The World of Diets
Dieting goes hand in hand with working out. We all have heard it but do we really follow it? Dieting is hard, time consuming, and just not fun. We do not get to eat our favorite food, snacks, candies and if we have a cheat day, it might as well be called a binge day. There are so many diets that exist: keto, paleo, vegan, high protein, low carbs. Dieting makes you feel hungry and unsatisfied and is it really worth it?
Most dieticians and nutritionists give simple instructions if a weight loss plan is not ideal for you. The first step is to cut back on sugars and starches. This helps the levels of your hunger to decrease so that there is less calories consumed. This also helps for you to burn fat and lower insulin levels. This ultimately helps you to lose weight and get rid of excess water weight. Another step is to eat protein, fat and vegetables within a meal. This will make sure your carb intake within the range of 20-50 grams per day. High protein diets have been know to reduce cravings significantly and to stop you from late night snacking. Some protein sources are meats (beef, chicken, lamb, etc), fish and seafood (salmon, trout, shrimp, etc), and eggs. Some vegetables sources are broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, tomatoes, kale, brussel sprouts, cabbage swiss chard, lettuce, cucumber, etc. Some fat sources are olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, and butter. The third step is to lift weights 3 times a week. Lifting weights helps to burn a lot of calories and helps your metabolism to increase even though you are losing weight. Cardio workouts are another option in case lifting weights is not ideal. Another step that is optional is to a carb refeed once a week. Thus helps to increase fat burning hormones like leptin and thyroid hormones as well as helping you to feel like you are not depriving yourself. Some dieticians and nutritionists will recommend counting calories but it is not necessary as long as you stick to a low carb high protein diet.
There are many specific diets that have been fads in the years past. The first is the Paleo diet, which is the diet that sticks to the foods that our ancestors ate before agriculture existed. It uses more whole foods, lean protein, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds. The paleo diet can lead to weight loss and reduction of waist size. It can also be effective in reducing heart diseases but cuts out grains, legumes and dairy which are healthy. The next diet is the vegan diet, which restricts all animal products for ethical reasons. Veganism is strictly vegetarian with eliminations of meat, dairy, eggs, and animal derived products. It is helpful for losing weight due to its low fat and high fiber nature but it is not more effective than other diets. The third is the Atkins diet, which is a low-carb weight loss diet. It promotes weight loss by eating as much protein and fat as you want but very little carbs. It is known to reduce your appetite and is the fastest weight loss diet methods than low-fat diets. Atkins is also very helpful with reduction of belly fats and risk factors of diseases. The fourth is intermittent fasting, which is training your body to participate in cycles of fasting and eating. This stops the restriction of foods and induces the concept of self control towards food. There are several methods of conducting this fasting like the 16/8 method (skipping breakfast and restricting your eating person to 8 hours), the eat-stop-eat method (24 hour fast once or twice a week), the 5:2 diet (2 days of the week is where you restrict calorie intake to 500- 600 calories), and the warrior diet (eating small amounts of fruits and veggies during the day and having one big meal at night). It is very helpful to lose weight, reduce inflammation, cholesterol levels, blood triglycerides, and blood sugar levels. The downside is that its not suitable for everyone.
Dieting is an integral part to losing weight as we have established. But this does not mean that you have to follow the strictest diet out there. There are many ways to lose the weight and not starve yourself. Education of diets is important to obtain the results you want and consulting a professional is also important.
References:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/9-weight-loss-diets-reviewed#section9
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-to-lose-weight-as-fast-as-possible#section6
