Top 5 Foods to Avoid for Weight Loss
Weight loss is one of the largest challenges that we face on a daily
basis. Whether you’re trying to lose some weight for your friend's
wedding, or you simply want to take off a couple of pounds, making the
lifestyle changes needed to lose weight is something we all struggle
with.
Losing weight is not as simple as eating less. Chances are
if you’ve been eating unhealthy food for the past couple years, your
body has adapted to poor sources of calories. Simply switching your
intake to cleaner, whole foods may make a big difference.
The
difficulty is: how do you determine which foods are best for weight
loss? How do you know what's going to work best for you from day one?
Here are some of the most effective ways to ensure you are losing weight and keeping it off.
Emphasize Balance in Your Diet
One
of the biggest mistakes that many people make when they start a new
diet program is to remove a specific food from their diet. Whether you
try a high-fat diet and remove most of your carbs or try a high-carb
diet and limit your intake of fat ‒ both can be harmful to your health
and weight loss.
Although these methods may work in the
short-term, helping you lose some weight in a couple of weeks, as the
months progress you may see a plateau. For this reason, it is always
best to emphasize a balance of all food groups.
Consistent weight loss will come when you create a caloric deficit - that is, taking in less calories than you burn off.
After
you’ve found balance in your diet, consider keeping a few, more harmful
foods out of your diet whenever possible. Check out these top 5 foods
to avoid for weight loss.
5 Foods to Avoid:
Fatty meats.
We all love bacon and ribs ‒ but to a certain extent, these foods come
with a high caloric value and a low nutritional yield.
Limiting
your intake of fatty meats like beef and pork and substituting fish,
turkey, beans, and other lean meats can help to lower your intake of
saturated fats and total calories.
Processed sweets. Halloween is
the only exception to this rule. Processed sweets like candy, donuts,
muffins, and cakes all contain high amounts of calories with low
nutritional value.
They are also loaded with trans fats, perhaps the worst fat you can consume for overall health.
Processed
grains. Humans have developed over thousands of years to eat whole
grains, yet the past generation of food processing has stripped grains
of nutrition and can lead to weight gain.
Limiting your intake of
foods such as white bread, flour tortillas, ready-made cereals, and
other processed grains can lead to stronger overall health, faster
weight loss, and better digestion.
Whole creams. Many people
enjoy a nice cappuccino, but the extra amount of high-fat dairy is
detrimental for your daily calorie needs.
Limiting your
consumption of high-fat dairy products like ice cream, whole milk, and
full-fat yogurt could be a step in the right direction if you are
looking for long-term weight loss.
Fruit juices. Eating whole
fruit will never be an issue, yet fruit juices are loaded with added
sugar and preservatives that have no place in your daily calories.
The
added sugar can cause inflammation which leads to weight gain, and the
extra calories are not needed. For best results, try making your own
fruit juice smoothies. You’ll likely find no need for the added sugars.
Emphasize Moderation
These
food recommendations are foods that are generally quite high in
calories. At the end of the day, your weight loss will come down to the
total amount of calories you consume and your ability to maintain a
calorie deficit throughout the weeks.
Do your best to emphasize
moderation in your food. Simply put, all food is good when it is
consumed at the right time and the right amount.