Eating Healthily and Not Losing Weight?
Many people may think that they consume a healthy diet. However, they may only consider the quality of the food; that is if they are consuming low-fat or sugar-free products. But good nutrition goes far beyond these parameters.
For proper nutrition to achieve the desired effects (losing weight, is usually the most important), factors such as, chewing food properly also enter the equation.
Eating well is part of a healthy lifestyle. It’s also essential to keep your stress levels as low as possible. Exercising regularly is also important.
Not getting hungry
Although it’s a traditional concept, some people think that a balanced diet is, among other things, synonymous with going hungry. Or at least, it involves reducing the intake of food to the minimum amount possible.
Although eating without control or any limits isn’t healthy, the other side of the coin is not healthy either. After all, extremes are almost always as bad. When it comes to food, there are no exceptions; you should eat in a balanced way, without abuse, but without going hungry.
In addition, to trying to slim down, to dramatically restrict your food intake is a contradiction. If the body receives less fuel (food), it will regulate the internal metabolism (it will enter into ‘saving mode’), so burning calories will become much more difficult.
You eat well if you eat on time
The body needs to constantly replenish energy; it doesn’t stop working even during periods of sleep and rest. Therefore, essential nutrients from food are needed at all times
Eating at odd hours will cause the body to exhaust its reserves of proteins, vitamins or minerals; These elements are essential to continue functioning. And if those provisions are not replaced, problems appear; lack of energy or anemia are just some of the consequences.
Most specialists advise scheduling five meals to eat throughout the day. The main ones are: breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus two snacks or small meals between meals. It is not advisable to go for more than 180 minutes without consuming any food.
Do not skip any food group
Except for specific cases, where some ingredients are unhealthy, even fatal for an individual, you should try to eat foods from all food groups. In the right amounts, carbohydrates, fats, and sugars are necessary.
What is important to remember is that resorting to ‘light’ foods does not mean that you are eating well. Most of these products don’t offer anything positive for the body, and they often replace sugar with chemical compounds of dubious quality.
Dinners that are too light: a common mistake
It’s important to opt for easy-to-digest foods at dinner time. Flours or red meats should be avoided as much as possible. However, that doesn’t mean that you have to choose only ultra-light meals, such as lettuce, salads or a cup of yogurt.
In addition to being in debt for the dose of nutrients that must be replaced, the low levels of satiety provided by these meals will cause a sensation of inconsolable hunger during the next day.
By eating meals that are too light, it will be difficult to avoid the temptation of constant snacking on sugar-rich foods, in a desperate attempt to calm anxiety.
Eating fruit salads for a meal isn’t a good idea either. Although they provide a high amount of nutrients and water, they also represent an important source of sugars. Therefore, putting more than two fruits together in one dish is not entirely recommended.
The formula to lose weight: balanced diet and physical activity
When the goal is to subtract weight from the scale, not only do you have to worry about eating well, it’s also necessary to keep a consistent workout routine, which allows the body to burn calories.
Physical activity also promotes an increase in body mass, which also results in an increase in metabolism, an essential requirement to maintain weight. Forty-five minutes of aerobic exercise, three times a week, is considered ideal.
