Lack of education and information is one of the leading causes behind many weight loss failures. As a matter of fact, lack of education gives rise to several misconceptions and superstitions! One such misconception is regarding carbohydrates. People think that carbohydrates are all bad and that if one can reduce carbohydrate intake, or even better, totally avoid carbohydrates, then weight loss will be easy! However, that is completely wrong!
There are actually two types of carbohydrates, to simplify we'll call them the good and the bad. You should of course avoid the 'bad' carbohydrates but the 'good' ones will provide your body with much needed nutrition and energy. Here's a brief rundown on what types of carbs you should consume and which ones you should avoid to ensure fast weight loss!
1. The Bad Carbohydrates: In case you don't know, processed foods contain a lot of carbs. However they are bad carbs. These foods do contain some nutrition in their natural state but as soon as they are processed through their various stages, much of their nutrition and value is lost! What is left are empty calories which only make you fat and nothing else.
Examples of such foods are chips, white bread, pasta, soft drinks, cakes, biscuits, candies, etc. These foods should be avoided at all costs, if you are serious about weight loss, that is!
These processed foods contain a lot of sugar and as you might be aware, sugar is rich in calorie content. The more sugar you consume, the fatter you become! These foods offer very little nutrition to your body and since they have very little fiber content, they are easily converted by your body into fat deposits.
Apart from weight gain, eating processed foods regularly can also result in diabetes, since your blood sugar levels increase so much that it becomes extremely difficult for the insulin produced by your body to control it!
2. The Good Carbohydrates: So what are good carbohydrates? Good carbohydrates can usually be found in natural foods, such as raw fruits, vegetables, legumes, seeds, wholemeal pasta, wholegrain wheat, etc.
These foods contain carbs for sure but not the ones that would make you fat! Unlike the fast carbs contained in the processed foods, these are slow carbs which take a long time to digest; therefore, you don't get fat!
Plus they also contain a high amount of fiber. Fiber will keep you fuller for longer! If there was ever a natural way to suppress your appetite, then this is it!
Remember that not all carbs are bad. Making the right decision regarding carb consumption can result in quick weight loss!
Showing posts with label empty calories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label empty calories. Show all posts
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Why Low Calorie Diets Don't Work
If you are planning to follow a low calorie diet plan in order to lose weight/fat, here is some information you may find interesting, as to why they generally don't work.
So many people follow certain popular low calorie diet plans for a few weeks only to find out that they haven't lost much weight. They then feel that weight loss is impossible and they quit the diet program altogether!
The number one reason why low-calorie diet plans don't work is that when you eat low-calorie foods, your body basically remains malnourished. You feel sick and tired at all times. Forget about exercises, you don't have enough energy to complete even your regular activities. All these things happen because your metabolic rate is low!
If you want to lose weight successfully, you need to bear the following in mind:
Calories are not your enemies: Calories are not what you should avoid, calories are required to supply your body with the necessary nutrition and energy. When your body gets enough food, it'll increase your metabolic rate, which will automatically result in weight loss!
The bad calories are those that are contained in junk foods. So while you won't accumulate fat by eating 10 apples per day (even though a single apple contains almost 100 calories), you will surely get fat by eating 10 burgers!
That is the basic difference! You need to avoid empty calories (that is, junk foods) and embrace negative calorie foods, such as fruits and vegetables. Now negative calorie doesn't mean that there are no calories in these foods, it only means that in order to digest them, these foods will force your body to burn more calories than they provide! This results in calorie deficit which will ultimately result in weight loss!
Muscle building is important: Do you know that in order to maintain themselves, muscles burn a lot of your calories? This in effect means that the more lean muscles you have, the faster you will be able to lose weight!
Eating protein-rich foods is a good way of building lean muscles; working out regularly in the gym is another. There is another advantage of eating protein-rich foods: you won't feel hungry as often, which reduces the likelehood of overeating.
When you eat low-calorie foods, you are not able to build muscle, instead you lose muscle. When your body doesn't have enough lean muscle it is not able to burn fat, since your metabolic rate remains at an abnormally low level. One more reason why low calorie diets don't work!
Most of these low calorie diets will only help you lose water and muscle. While you maybe misled into believing that you have actually lost several pounds, you have not lost the single most important thing that is keeping you from becoming slim: and that is FAT! Unless you lose fat, there is no way you can become fit!
So many people follow certain popular low calorie diet plans for a few weeks only to find out that they haven't lost much weight. They then feel that weight loss is impossible and they quit the diet program altogether!
The number one reason why low-calorie diet plans don't work is that when you eat low-calorie foods, your body basically remains malnourished. You feel sick and tired at all times. Forget about exercises, you don't have enough energy to complete even your regular activities. All these things happen because your metabolic rate is low!
If you want to lose weight successfully, you need to bear the following in mind:
Calories are not your enemies: Calories are not what you should avoid, calories are required to supply your body with the necessary nutrition and energy. When your body gets enough food, it'll increase your metabolic rate, which will automatically result in weight loss!
The bad calories are those that are contained in junk foods. So while you won't accumulate fat by eating 10 apples per day (even though a single apple contains almost 100 calories), you will surely get fat by eating 10 burgers!
That is the basic difference! You need to avoid empty calories (that is, junk foods) and embrace negative calorie foods, such as fruits and vegetables. Now negative calorie doesn't mean that there are no calories in these foods, it only means that in order to digest them, these foods will force your body to burn more calories than they provide! This results in calorie deficit which will ultimately result in weight loss!
Muscle building is important: Do you know that in order to maintain themselves, muscles burn a lot of your calories? This in effect means that the more lean muscles you have, the faster you will be able to lose weight!
Eating protein-rich foods is a good way of building lean muscles; working out regularly in the gym is another. There is another advantage of eating protein-rich foods: you won't feel hungry as often, which reduces the likelehood of overeating.
When you eat low-calorie foods, you are not able to build muscle, instead you lose muscle. When your body doesn't have enough lean muscle it is not able to burn fat, since your metabolic rate remains at an abnormally low level. One more reason why low calorie diets don't work!
Most of these low calorie diets will only help you lose water and muscle. While you maybe misled into believing that you have actually lost several pounds, you have not lost the single most important thing that is keeping you from becoming slim: and that is FAT! Unless you lose fat, there is no way you can become fit!
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