Posts tagged B Vitamins

The market today is full of fad diets. There are many of them… too many! Have you already tried Jenny Craig? How about Atkins? Did you give Every Other Day Diet a swing? Each one swears to get you to the promised land of easy and fast weight loss. But what diet can you truly trust? All these choices are actually bad for us. In “The Paradox of Choice”, Barry Schwartz contends that too many choices hurt us and make us feel more constrained, not free. At the end of the day, who can promise us we made the right choice? How do we screen out the bad diet choices that will only hurt us in the long run?

These 4 criteria are meant to be realistic and healthy criteria to use when choosing your new eating habits:

Protein:

There’s not a cell in your body that doesn’t require protein.
- Your hair and your nails are made primarily of protein
- Your body uses protein to build and repair tissues
- Enzymes, hormones and other body chemicals all need protein
- Protein is an important building block of bones, muscles, cartilage, skin, and blood
- Food high in protein will also provide you with zinc, iron, and B vitamins.

Protein is an essential building block of your body… and it also plays a very important role in weight loss. It helps you build muscle faster. You should consume about 0.15-0.25 grams of protein per pound of your body weight after a workout to get the most of the muscle building benefits out of that workout. Having more muscle is not only healthy, it also speeds up your metabolism, so in the end you gain less weight.

Carbohydrates:

When it comes to long term weight loss success, Carbohydrates are a critical part of any diet. There are low Carbohydrate diets out there – and they are only good for the short term. I won’t be tempted to go on diet that include too low an intake of Carbohydrates. What is too low? Under 30 grams a day. A diet that has you eating less than that is unhealthy for you, and will only produce short term results, where in the long run you will gain the weight back.

Where should your Carbohydrate intake come from? “Whole grains”. Whole grains contain B vitamins and fiber. They are also a great source of energy. It’s a good idea not to eat refined grain products.

Dairy:

Why dairy? For one, dairy products are an extra source of protein. By eating enough dairy foods you are also providing your body with Vitamin D and calcium There were researches done on the effects of dairy products and calcium on weight loss. What was found is that calcium breaks down fat cells on the cellular level. This increases your metabolism and helps you lose weight.

Fats:

Try avoiding saturated fats as much as possible.Diets high in saturated fat have been correlated with an increased incidence of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease. There is more reason to avoid saturated fat: it has more calories than monounsaturated fats. Monounsaturated fats are the “good” fats. Try eating those while cutting down on saturated fats.

I hope these guidelines were helpful for you. I have one last advice: Try staying positive and motivated. It’s really important Visualize the end result you want to achieve. Think of the reasons you are trying to lose weight. Maybe you’re a parent trying to lose weight and get healthy to live long enough to enjoy life with your kids, and maybe you just want to feel proud of yourself when you look at the mirror. Whatever the case may be, keep your reasons and goals in mind, and stay motivated. Don’t just have long term goals. You need milestones as well. Something realistic you can aspire to achieve in the near future. Then, when you get to one of these milestones, you will feel proud of yourself, and that proud feeling will keep you motivated.