If you want to lose weight, you need to consume fewer calories than your body needs. This usually means consuming less food. But no one wants to go through the day feeling hungry or deprived. Researchers have thus looked for ways to help dieters feel full on fewer calories. Fortunately for dieters, they have discovered a few tricks for creating satisfying diet meals that can help you lose weight.
Controversies
For many years, nutritionists recommended a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet. Other diets followed, promising lasting weight loss through higher-fat Mediterranean diets or high-protein diets. These diets hold the advantage of allowing meats, cheeses, butter, oils and nuts, which low-fat diets discourage. The New England Journal of Medicine reports that these alternatives provide equally successful weight-loss results while Johns Hopkins claims such diets can also promote heart health. The American Heart Association, however, does not yet endorse either of these alternatives, citing evidence that high-fat and high-protein diets increase risk for heart disease and other ailments.
Consensus
Health experts agree that replacing processed foods with vegetables and fruit not only helps you lose weight, but also improves your health. Fresh and frozen produce provides fiber and a wide range of vitamins and minerals. Including more nutritious food with every meal will help you better meet dietary recommendations on fewer calories. Nutrient-dense food may even help reduce cravings and increase satiety, according to Dr. Joel Fuhrman, author of Eat to Live.
Tricks
To control your appetite, choose meals low on the glycemic index. The glycemic index rates foods according to how quickly the body digests them. Foods with a high GI digest quickly and cause a steep rise and fall in blood sugar--which leaves you hungry soon after you eat. Meals with a low glycemic index digest more slowly and create a gentle rise and fall of blood sugar. Balanced meals that contain protein, fiber and fat as well as carbohydrates have a low GI rating. Foods that contain mostly refined flours or sugars have a high GI rating.
Pitfalls
Don't sabotage your diet by trying to eat too little or by skipping meals. This may seem like a good way to reduce calories, but if you get too hungry you leave yourself vulnerable to cravings and binges. You can, however, beat this trend and reduce calories by adding low-calorie soup to a meal. Science News reports that adding soup to a meal tricks the brain into thinking you have eaten more calories than you have. This is because the body registers the water weight of soup as food. Drinking water with a meal does not have the same effect.
Food Preparation
If you're accustomed to eating refined grains and fast foods your palate may not be accustomed to the flavors and textures of healthier food. Help Guide advises dieters to make changes slowly and steadily, building upon each one as it becomes habit. You may also find yourself pleasantly surprised if you take the time to really taste and enjoy the complex flavors and textures of freshly prepared meals with real food ingredients. For inspiration in the kitchen, look to the plant-based cuisines of East Asia, India, the Middle East and the Mediterranean.
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