient with quantities that can sneak up on us. Added or naturally occurring sugar from food and drinks can lead to obesity and tooth decay. Avoid foods or drinks with over 5 grams of sugar for every 100 grams of quantity.
4. Move around and maintain activity levels: Modern life can be sedentary, especially for people with desk or office jobs. It is important to move often more than reaching a milestone or goal for movement. This can help us maintain a level of body weight as well.
Mobility and body fat or one’s weight share a cyclical relationship. The more one moves, the higher their chances of burning fat and staying in a healthy weight range. The lower one’s weight, the more energized you feel to move.
5. Limit your salt intake: The recommended salt count for adults and children over 11 years comes at about 6g/day. A consequence of overeating salt is increasing the likelihood of developing high blood pressure. High blood pressure is a precondition for heart disease and can increase the likelihood of stroke.
Another way to consider salt consumption of packaged foods is to read the label. Any food over 1.5g/100g of weight can be considered heavy on salt. Such foods should either be consumed in moderation or avoided.
6. Make fish a part of your diet: Fish and seafood are considered excellent sources of minerals and vitamins. Ideally, we should eat 2 portions of fish each week, with one of the portions being oily fish. Including oily fish, can help prevent heart disease. Regular fish are best consumed based on what’s available to you naturally. For vegans and vegetarians, chia seeds, flaxseeds, and walnuts are effective and commonly available omega-3 sources.
7. A note on comfort foods: While we all have our lists of comfort food, these are usually guilty pleasures. They are likely to be sweet, fried, or high in fat content. These work best as indulgences in an otherwise moderate diet.
It is best to enjoy your comfort food about once every week. Portion control is recommended while eating some of your favorites. Excess consumption often leads to feeling regret apart from the likelihood of increased caloric consumption.
A tightly regimented diet that excludes foods that mean a lot to you or are sources of comfort can lead to feeling deprived or even cause mood swings. A medically-led program or health coach will design a program to accommodate the drinks and foods you like in either reduced frequency, quantity, or both.
8. Mood, mind, and food: How we feel and how well we can cope with or regulate our feelings affect our diet. Stress, anxiety, and burnout have become parts of urban and professional lives. It is important to understand their impact on all parts of our lives, including how and what we eat.
Stress can lead to anxiety or a recurring feeling of a lack of control in one’s life. At this time, food can become a source of comfort or reassurance. However, eating to escape anxiety can make us eat over our nutritional requirements.
Awareness of mental health conditions and coping with them using emotional regulation strategies can help you build emotional resilience and contribute to your health goals.
9. Mindful eating: Food impacts how we feel in short and long-term periods, whether in terms of physical or mental health. This can be seen in the study comparing the traditional Mediterranean diet to the typical “Western diet”, which can have more significant components of processed foods and refined sugar.
It finds those following a Mediterranean diet, consisting more of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and fish with sprinklings of meat and cheese, have a reduced risk of developing heart disease.
Mindful eating can be a helpful approach to take here. Eating one’s food with awareness, without distractions, and engaging one’s senses of sight, sound, taste, and touch with food can be a starting point.
General mindfulness practices like walking mindfully and mindful meditation, among others, make mindful eating more intuitive and natural. Finally, mindfulness increases your chances of losing weight and your duration of keeping it off. It is an unexpectedly effective tool in the weight loss armory and works deeper than diet and exercise by regulating our minds and emotions.
10. Cooking methods: How you cook and what you cook with can impact your meal as much as the ingredients, whether vegetables or meats, you are cooking. There are certain advantages to cooking at home. These include a more nutrient-rich diet and a reduced risk of developing obesity, especially in young children.
Further, cooking methods like baking, broiling, slow cooking, simmering, pressure cooking, and stewing are healthier. Not only do they minimize calories and require less fat, but they also carry a reduced risk of some likely toxic chemical compounds that can be a formative factor in diseases such as cancer and heart disease.
Conclusion
Losing weight itself can be a daunting task for a lot of us. The information thrown around can be daunting too. During these times, having an expert doctor or a dietitian is important. They can guide you toward the various diets that can help you lose weight and prevent it from returning.
India’s first medical weight loss program, Elevate Now, is designed by expert doctors and health coaches. We help you lose excess weight by resetting your metabolism so you can live the life you love.
References
- 8 tips for healthy eating – NHS
- Carbohydrate-last meal pattern lowers postprandial glucose and insulin excursions in type 2 diabetes – PMC
- Consuming Carbohydrates after Meat or Vegetables Lowers Postprandial Excursions of Glucose and Insulin in Nondiabetic Subjects
- How to eat less saturated fat – NHS
- How to cut down on sugar in your diet – NHS
