Your commitment to eating only health-giving foods is a determining factor in the maintenance of your body's ideal weight. Being unable to allocate the time needed to shop, cook and prepare healthy foods is most often the culprit which can compel you to eat foods which you are not supposed to eat.
Here are six natural ways which can help you to lose weight:
1. Weigh less by eating more
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asserts that it is the amount of food intake, not calories, that make a person full.
In order to ward off hunger due to deprivation, you have to reduce your fat intake and increase your consumption of fiber-rich foods in order to get filled while you reduce your calories at the same time. Eating foods rich in antioxidants, fiber, potassium, calcium and zinc does not make you fat but it makes you full.
2. Don't deprive yourself too much
Extreme dieting is not a healthy method of losing weight. It doesn't make you lose weight in the long term either. Depriving yourself too much only causes you to crave for the "forbidden" foods even more. You don't have to be too hard on yourself. You have to give yourself a treat on certain occasions.
3. Strength train
Strength training is one of the most effective ways of burning calories. This type of training builds muscles and burns up to 50 calories per pound in one day. Martina Navratilova, a tennis icon of the 70s and 80s stated that by gaining five pounds of muscle, you can remove 26 pounds of fat in one year.
When you do strength training, you have to consume lots of protein-rich foods. These can add to your muscle building and weight loss program.
4. Minimize meat, eat more vegetables and fruits
Meat and poultry products are rich sources of protein but they can be very expensive aside from the negative effects they can give to your body when eaten on a regular basis for long periods.
You should minimize meat to avoid cholesterol and its other unhealthy contents. Make your meals healthy with 70 percent vegetables and fruits and only 30 percent animal protein.
5. Plan your meals
Control your food intake by planning your meals ahead. Spend time on weekends to shop for your food for the week. Be sure to include fruits, cut-up fresh vegetables and protein-rich nuts. You can consume these without taking in too much calorie.
When you eat, you should do it slowly. You have to savor your food and feel how good its tastes in your mouth. This will help to curb mindless eating. Strive to get satisfied and not full with what you eat.
