Make Smart Choices to Lose Weight Efficiently

Despite what the latest fad diet is promoting, you do not have to starve yourself by restricting whole categories of food to lose weight and keep it off. Making smart choices and building an easy-to-follow menu plan can go a long way toward attaining your goal weight. All of us should avoid drinking calories from sodas that are filled with sugar and artificial sweeteners. Tea and coffee are healthy and rich in antioxidants but should be avoided if you have sensitivity to caffeine or if drinking an afternoon cup ruins your sleep.

Carb-Rich Foods Can Leave You Feeling Hungry

Some dieters foolishly avoid fatty foods and restrict their fat intake when they are trying to lose weight. This often results in eating more carbohydrates for energy. However, carb-rich foods digest quickly and leave you feeling hungry, whereas fat takes longer to digest and keeps your tummy happy longer. Eating refined carbohydrates and other sugary foods can have a similar negative effect on good and bad cholesterol levels as well as your risks for obesity and heart disease.

Bad fats like trans fats and saturated fats have been linked to unhealthy outcomes, such as unwanted weight gain and clogged arteries. Nonetheless, good fats like unsaturated fats and omega-3s have the exact opposite effect and play a major role in managing moods, controlling your weight and reducing feelings of fatigue. Consuming high levels of calories from fats can lead to weight gain and eating trans fats can lead to obesity, cardiovascular disease or stroke.

Build Your Weight-Loss Menu Plan Around Eating Whole Foods

When you consume carbohydrates, food is broken down in the digestive tract into glucose and enters the body as blood sugar. If you eat less carbs, you will need less insulin and other glucose lowering drugs. Nonetheless, it can be very dangerous for a diabetic if his or her blood sugar drops below normal levels. Since fiber helps to fill you up, following a menu plan that adds more fiber to your diet can help you lose weight nearly as well as a more complex approach. Just build your menus with well-seasoned whole foods.