Best Diet Tips to Lose Weight and Improve Health
Losing weight and adopting a nutritious diet can drastically enhance your health by decreasing the risk of serious conditions like heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers. Yet making such drastic dietary adjustments may seem daunting at first.
Help yourself by keeping a food diary. Doing this can make you more aware of what and how much you are eating, helping to reduce overall calorie consumption.
Below are the some diet tips to lose weight and maintain the health:
1. Eat More Fruits and Vegetables
Not like many trendy diets that restrict or eliminate entire food groups, eating more fruits and vegetables promotes weight loss without depriving your body of essential nutrients. They contain plenty of water and fiber for maximum filling power while being naturally low in calories and fat content. In addition, fruits and vegetables can help you create lower-cal meals and snacks by replacing higher calorie ingredients — like oil on chips, butter on bread or creamy sauces on pasta — with fruits and vegetables instead.
Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has demonstrated that eating lots of fruits and vegetables isn’t only great for weight loss; it may also reduce risk factors for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, age-related functional decline and more. Fruits and vegetables contain natural chemicals known as phytochemicals that provide various health benefits.
Make sure to choose a variety of fruits and veggies so that you get a range of nutrients, such as vitamin E (apples, bananas, avocado), vitamin A (sweet potato, spinach, carrot) and folic acid (carrots, berries). To save time in the kitchen, rinse and cut fruits and veggies on weekends or at the start of each week then store in containers in your fridge for easy access throughout the week. When dining out try ordering vegetable-based appetizers like soup as starters rather than cheese-laden appetizers like onion rings or cheese-laden enchiladas; while request that your main course dish be made using healthy techniques like grilling chicken breast, baked fish or skinless veggies rather than deep-frying!
2. Eat Smaller Meals
When trying to lose weight, eating frequent and small meals throughout the day can help you feel more satisfied while maintaining a steady blood sugar level. Furthermore, this approach may also prevent intense hunger pangs that threaten to derails your diet plan. To control portion sizes when dining out, share an entree with someone or opt for diet-friendly sides like grilled vegetables or salad.
Prepare meals at home instead of dining out whenever possible to more accurately control portions and calories consumed. When dining out, opt for items with lean proteins like poultry, fish or skinless pork and load up half your plate with vegetables – as these often contain higher calories and saturated fat levels than their homemade equivalent.
Be careful when choosing snacks, as these can easily add up to more calories than necessary. Aim for nutritious choices like dried fruit or nutrient-rich frozen yogurt as snacks to nibble on while watching TV; alternatively keep only healthy options like 100-calorie packs of cookies or single scoops of ice cream available to reduce mindless snacking while watching.
Use smaller plates, forks, knives and glasses to control portion size. Tracking calories through an app or counting calories can also be useful to raise awareness of how much food is being consumed; however, Weinandy warns against drastic reduction of portion sizes as this could cause feelings of deprivation and discouragement.
3. Get Enough Sleep
Diet and exercise form the base of weight loss, while sleep forms its support structure. Unfortunately, many Americans fail to get enough shut-eye each night – which makes weight loss more challenging. Studies have demonstrated that sleeping seven to nine hours each night helps with metabolism as well as curbing hunger by keeping hormones that control appetite under control.
Sleep deprivation causes your brain to produce excessive levels of hunger-stimulating hormone ghrelin while producing too little of leptin (the signal that tells your body you are full), leading to cravings for high-calorie, fatty foods and an overwhelming urge to overeat as your hunger is never truly satisfied. This may result in overeating as it has no relief effect.
Establish a consistent sleep routine, as this will help regulate appetite and metabolism, by setting an early bedtime and sticking with it. Avoiding light (from television, computer screens and smart phones) before bedtime will help improve quality of restful restful slumber. Waking up at roughly the same time every day, eating meals/snacks at roughly similar times each day as well as engaging in regular physical exercise can all help create an optimal sleeping pattern for maximum success.
By getting enough rest, getting your blood sugar under control, your body can also increase its ability to burn more calories by not producing too many fat cells for energy storage and therefore storing additional fat cells. Another effective strategy for increasing caloric burn is switching away from solid fats like butter, stick margarine and lard in favor of healthier oils like vegetable, canola or peanut oil when cooking; solid fat-containing salad dressings or spreads should also be avoided altogether.
4. Exercise Regularly
One of the best ways to lose and maintain weight loss is with regular physical activity. Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity such as brisk walking most days of the week in order to burn calories; some individuals may require more vigorous activity in order to sustain or achieve weight loss.
Physical activity can also help make you feel full and curb mindless eating, because when tired your body produces too much of the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin and not enough of the satiating leptin hormone.
Finding an exercise you enjoy and sticking with it, such as walking or yoga, is the best way to lose weight. Make time in your schedule for it and even set an alert on your smartphone or computer so you don’t forget.
Add mini workouts throughout the day to help boost calorie burning – for instance taking the stairs instead of an elevator or parking at the far end of lots when shopping are great ways to do just this!
One tip for weight loss is to eat slowly and focus on each bite as you consume food. Many of us can be guilty of mindless munching while watching television, reading books or using laptops, which leads to overeating and portions becoming out of control. By slowing down and paying more attention when eating each bite can help manage portions and stop overeating altogether.
Be sure to include some special treats in your diet; try to limit these to one or two a day, opting for lower calorie options such as one fresh bakery cookie or half cup scoop of low fat ice cream. Also try to limit sugary drinks like soda and fruit juice by instead drinking water instead.
5. Drink Plenty of Water
Drinking plenty of water is one of the easiest and most effective ways to help reduce weight and improve your health. According to the NHS Eat Well Guide, 6-8 glasses of fluids should be consumed each day; you can increase this number by substituting high-calorie drinks such as juice, soda or sweetened tea and coffee with plain water instead.
Water can also serve as an effective appetite suppressant. Research has demonstrated that drinking water before meals helps people eat less, possibly because filling your stomach signals your brain that you are full, as well as decreasing salt cravings.
Studies have also demonstrated that drinking water can help stimulate metabolism, helping the body burn more calories and aiding weight loss. This may be because drinking more water helps flush toxins out of the system while also keeping us hydrated and prevent dehydration.
Many people who struggle to lose weight find that increasing their water consumption helps them feel full and satisfied, as well as curb mindless snacking. This approach can especially aid those trying to lose weight as it prevents overeating when hungry cravings return.
Additionally, water can help lower your risk of health conditions like heart disease and diabetes. It also aids with digestion and skin health improvement. To include more water in your diet, set an alarm on your phone to remind yourself to drink throughout the day; bring along a water bottle when running errands or at work; or purchase an affordable mains-fed water cooler so you always have access to healthy, fresh drinking water at all times.