Basic Foundations of a Healthy Diet Program
3 min readLosing weight isn’t rocket science, but why is it so hard? On first glance, you might think there aren’t that many diet plans out there, but in reality, there are millions of weight loss programs and systems available to you! Sadly, there are a lack of effective diet programs. By ‘effective’ diet programs, I mean programs that not only help you lose the weight, but keep it off permanently.
There are some common sense tenets of weight loss. If you are serious about losing weight, you can’t continue eating junk foods. To achieve weight loss, the junk foods have to go, and you must start eating clean foods. By ‘clean foods’, I mean foods that are in their natural state, and not processes, chemically altered or derived. Clean foods ensure you get the proper nutrition your body needs along with the reduction of calories.
One common myth based on some recent popular diet programs, is that you have to avoid all carbohydrates. This doesn’t make sense, your body needs carbs as its primary source of energy. The trick to weight loss is to discard the simple carbs like sugar, processed foods, white flour, and potatoes, and replace them with complex, low-GI carbs such as whole grain breads, wheat pasta, etc…
All fats are not evil! Don’t avoid fats, your body needs the proper amount of healthy fats in order to lose weight – fats such as almonds, flaxseeds, olive oils, etc.
Balance is key. Your diet must contain the proper amounts of carbohydrates, protein, fiber, healthy fats, minerals and vitamins. You have to eat enough, don’t starve yourself. If you don’t eat enough, it will have the opposite effect. Our bodies are amazing machines – it detects we aren’t getting enough nutrition and enters starvation mode. In starvation mode, your body shuts down your energy, and stores any nutrition it gets as body fat, in order to preserve itself for anticipated periods of no food. So the key is, eat the right amount, not more, but not less either. The right diet program will give you the tools to calculate what that proper amount is.
Fad diet programs are what’s hot! But most of them focus on ‘rapid weight loss’, which in truth, is a big myth. These programs prey on the desperate, gullible people who are looking for instant gratification. Once they spend their money, and after the first few weeks of losing a few pounds, they realize it’s unsustainable, and gain the weight right back (if not more). These programs are a waste of money, time, and effort, and usually have the opposite effect of discouraging future weight loss attempts.
A diet program must be tailored to you, your lifestyle, your metabolism, your goals and objectives. Just because a friend recommends a diet program that worked for him or her, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will work for you. Your friends have their own personal beliefs and experiences, different metabolism rates, different objectives, etc. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ diet program, unless you find one that is completely customizable and adaptable (there are some that exist!). It may also be that you need to combine three or four different plans into one. Find what works for you, and take out the best of each, changing and modifying them to fit your needs!
With the right knowledge, you can chose the right program for you. The program that fits your goals, works for your metabolism, and easily fit into your lifestyle. Put in your research, and choose your plan wisely, and you’ll be on your way for life changing weight loss and a new you!
