There is a lot of advice out there on how to diet for weight loss. And some of this advice is good while some of it is borderline dangerous.
To further complicate matters, it can be very difficult for the average person to filter out the good from the bad.
Thus, here are 5 tips for taking your diet to the next level:
1. Read labels: Don’t rely on the packaging alone because there are loopholes which allow companies to make misleading claims. Instead, always read the nutrition facts to see exactly what is going into your body. Here are some terms you want to avoid: enriched, bleached or refined flour, partially hydrogenated and corn syrup.
2. Optimize your fat ratios: Having too much saturated fat in your diet can cause insulin resistance-a state in which more calories go to fat cells. Even worse, over time, saturated fat can age your arteries. Thus, it behooves you to increase intake of unsaturated fats while decreasing intake of saturated fats.
3. Hydrate when hunger increases: It’s possible for your body to slightly confuse thirst for hunger. So before bingeing on food when you feel hungry, try drinking lots of water first. As an added bonus, hydration will help you digest food better.
4. Minimize alcohol consumption: In terms of alcohol, it’s not just about calories. It’s more about the impact it has on your hormones. You see, too much alcohol will blunt the amount of hormones your body produces. So make sure you minimize the damage here.
5. Have a worst-case-scenario-meal: It’s impossible to diet perfectly all the time. There will be times when your hunger simply overtakes you. The key here is to minimize the damage. And I’ve found that having a high fat and high protein meal does the trick just fine. You see, staying away from carbs is critical when this happens.
It’s unrealistic to expect to diet perfectly from day one. A much healthier and sustainable approach is to progressively improve your eating patterns over time. This is the best way to get the body you desperately deserve.
