If losing weight were actually easy, it wouldn't be a multibillion-dollar industry -- people would be doing fine without help, advice or expensive products. But some of the best methods for sustainable and healthy weight loss represent simple and easy changes from a less nutritious regular routine.
Avoid Refined Carbohydrates
Refined grain carbohydrates are not much better for your health and weight than eating pure sugar, according to Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health. Because they break down so quickly into blood glucose, they cause wild spikes in your blood sugar -- causing pancreatic stress now and food cravings later. By cutting out foods made from refined grains, such as white breads, baked potatoes and white rice, you can reduce your calorie load and decrease your snacking throughout the day.
Fill Up on Vegetables
Vegetables are on the top of the healthy eating and weight loss list for two reasons. They're relatively low in calories compared to their mass, and they're very high in important nutrients by the same metric. The USDA food pyramid recommends eating vegetables "in abundance." Willett refines this recommendation by suggesting that you aim to eat different colors of vegetables each day. Color is the simplest guide to the nutrients in a specific veggie, so a rainbow of servings means well-rounded nutrition.
Don't Drink Your Calories
This advice comes from health researcher and self-professed "nutrition geek" Timothy Ferriss. According to Ferriss, people rarely pay attention to the calorie content of what they drink, and might be surprised by how many calories they take in from milk and fruit juice -- not to mention sugary sodas and milkshakes. Instead of these drinks throughout the day, Ferris and celebrity personal trainer Bill Phillips recommend water or unsweetened iced tea.
Eat More Often
If you change your eating schedule from three moderate meals to six small ones, you can even out your blood sugar levels over the course of the day. Even blood sugar means fewer snack cravings, which means you eat less. This approach to meal planning also works from a nutritional standpoint, since between-meal snacks are usually less nutritious than planned meals.
Use Smaller Plates
Willett reports that the single most prominent determiner of how much people eat in America is how much food they are given. Food researcher Brian Wansink, author of "Mindless Eating," supports this claim with research that shows people eating off of smaller plates eat fewer calories per meal -- even when they have the option of going back for more. Trade in your dinner plates for a lunch or coffee dish for a noticable difference in how much you eat.
Drink Water
Phillips recommends drinking a large glass of water before each meal. This fills your stomach with a zero-calorie fluid, leaving you feeling fuller sooner. He also recommends this as your first response to hunger cravings between meals. For the same reasons it helps at meal times, it can curb a growling stomach until your scheduled eating times.
Take a Multivitamin
Willett recommends a multivitamin as the cheapest form of health insurance available. Since it's difficult to truly guarantee a full regimen of dietary nutrition every day, the multivitamin fills in any nutritional holes left by your diet. According to Willett, this tip is even more important for people on a calorie-restricted diet, since they're more likely to miss out on important nutrition.
References
- "Eat, Drink and Be Healthy"; Walter Willett, et al; 2004
- "Body for Life"; Bill Phillips; 1999
- "The Four Hour Body"; Timothy Ferriss; 2010
- "Mindless Eating"; Brian Wansink; 2009
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