Nutritions Role In Weight Loss

What you eat is the single biggest factor in whether you lose or gain weight. Without the correct quality and quantity of foods you will not be able to lose weight.

Today, there is an abundance of food easily available more often than not these convenient foods are high in calories having very little nutritional value, but the consumer is attracted by the packaging, taste and relatively lower cost compared to healthier, lesser processed alternatives.

Obesity has been shown in research to increase risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and some cancers.

Weight loss is achieved by creating a sustained calorie deficit, consuming less calories than your require. This article will focus on ways to reduce the calories consumed, there are many articles which cover exercise for weight loss.

Generally an effective method of improving nutrition to stimulate weight loss is to reduce saturated fat and salt intake adding less processed foods and more fruit and vegetables.

Weight loss can be accomplished broadly in 2 ways:

• Reducing the energy density of your diet

• Reducing the size of portions

Eating foods with a high energy density have been shown to increase calorie intake and consequently lead to increased weight gain, known as passive over-consumption.

Convenience foods are highly energy dense, high in sugars and saturated fats, and provide the consumer with a relatively high amount of calories in a meal or snack. These energy dense foods may be simple to prepare, easily available, extremely tasty and relatively cheap but they are causing the consumer to consistently consume more calories than they require and causing weight gain.

Gram for gram Fats contain more than double the calories than both protein and carbohydrate. Reducing the fat in your diet can promote weight loss, which can be further improved by reductions in foods with added sugars and increasing the amount of fruit and vegetables consumed.

You may be thinking, I can substitute my high energy density foods with liquid calories, you would be mistaken. Alcohol, carbonated drinks and other high sugar drinks have a low satiety (they won't make you feel full) and minimal nutritional content. Studies have shown that people who consume a relatively large amount of high calorie liquids high a proportionally higher degree of weight gain.

From personal experience, consumption of alcohol and carbonated drinks seems to cause a perceived hunger, an insatiable appetite to be honest, which causes me to consume more food. Drinking a half litre of water before eating however has been shown to decrease the amount of calories consumed in the subsequent meal due to a greater feeling of fullness.

In essence, removing or reducing liquid calories from your diet would present a great way to reduce your calorie intake, thus increasing your calorie deficit and improving weight loss.

In Summary:

• Reduce saturated fats in your diet

• Eat less foods which contain added sugars

• Consume more whole (or less processed) foods

• Increase your intake of Fruit and Vegetables

• Reduce liquid calories

Simply, the more you eat the more calories you will consume, leading to increased weight gain.

We are the supersize generation; we are consuming a lot more food in our meals than ever before. Portion size has gone out of control. More than ever we are bombarded with gargantuan portions, foot longs, supersize meals, family size buckets. There has also has been an increase in the emergence of Buffet style restaurants offering all you can eat. Many people take this as a challenge, particularly when in larger social groups.

Many people have been brought up to clear their plates, food wastage was not tolerated and as a people we have become accustomed to eating all that is placed in front of us.

We are also conditioned to eating until we feel full, which can also lead to overeating. It takes around 20 minutes for your body to register it is satisfied and no more food is required, which potentially gives a long period of overeating in each meal.

I remember being told "your eyes are bigger than your belly"!

To reverse this trend we need to reduce the size of our meal portions while maintaining the fullness factor. This requires a change in our attitude to food; eat to live as opposed to live to eat.

Recently men's health magazine had a guide to portion size which was very simple and effective.

• A portion of nuts should fit in a cupped hand

• A portion of starchy grains should be a big as your palm

• Your stomach is approximately the size of 2 clenched fists; your meal portions should be no bigger than both your clenched fists.

• A chicken breast should be as big as your palm and four fingers, any more than a handful is a waste!

Reducing the portion size of your current meals may leave your experiencing physical hunger, which needs to be avoided to prevent your body going into a "starvation mode" and refusing to burn body fat.

Adding low density high satiety foods, such as vegetables or fibre rich carbohydrate can increase the feeling of fullness without the higher calories. Fibre also slows the digestion of the carbohydrates, giving a slower release of energy over a longer period, reducing the need for snacking.

Make no mistake, losing weight is hard work. Not only does it require a change to your diet but also a change in your attitude to food; seeing nutrition as the fundamental step in losing and maintaining a healthy weight.