Diet...

Diet


Many young people go on a crash diet to lose weight without knowing

the adverse effects that it can cause on your body. The notion that the
solution to weight loss is a crash diet or the ability to stay off food is
totally wrong and erroneous and should be avoided as it leads to serious
health problems. To lose weight you need not deprive yourself of food or
starve yourself. The solution is moderation and it involves making five
simple changes in your daily food habits.

1. Don't torture your body. You might think that the less you eat the more
you will lose weight. You might go on an extremely low calorie diet and
completely avoid anything that carries high calories. Well you will lose
weight but then your body will be weak. If you make a habit of consuming
fewer calories than your body requires, your body will automatically go
into the 'starvation mode', which will definitely result into weight loss but
you will be losing not fat but important components of your body like
water and muscle. Thus although your size and your weight goes down,
the fat still remains. With the result that you will experience lethargy,
weakness, Fatigue, hunger pangs, headaches and loss of concentration.
Thus try to avoid extremely low or extremely high calorie food intake.
Just stop torturing yourself.

2. Balance your diet. Eat more of low calorie high fiber foods such as
salads and fresh fruits with each meal. Avoid salad dressings. Eat more
of whole grain food and also try out vegetable soups, which are great if
you are on a diet. Avoid red meat (beef, pork, ham, sausage), organ meat
(liver, brain, kidney) and egg yolks since they are bad for your health as
they fall into the saturated fat category. These foods contain high level of
calories. Saturated fats, oily stuff, sweets, ice cream and chocolates
should be avoided as far as possible. Include sprouts in your food intake,
as they are rich in protein.

3. Don't skip meals. Don't commit the mistake of skipping meals. If you
are thinking that if you skip one meal you might work towards losing
some weight but it is quite the opposite. Because when you eat you tend
to eat more and this might work against all your efforts of losing weight.
Breakfast is one meal that's very important because as the first meal of
the day it helps you to raise your energy levels and provides you energy
for the rest of the day. Dinner should always be light. Your body burns
few calories while you sleep and if you consume excess calories at
dinner, it can easily get stored up in the body as fat.

4. Learn a few tricks.
Instead of eating three large meals in a day eat six small meals.
Drink two glasses of water prior to each meal.
Focus on eating. Relish the food you are eating and don't divert your
attention to anything else while you are having your meal.
Never eat while watching television since you don't keep track of how
much you are eating and you tend to eat more.
Chew each morsel thoroughly to liquid consistency. This will help digest
the food properly.
Pause for a moment before taking an extra serving.
Don't overeat and don't get swayed away by seeing your favourite food
served on the table, which might contain high calories.
When dining out avoid high calorie food.

5. Don't lose heart. Everyone's weight control efforts get sidetracked from
time to time. You might get fed up of going on a diet over and over again
without getting any result. Don't worry. It is important to remember that
temporary setbacks should, after the initial disappointment, serve as
stepping-stones to future success. Use your past failures as learning
experiences on the way to successful weight control. So pick yourself up
and go ahead do it this time.