How to Get Started with Weight Loss and Food

Weight loss is the topic of the moment. However, while we want to lose a little weight, most people don’t know how to go about it.

What is the hardest part of losing weight? I used to think it was exercise, but choosing what foods to eat is even harder. Why? When you start to exercise, the body takes care of itself. The muscles are worked and they in turn start to grow and reshape themselves.

With food, it is a different story. We truly are what we eat. Making poor food choices can set us back with our fitness goals. It can be frustrating when you have to continually worry about what you are eating. Each bite can be distressing.

Well, we are about to do away with all that. If you don’t remember anything else, commit to memory that food is not the enemy. No food in and of itself is bad. As long as we practice portion control, we can eat almost anything in moderation. For most foods, there are substitutions to make it a healthier meal.

As long as we are familiar with the basics of food, we can go about choosing foods that will be healthier for us to eat. Let’s start with carbohydrates. The news would have us believe there are good carbs and bad carbs. In reality, there are carbs that are digested more efficiently by your body and those that are not. A combination of the two will help us throughout the day.

Simple carbohydrates are digested quickly. Things like candy bars and sugary snacks are used up quickly which is why we get bursts of energy after we eat these things but then we crash and burn an hour later. With complex carbohydrates, the body takes longer to break them down so their energy is released throughout the day to keep our blood sugar steady. These include fiber-rich foods, whole grains, bran, and other grains. The one exception is refined white flour products.

Protein is meats, fish, and legumes. Beans are a good substitute for eating animal protein. They are high in protein and low in fat and cholesterol. Instead of adding hamburger to your salsa dip, put some black beans and garbanzo beans with a little cilantro into the mix for a tangy taste. Protein fuels the muscles and other cellular functions in the body.

Last is fat. Not much to say about that. Fat tastes good. That’s why we like it so much. Unfortunately, it also fills those fat stores in our body. Did you know that there is no limit to the amount of fat that can fit into those cells? For that reason alone, we need to learn how food works so we can keep our weight under control.

Use the information here to help you choose foods that will help you to lose weight or maintain that weight loss.