

Top 10 Diets Your body will lose 1 pound for every 3,500 calories you shave from your diet. The most painless way to accomplish this is by simple eating 500 fewer calories a day - or burning off that many - or some combination of both. Sound easy? It is. To prove it, here are our top 10 diets tips to illustrate just how easy losing weight this way can be: Keep your pantry and fridge well stocked Most weight-loss attempts fail because of poor planning. If your refrigerator and pantry lack a variety of healthful, lower calorie foods, you will grab whatever is handy when you get hungry. If you buy chips, candy, ice-cream, and other fattening treats when you shop, that's what you will eat when your blood sugar dips and makes you hungry. So if you shop a little smarter, you will naturally eat the good stuff when you arrive home as hungry as a bear. Planning is the most important among our top 10 diets. Eat five times a day Most people trying to lose weight don't eat breakfast. Many skip lunch as well. So by 5 p.m. they are ravenous and often consume more calories at dinner than they would if they ate three sensible meals a day. They have also thrown their bodies into fat-hoarding mode by eating a giant meal. Eating three meals a day and snacking in between controls your hunger and prevents your blood sugar levels from dipping too low, which makes you want to eat, eat, eat. Dinner is the largest meal of the day for most people. Unfortunately, this works against weight loss. In laboratory studies, animals who consumed most of their calories at night gained more weight than those taking in an equal number of calories throughout the day. Reason? The body's secretion of insulin peaks in the evening and extra insulin ensures that more of the calories you eat will be stored as fat. You will lose weight more easily if you eat more of your calories at breakfast and lunch and fewer at dinner. And this strategy ranks second in our top 10 diets. Eat lean protein with every meal Protein curbs hunger more effectively than fat or carbohydrates. If you want to test this yourself, have a bagel for breakfast, then clock how long it takes before you are feeling hungry again. The next morning, eat that same bagel slathered with a tablespoon or two of peanut butter. You will see that this extra protein will keep you full for at least an additional two hours. Try to eat at least 15 to 20 grams of protein with every meal – and more is even better. You will get that much from one egg or a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, a Sonic burger for lunch, and one of Wendy’s Mandarin Chicken Salads for supper. When you find yourself hungry an hour or two after eating, it means you probably need to up the amount of protein in your meals. This strategy ranks third in our top 10 diets. Get enough good fat Many so-called experts advise you to reduce the fat in your diets. However, between 25 and 30 percent of your daily calories should come from fat – yet always in the form of fish, nuts, olive oil, or other sources of healthful fats. Adequate amounts of fat cause your metabolism to operate more efficiently, burning calories instead of storing them. As a bonus, it also promotes the absorption of fat-soluble nutrients such as vitamin D, vitamin K, and coenzyme Q10. This strategy ranks forth in our top 10 diets. Don’t depend on white carbohydrates This means white rice, pasta, white bread, and other starchy foods. There is nothing wrong with eating these foods on occasion. And I am not suggesting you peel the white bun off a burger and toss it in the trash, but white carbohydrates raise your blood sugar almost as fast as pure sugar does. After this initial spike, massive amounts of insulin are released into the bloodstream to quickly move the blood sugar into your muscles, your liver, and your brain. Once the blood sugar is removed, you not only feel hungry again but will crave more carbohydrates. Additionally, refined white carbs encourage your metabolism to turn excess calories into fat and store them in your fat cells. Eating these foods in the evening when insulin is higher almost guarantees weight gain. This strategy ranks fifth in our top 10 diets. Take it home This one simple tip could save you several hundred calories per meal. Studies reveal that tend to eat as much as 40 percent more when they dine out. You actually eat less by having a take-out meal and bringing it home. In addition, eating fast food at home gives you the option of serving up healthier side dishes along with the main course, such as salads or steamed vegetables. This strategy ranks sixth in our top 10 diets. Order dressing on the side This might sound trivial, but it’s often the condiments and restaurant side orders, especially salad dressing, that can really pack on extra pounds. Consider a salad topped with Newman’s Own Ranch Dressing Offered at McDonald’s. The dressing alone has 170 calories. Order it on the side and drizzle on only a small amount. This strategy ranks seventh in our top 10 diets. Eat slowly – and mindfully A lot of the calories we consume are “mindless” calories. There are the results of automatic, hand-to-mouth feeding when we are occupied with other things, like snacking in front of the TV or wolfing down calories at a bar. Eating on the run – when your stomach has no time to catch up with your brain – almost guarantees that you will take in more calories than you would if you sat down and really enjoyed your food. Rapid eating is a sure-fire way to take in excess calories. Here’s why: once your stomach’s stretch receptors sense that it is close to being full, they send a signal can take as long as twenty minutes to get there. So people who eat quickly tend to consume a lot of extra calories before their brains get the message. Here’s how to avoid this:
This strategy ranks 8 in our top 10 diets. Take smaller portions Forgot those hard-to-remember rules about portion sizes. They don’t work, because everyone requires different amounts of food. However, taking a little less than you think you want generally works. Studies show that people typically overestimate the amount of food they need – but once it’ s on their plate they eat it, even if they’ve already had enough. This strategy ranks 9 in our top 10 diets. Plan on seconds That’s right, I said “seconds”, this clever trick works in two ways. First, you can take a little less with your first helping without feeling like you’re dieting. Second, putting some time between a first and second helping gives your brain time to receive your stomach’s “I’m full” signal. Because we’ ve been so conditional since childhood to clean our plates and not waste food, we usually eat what’s in front of us even if we’re not really hungry. A smaller second serving will help you steer clear of these extra calories. This tips helps shrink the size of your stomach without making you feel deprived. Your stomach actually stretches when you indulge yourself with heaping first servings on a regular basis. This trains it to need large amounts of food to become satisfied. Cutting down your serving sizes reverses the process, actually reducing the size of your stomach and triggering chemical reactions in your brain that lessen your body’s demand for food. This strategy ranks 10 in our top 10 diets. |
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