The current career-driven culture has given way to sedentary lifestyles, shortened sleep, and stress. People are not motivated to be physically active, opt for fast, fatty, and sugary foods, and desire a temperature-controlled environment (air-conditioned). Environmental influence and complex genetic issues can also cause overconsumption of food and decreased physical activity. Over time, this lifestyle may result in the gaining of excess weight and even a disease-prone body. While you may love eating, you must find the best fat loss diet that you will enjoy, and which will help you shed unwanted pounds and maintain weight loss.
Dietary Intake and Body Weight
To find a fat loss diet, understand that dietary intake affects weight management. Foods high in sugar and saturated fat are the major culprits of weight gain. Examples of such foods are potato chips and french fries, soda and sugary drinks, milk chocolate, ice cream, doughnuts, and processed foods. They should be included in a balanced diet, not eaten alone, and not in excess.
Food Environment and Fat Loss
Losing weight is difficult, but it is an achievable goal if you set yourself up for success. The food environment includes portion size, frequency of eating, and types and amount of food and beverages consumed on each eating occasion. Research shows that ‘stimulus control’ on food cues has effects on overweight individuals. To hit the fat loss goal, controlling your food environment at home, at work, and on social-eating occasions is part of the fat loss diet plan.
A Diet Program for Fat Loss
Finding the best fat loss diet is not easy. Because of the change in your lifestyle and food choices it brings, your diet program can create some uneasiness and possible difficult adjustments. While this can help you make wise food choices, it can also make healthy weight maintenance enjoyable along the way.
1. Incorporate essential amino acids in your diet plan. Besides the quantity of protein consumed, the quality of protein– its digestibility and composition in essential amino acids, affects metabolism in overweight people. Different protein sources have different amounts of essential amino acids but they rank high in a fat loss diet plan. Read more here about L-arginine from Amino Acid: Naturally Effective for Weight Loss.
- High protein sources – Animal products such as beef, chicken, fish, and dairy products, are known to be of high-quality or complete protein because they have all the essential amino acids
- Whey protein – It is a quickly digestible protein and possesses the highest satiating properties compared to other protein sources. It helps in the preservation of lean body mass, especially in older people. Whey supplements are available in powder form, perfect to incorporate in your fat loss diet
- Plant-derived protein – These protein-sources are more environment-friendly. Plants are lower in essential amino-acids and are less digestible compared to animal protein sources. Sources of plant proteins include legumes, nuts and seeds, and soya. Legumes such as beans, chickpeas, lentils, and dry peas aid in weight loss because they increase satiety during meals.
2. Choose healthful fats. They are good for your heart, your cholesterol, and your overall health. Adding more of these healthful fats to your diet may also help to make you feel more satisfied after a meal, reducing hunger and increasing the odds of losing weight.
- Monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) – They are a major part of the heart-healthy Mediterranean diet, which is low in saturated fat and high in vegetable oil, and originated in Greece and Southern Italy in the 1960s. Sources of MUFA include olive oil, nuts, such as almonds, cashews, pecans, and macadamias, canola oil, avocados, peanut butter, olives, and peanut oil. But please take note that they are high in calories, therefore should be used in moderation.
- Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) – It aids in fat loss by achieving a negative energy balance. Food sources include fatty fish rich in Omega-3 fatty acids such as salmon, which possesses the highest Omega-3 content. Plant-based oils are high in Omega-6 fatty acids, such as safflower oil, which has 74.6% polyunsaturated fat. Egg-yolk is a low-fat, low-calorie source of PUFA.
3. Take complex carbohydrates seriously. They can be broken down further into refined carbohydrates and whole-grain carbohydrates. Fiber is Important for your digestion and may help to balance healthy blood sugar level because it takes longer to digest, so glucose is released slowly into the bloodstream. This is extremely helpful for metabolism and losing weight. Foods high in fiber include broccoli, beans, unpeeled apples, and 100% whole-wheat bread. Some vegetables such as corn, peas, white and sweet potatoes, and butternut and winter squash are good sources.
4. Include supplemental probiotics into your regimen. The good bacteria (the intestinal microflora present in your gut) may be depleted. Therefore, you need the best natural probiotic supplement Alive Probiotics to keep your metabolism humming. Yogurt, pickles, kimchi, green olives, and cottage cheese are common and good sources of probiotics.
The bottom line is, finding the best fat loss diet starts with you and your determination to improve metabolism, increase physical activity, and of course, control your food environment. This will support your desire and effort toward a leaner and healthier you!