Lose Weight The Healthy Way

The most important part of losing weight is doing it in a way that you are building new healty habits that you can maintain after you have reached your goal. That is why, if you want to keep the weight off, you want to do it the most healthy fashion possible. The key is good nutrition. A healthy diet with good nutrition will assist you in your weight loss goals. That does not mean stick only to proteins, carbs, or vegetables. The key is moderation. Yes, you will definitely get results doing these, but your body needs all these nutrients.  It is the combination of all vitamins that is essential for us to have healthy immune systems, sleep right, and have energy. Once you add proteins back in your diet or other nutrients you will have some weight gain. That is why it is best to find a way to make adjustments to your diet that you can maintain while remaining healthy. And as Stacie Naczelnik, said in her hub, How To Lose Weight the Healthy Way, " It is important to remember that the 'quickest way' is rarely the healthiest way, when it comes to weight loss." By eating a variety of foods from many different parts of the food chain, we will have longer lasting results, and a healthier body.

Get Enough Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are extremely important and few people get the recommended daily requirement. By eating more fruits and vegetables, not only will you get the vitamins they provide, but you will be filling up on lower calorie items than what you will find in protein and carb areas. Make sure in every meal you have either fruits or vegetables or both. These are really great to eat as snacks. For instance, eat celery or apples covered in peanut butter. You are not only getting the proper fiber your body needs, adding nutrients to you body, but the peanut butter will allow you to feel full longer.

One great way to make sure you are getting enough nutrients is by having a colorful diet. Although eating lots of greens is good, you want to have other nutrients that tomatoes or carrots or grapes will provide. So make sure that you are picking fruits and vegetables from several different color groups so that way you will get optimum nutrients.

It's a good idea to eat organic fruits and vegetables in order to avoid chemicals that may mess with your endocrine or digestive system. By keeping these normal and healthy, through avoidance of chemicals you will be better able to metabolize the food you eat, storing less fat.

Importance of Fiber in Weight-loss

One of the best ways that fruits and vegetables assist in weight loss is the fiber they provide. The wonderful thing about fiber is it not only contains no calories, plus it adds bulk to our diets that cause us to feel full! Yes, imagine a food that has no calories, no fat, and makes us feel full! That's exactly what fiber is; therefore, it is key in healthy weight loss. Some items that are full of fiber are celery and apples!!!

Other foods that contain high fiber would include whole grain items like bread and cereal. These kind along with most vegetables, are considered water insoluble fibers. Another kind called water-soluble fiber actually causes our food to leave our stomachs more slowly which makes us feel full longer. You can find this kind of fiber in fruits, legumes, seeds, and oat products.

Another hidden benefit to fibrous foods is that they often are foods that take longer to eat, which means you will most likely feel full after eating less food Your body does not always feel full from the point that you have actually eaten a good amount, which is why we often will over eat. By eating foods that take longer to eat, you will begin to feel full before you have overeaten.

Fibrous foods make good snacks, especially ones that have protein, since protein will often make you feel full longer. Some great fiber filled proteins would be beans, nuts, and some seeds.

Protein Promoting Weight Loss

Protein if eaten moderately can definitely assist in weight loss. It is also an important part of your diet and should not be avoided. Getting enough proteins will help you with your sleep patterns, immune system, digestion, and hormone levels! These all will help in better digestion, and better weight loss. Therefore, it only goes to reason that you should be eating a food that will help you in each of these areas.

Not only are proteins necessary to survive, but they also can help with weight loss. First of all, items high in protein will curb your appetite, and cause you to feel full longer. So adding a little low fat peanut butter to a celery stick is a wise choice for a snack. Or eat a stick of string cheese with some grapes.

Also, proteins are essential in keeping your hormones regulated as well as boosting your immune system. I'm sure anyone who is working out knows, you are more apt to stick to a workout plan when you are feeling great. Since hormones play an important role in our emotional health, especially for woman, it is important for us to get enough nutrients to assist in that. Plus with healthy immune systems, we will feel healthier, be healthier, and be more conducive to healthy weight loss.

But as with all things you need to make sure you are eating in moderation. Nuts are very good proteins, but they also can add a lot in fats and cholesterol, so make sure you eat in moderation. A good rule of thumb, is eat ONE handful. This can be a nice full sized handful, but more than that, can actually work against you with your weightloss goals.

Meats are another form of protein that can be really great, unfortunately, just like nuts there are some harmful nutrients if taken in excess. A good rule of thumb for a good sized portion of meat is nothing bigger than your fist.  

Don't Cut Carbs Completely

The last few years, carbs have gotten a bad rap! It's true, if you eat an over abundant amount of carbohydrates, you will gain weight. But that's true for any type of nutrient. That is why it is important to have a well balanced meal. Carbohydrates give us energy. Therefore, it is essential, especially if we are working out! We need energy. If you are feeling kind of sluggish, eat something that has a little carbs.

It is also important that when you workout to eat more carbs, as you are burning them. Many studies show that someone who drinks a carbonated drink after working out, loses weight faster than someone who only drinks water. The reason for that is you are burning lots of calories in a short amount of time. If your workout is very strenuous then you need to get energy from somewhere, otherwise your body goes into starvation mode. When your body goes into starvation mode, your metabolism slows down! No one looking to lose weight wants their metabolism to slow down!

Rather than avoiding carbohydrates, you may want to watch what type of carbs you eat. For instance, wheat bread has lots of nutrients despite its carbs. There are proteins, fibers, among just a few. White bread on the other hand, although rich in carbohydrates they are more easily stored as fat. And of course, although you should enjoy your occassional cake/brownie/pastry, eat them sparingly. They do have some purpose in your diet, even if you are trying to lose weight, but they definitely should not be an everday indulgence.

Just as exercise is important to weight loss, so is a healthy nutritious lifestyle. Realistically, you can eat all kinds of foods, proteins, carbohydrates, and fibers, and have good weight loss results. The key is moderation. All of these are important in our daily living, and none of them should be skipped.

Aside from what you eat, it's also how you eat. Tips on how to eat healthier:

Watch your portion size: It is possible to overeat on healthy food. You can actually gain weight eating healthy stuff. So just because you are eating something that contains a lot of good nutrients, does not mean you are going to hit your target weight loss goal. Just as stated before, you should not eat more than a handful of nuts, or a fist sized portion of meat. Even vegetables can be overeaten.

Allow Unhealthy Food: You want to be careful cutting out all unhealthy foods from your diet, because chances of you sticking to that diet are very slim (no pun intended). Allow yourself to "splurge" on certain foods. Like, one treat a day, or only treats on weekends. Something you know that you can do without overindulging. I have lost ten pounds in the past two months, and believe it or not, I have had a sweet treat everyday. Sometimes it's just a small handful of m&ms, and other times its a brownie, but due to other changes I have made in my diet, these have not hindered my weightloss goals completely.

Basically we all have the capability of losing weight. It's best to do it in a healthy fashion and building healthy habits. The only way to have long lasting effective weight loss is to change your diet in a way that you are capable of maintaining. By giving up too much, you will revert. But you also need to make sure you are making healthy choices.