When trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight, it can be difficult to know what to eat. You can choose from low-fat foods, low-carb foods and various diet foods. Following diets and eating special diet foods are not the best way to lose weight because they are only short-term solutions. In addition, the claims found on the packaging of some foods can be misleading. The best bet is to eat a wide variety of foods from all of the food groups while watching your calorie, fat, sugar and salt intake.
Low-Fat Foods
More and more low-fat or fat-free diet foods are finding their way onto supermarket shelves as consumers are looking to eat a diet that is heart healthy and diet friendly, and yet, obesity rates continue to climb. While certain products might be low-fat or fat-free, which is great for your heart, they might be high in calories due to added sugar and other carbs. Consuming low-fat, high-calorie foods can lead to weight gain and extra pounds, and can increase your risk of heart disease just as much as eating too much fat. The bottom line in weight loss is that calories count and instead of just going by the fat free labels on the packaging, read the actual nutritional label to see how much sugar, salt and calories each serving contains.
Packaged Diet Foods and Snacks
Eating a healthy diet takes planning and commitment. Counting calories, getting the right amount of fruits and vegetables, and controlling portion sizes can be time consuming. Many frozen diet meals, bars and shakes can help in a pinch, but it is best not to consume these products on a regular basis. Store-bought smoothies, while healthy; can contain up to 1,000 calories per serving; frozen diet foods can be high in sodium and low in nutrients; and diet bars might contain the same or even more sugar than a candy bar, the Cleveland Clinic reports. Occasionally using a diet food or product to help you stay on track might be OK, but in the long run, aim to prepare meals and smoothies at home using fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy products. Healthy homemade meals are more nutritious and often contain far fewer calories, salt, fat and sugar than diet foods.
Rapid Weight Loss Plans
Many diet plans on the market claim to promote fast weight loss. They might require you to limit certain food groups, such as carbs; only allow you to eat a specific food, such as grapefruit; or you might need to replace meals with shakes, bars or other prepackaged foods. These kinds of plans are often too restrictive to stay on for the long haul, and most users end up abandoning the plan just to return to old eating habits. In addition, rapid weight loss of three or more pounds a week can lead to gallstones, ketosis, kidney disease, heart-rhythm abnormalities and other conditions, according to the Weight Control Information Network.
Instead, the focus should be on a well-balanced diet that includes a wide variety of foods, so that healthy eating becomes a way of life vs. a short-term diet. Unless under a doctor's care, a good plan encourages slow and steady weight loss of about 1 to 2 lbs. per week.
Solution
Before you start any new diet or add diet foods into your meal plan, MayoClinic.com suggests talking to your doctor. Your overall health, risk for certain diseases, medications you might be taking and other factors all need to be taken into consideration. A general guideline is to focus on getting plenty of fruits and vegetables by adding as much color into your diet as possible. If buying fresh is not an option, go for canned or frozen products with no or little added salt, sugar, creams or juices. Choose whole grains over refined grains, as this will help you meet your daily fiber needs, and fit in some low-fat or fat-free dairy or soy products to round out your meal plan.
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