Keys to Long-term Weight-loss Maintenance

Keys to Long Term Weightloss Maintenance

Many people struggle to maintain weight loss long-term. While fad-diets and four-week bikini-body boot camps might help you drop pounds, keeping weight off is challenging. Research shows that 95% of dieters regain lost weight within one to five years, with up to two-thirds of dieters gaining more weight than they lost dieting

While a large number struggle to maintain weight loss long-term, quite a number actually maintain theirs, and some of the traits and strategies that can help increase your chances of successfully maintaining a healthy weight are highlighted below.
These and other long-term strategies discussed below can help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight.

 

1. Ditch Diets for Lifestyle Change
Diets don’t work and can even be harmful in long-term weight loss maintenance.
For sustainable weight loss, focus on healthier alternatives, lifestyle changes and metabolism jumpstarts. Diets often represent a black-and-white, all-or-nothing approach. Lifestyle changes are more broad, generalizable and adaptable to your situations and needs. Some examples of long-term lifestyle changes you might adopt include eating vegetables with every meal and snack, or pairing carbohydrates with protein or fat to manage blood sugar levels.

2. Self-monitor
You can’t change a behavior unless you know what, when and why it’s happening. Monitoring how much you eat and exercise helps raise your awareness about your body.
This is quite important, and this is why on my 21 Days Metabolism Jumpstart, one of the results is that participants are able to determine any hidden food sensitivities that are causing you to hold onto weight and they get to learn which foods fuel their body, so they can feel energized, clear and confident.

A sample food log might include the following:
• What you ate
• How much you ate
• What you were thinking or feeling before you ate
• How much time it took you to eat
• What you were doing while you ate (e.g., watching television, answering emails)
• What you were thinking or feeling after you ate (physically and emotionally)
• Level of fullness or satiation after eating

3. Seek Support
Social support is critical for long-term behavior change. With supportive friends and family, healthy eating and exercise become fun group activities that foster adherence and enjoyment. If your inner circle finds carrots distasteful and exercise a bore, maintaining your healthy habits will be more challenging. Find a group of health-minded individuals (in person or online) with whom you can identify problems, brainstorm solutions, and offer and receive support. Long-term guidance from a health and fitness professional also improves weight-related outcomes. Maintaining contact with a qualified health coach can help you plan and prepare for success and overcome obstacles that may arise.

4. Don’t let Lapses become Relapses
Setbacks are normal. Planning for them can help you overcome setbacks when they occur. Consider possible barriers that may hinder your ability to be active or eat well (e.g., busy schedule, stress, financial issues) and brainstorm solutions to these barriers in advance.
Rather than berating yourself for “falling off the wagon,” view setbacks as opportunities for learning and growth. “Ugh, I ate so much ice cream last night. I knew I couldn’t do this!” instead becomes, “I wonder why I ate so much ice cream last night? Was I bored? Lonely? Stressed? Did I get enough to eat during the day?” With this, nothing is a failure and every “setback” is an opportunity to learn more about yourself and your needs.

5. Remember your Why
Weight loss is never truly about the weight — it’s about reducing some physical or emotional discomfort you feel. Once you’ve lost weight and feel better, it’s easy to fall back into old habits. Whether it’s to reduce your risk for heart disease, or feel more comfortable and confident in a swimsuit, figure out the “why” behind your weight loss and write it down. Place this note in plain view where you’ll see it frequently. This constant reminder can help you stick with healthy behaviors when the going gets tough.

It’s important to know that there’s no magic pill when it comes to weight-loss maintenance; rather, multiple lifestyle factors work together to preserve your weight and health. Focusing on sustainable eating changes, regular activity, social support and self-compassion in the face of setbacks is your best bet for achieving a healthy weight that lasts a lifetime.

Do you feel like you eat healthy and have tried lots of diets out there but still struggle to lose weight & actually keep it off? Or do you feel like you’re having trouble getting the weight loss started? And maybe you feel like the only way to lose weight is to follow a restrictive diet that leaves you feeling deprived? Which leaves you believing that you either have to live with the extra weight or you have to feel deprived all the time, there’s an easy way out for you and I have put it together for you in a program I named the Metabolism Jumpstart.

Just as it sounds, we’re literally going on a metabolism Jumpstart to help you revolutionize the way you think about food, and reshape your body from the inside out!

I want to show you how to throw out the fad diets that plague our society and teach you a simple system that really WORKS.

The 21 Days Metabolism Jumpstart starts November 20th and Registration ends soon.
Investment: #15,000

After payment of #15,000, you get the following;
• Complimentary 1hour free onboarding call with Coach Hafsah, currently worth #10,000.
• Daily protocol and guideline.
• Weekly meal plan.
• Weekly detox plan.
• Daily workout plan.
• Participant activity Journal.
• Daily toxin elimination bath.

 

What are you waiting for, click the link here to get started.

Share on:

Is There a Best Time to Drink Water?

is there a best time to drink water

 

There’s no doubt that water is essential to our health as humans.

Accounting for up to 75% of your body weight, water plays a key role in regulating everything from brain function to physical performance to digestion — and much more. Still, while it’s clear that drinking enough water is important to health, you may wonder whether timing matters.

This blog post takes a look at the evidence to evaluate the best time to drink water.

 

A. In the morning

Enjoying a glass of water first thing in the morning is a simple way to start your day off on the right foot.

Some may also find that drinking water right when they wake up makes it easier to maintain healthy hydration habits and increase fluid intake throughout the day.

If you’re dehydrated, increasing your daily water intake can help boost your hydration levels, which may be especially beneficial for improving mood, brain function, and energy levels.

However, while some may find that drinking water in the morning works for them, there’s no evidence to suggest that it’s any more beneficial to drink water in the morning than at other times during the day.

B. Before meals

Drinking a glass of water just before eating a meal is a great strategy if you’re trying to lose weight.

Doing so can not only help enhance feelings of fullness but also decrease your intake during that meal.

 

C. Before and after exercise

When you work out, you lose water and electrolytes through sweat.

Drinking plenty of water before and after exercising is important to keep your body hydrated and help replenish any lost fluids

Excessive fluid losses during your workout can also harm physical performance and cause electrolyte imbalances.

It’s recommended to drink water or an electrolyte drink after exercising to help replace any lost fluids and optimize performance and recovery

 

Irrespective of when you drink water, it should be noted that consistency is key. The body tightly regulates water balance during the day, and excess water is excreted out of the body via your skin, lungs, kidneys, and digestive system.

 

Try setting a timer to remind yourself to drink at regular intervals, and keep a glass of water on hand throughout the day to help you reach your goals.

 

In summary, note that enjoying a glass of water first thing in the morning may make it easier to maintain healthy habits and increase your daily water intake.

Share on:

Reasons Why You’re Always Hungry

slimfitu

Hunger is the body’s natural cue that it needs more food.

When you’re hungry, your stomach may “growl” and feel empty, or you may get a headache, feel irritable, or be unable to concentrate.

Most people can go several hours between meals before feeling hungry again, though this isn’t the case for everyone.

There are several possible explanations for this, including a diet that lacks protein, fat, or fiber, as well as excessive stress or dehydration.

This article discusses reasons for excessive hunger (as seen on www.healthline.com)

1. You’re not eating enough protein

Consuming enough protein is important for appetite control.

Protein has hunger-reducing properties that may help you automatically consume fewer calories during the day. It works by increasing the production of hormones that signal fullness and reducing the levels of hormones that stimulate hunger.

Due to these effects, you may feel hungry frequently if you’re not eating enough protein.

2. You’re not sleeping enough

Getting adequate sleep is extremely important for your health.

Sleep is required for the proper functioning of your brain and immune system, and getting enough of it is associated with a lower risk of several chronic illnesses, including heart disease and cancer.

To keep your hunger levels under control, it’s generally recommended to get at least 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night

3. You’re not drinking enough water

Drinking enough water has several health benefits, including promoting brain and heart health and optimizing exercise performance. Additionally, water keeps your skin and digestive system healthy. Water is also quite filling and has the potential to reduce appetite when consumed before meals.

Feelings of thirst can be mistaken for feelings of hunger. If you’re always hungry, it may help to drink a glass or two of water to find out if you are just thirsty.

To ensure you’re properly hydrated, simply drink water when you feel thirsty. Eating lots of water-rich foods, including fruits and vegetables, will also contribute to your hydration needs.

4. Your diet lacks fiber

Consuming lots of high-fiber foods helps keep hunger under control. High-fiber foods slow your stomach’s emptying rate and take longer to digest than low-fiber foods. Additionally, a high fiber intake influences the release of appetite-reducing hormones and the production of short-chain fatty acids, which have been shown to have fullness-promoting effects

Many different foods, such as oatmeal, sweet potatoes and oranges, are excellent sources of soluble fiber.

Not only does a high-fiber diet help reduce hunger, but it’s also associated with several other health benefits, such as a reduced risk of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity

5. You drink your calories

Liquid and solid foods affect your appetite in different ways.

If you consume a lot of liquid foods, such as smoothies, meal replacement shakes, and soups, you may be hungrier more often than you would be if you ate more solid foods.

One major reason for this is that liquids pass through your stomach more quickly than solid foods do

Eating liquid foods also tends to take less time than eating solid foods. This may lead you to want to eat more, only because your brain hasn’t had enough time to process fullness signals

 

Remember, excessive hunger is a sign that your body needs more food.

You may feel hungry frequently if your diet lacks protein, fiber, or fat, all of which promote fullness and reduce appetite. Extreme hunger is also a sign of inadequate sleep and chronic stress.

If you feel hungry often, it may be beneficial to assess your diet and lifestyle to determine if there are changes you can make to help you feel more full.

 

Are you like many others, who are tired of their current state and truly long and desire to live an wholesome and super healthy life, click on the link here to speak with me.

 

Hafsah,

www.slimfitu.com

Share on:

The Truth about Detoxing

Detox Myths

Thanks to much of what we hear in the media, detoxing has earned a reputation for being unhealthy and even unsafe. When you hear the word “detox,” so you immediately think of all-liquid diets, expensive supplements, and short-term deprivation for short-term gains?

The truth is, a detox doesn’t have to involve any of the above—and if you detox in a healthy, supportive manner, you can achieve lasting results in weight loss, energy gain, and full-body health.

The following are four myths you may have heard about detoxing. Understandably, these myths may cause you to be hesitant to try a detox.

Keep reading to find out the truth behind these myths and why detoxing might be just what your body is craving.

 

Myth # 1: You won’t enjoy anything you’re eating while on a detox.

While you might have to eliminate certain foods that you enjoy, detoxing isn’t all about eating lettuce with a drizzle of olive oil. There are many delicious recipes that can be prepared using healthy ingredients that not only taste amazing but nourish and detox your body.

The best part is, many of them don’t involve any fancy ingredients and can be prepared even by a cooking novice. In fact, my detox participants always discover new foods and recipes that they absolutely love that have become staples in their diets long after the detox ends.

 

Myth #2:  You’ll constantly be hungry while detoxing.

While you might end up consuming fewer calories while following a detox, you shouldn’t feel deprived or hungry. Going on an extremely low-calorie diet can actually disrupt your hormones and metabolism, making your body less efficient in the long run.

Everyone’s caloric needs are different, so a detox should never dictate how many calories you consume. By consuming whole foods that provide you with the right nutrients, you help detox your body while feeling satisfied.  My participants are always amazed that they never feel hungry during my detoxes.

 

Myth #3:  You need to do an all-liquid detox to remove toxins from your body.

Liquid-only detoxes have had more than their fair share of popularity. These types of detoxes can backfire: Not only do people often gain the weight back as soon as the detox ends, but such restrictive eating for several days can be detrimental to your health. An effective detox will include a variety of whole foods to help nourish your body and produce long-term results.

 

Myth #4: Detoxes are just a way for people to make money on expensive supplements.

Supplements involved in a detox should be just that, a supplementary part of the program, not the primary source of your nutrition.  While on a detox, you get most of your vitamins and minerals from whole-food sources.

Supplements may be recommended to help your body make the most of the nutrients it receives from these foods.  For example, by including probiotics in your diet, you help your body produce vitamins, absorb minerals, and remove toxins from the body.

 

Aside from the benefits discussed above, detoxing is an incredibly effective way to identify if you have any food sensitivities, balance your hormones, and establish healthy habits for the long term.

I’ve worked with detox participants who not only have lost weight and kept it off but who have also seen their energy level skyrocket, their skin clears up and even their allergies disappear.

 

Are you ready to discover the benefits of healthy detoxing for yourself?

Click here to learn more about my upcoming 21-day Metab Jumpstart.

Get started here: 21 Days Metab Jumpstart

It starts on the 15th of June.

 

What questions or concerns do you have about participating in a detox?

Before you try something new, like a detox, it’s normal to feel hesitant.  I want to hear from you, email me at hafsah@slimfitu.com.

P.S: I read every email that comes into my inbox and I promise to email you back personally

 

Don’t forget

Share on:

Why you need to eat fruits

Why you need to eat fruits

Fruits are the edible sweet and fleshy product of a tree or other plant that contain seeds. They are nutritious and also essential to your health. Many studies have proven how beneficial fruits are to the human body.

However, there are still people who would rather go for junks instead of a healthy choice which is fruits and vegetables. Therefore, there is a need to educate everyone on the benefits of taking fruits, how fruits can help weight loss and how you can identify a good fruit.

Firstly, what are the benefits of taking fruits? Fruits provide numerous benefits as summarized below.

1. They keep diseases away

Daily consumption of fruits helps to keep illness away. Some of these illnesses are high blood pressure, stroke, indigestion, cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other chronic diseases. This is made possible with credits to the combination of powerful flavonoids, antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, phytochemicals and the countless micro and macronutrients which can be found in fruits.

2. Fruits give you smooth and radiant skin

Certain fruits like banana, papaya, cucumber have been attributed to facial treatment because they help fight acne and pimples. You can include berries, apples and banana into your diet and watch your skin look fresh and radiant. Fruits also keep your skin supple and hydrated and nourishes it with essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

3. They supply you with instant energy

Fruits supply instant energy in no time. This explains why athletes take fruit before and after training because they supply instant energy; also, pregnant women are advised to take lots of fruits.

4. Fruits aid healthy hair growth

Fruits have always been good source of vitamins and nutrients, making them the main source of healthy diet. It is not surprising to know that fruits can improve hair growth, strength and quality. Fruits like orange, apples, strawberry, avocado and pineapple are very beneficial to hair growth.

Now, how can fruits aid weightloss?

Weightloss is often achieved through different strategies and one of those strategies is through healthy eating, which entails eating lots of fruits. Fruits help to achieve weightloss because they contain lots of fiber.

According to a report by the National Institute of Health newsletter, people on high fiber diets tend to eat about 10 percent fewer calories. In addition, other large studies found that people who have a high intake of fiber tend to weigh less. This is made possible because fiber is an indigestible plant-based carbohydrate which is quite filling and has no calories.

However, consumption of fruits alone cannot help attain weightloss. It can be achieved with the combination of exercise, dieting, and healthy eating.

How to identify good fruits

Look out for the following things below to identify if the fruit is a good one.

  • Check for molds on the fruit, if you find any do not buy it
  • Check the color if it is the right color of the fruit
  • Look for spots and bruises to know the handle rate of the fruit
  • Buy fruits during them the right season
  • Feel them carefully before buying

Conclusively, we will start a series on fruits and vegetables. The aim to help you get to know more about fruits and go for more healthy choices.

Share on:

5 health benefits of carrots

5 health benefits of carrots

Carrot is an important vegetable with lots of health benefits, little wonder why every 4th of April is an International Carrot day. To buttress our point, we have put together the major 5 health benefits of carrots below.

1. It improves vision

Carrots are linked to good eyesight because they are rich in beta-carotene which has proven to protect the eye against macular disintegration and senile cataracts. Also, a study found “that people who eat large amounts of beta-carotene had a 40 percent lower risk of macular degeneration than those who consumed little”.

2. It helps prevent cancer

According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, “the antioxidant beta-carotene contained in carrots has the capability to protect cell membranes from oxidative stress and inhibit the growth of cancer cells”.

In addition, natural compound called falcarinol are present in carrots. This natural compound is said to slow down the growth of cancerous lesions when fed to rats. Also, a study carried out in 2011 discovered that carrot juice extract could kill leukemia cells and inhibit their progression.

3. Carrots prevent heart disease

Carrots do not only contain beta-carotene but also alpha-carotene and lutein. These two components help to prevent heart disease. A study of over 20,000 people discovered that a higher intake of deep orange fruit and vegetables and most especially carrots may protect against CHD.

Carrots also contain an essential component which is vitamin K content. Vitamin K triggers the protein Gas6, this compound is said to promote cellular communication, which also includes communication among the cells that make up your heart.

4. It helps your weight loss journey

Carrots contain quite a few calories per gram i.e. they are low in energy mass, which is as a result of their high water and fiber content and low-fat content. Therefore, consuming carrot which has a low energy density makes you more filling and less hungry which helps to control what you take in.

5. It boosts immunity level

A high immunity level is important because it helps fights against disease or virus that may attack the body. Vitamin A helps to build the immunity level of the body and one of the major components of carrot is vitamin A. Carrots also contain a small amount of Vitamin C which also help to boost immunity level.

You will see from the foregoing that carrots are essential food you should always eat. You can add them to your smoothie ingredient, use them in your sauce or eat directly. Will you eat carrots today?

Share on:

5 ways to avoid tiredness at work after eating

avoid tiredness at work after eating

Getting tired after a meal is quite common and normal due to various reasons such as release of a chemical in the brain called Adenosine. This chemical is mostly at its peak before bedtime and it also increases in the afternoon after lunch. Tiredness after a meal can also be due to the kind of food you take among all other reasons.

If you feel tired after eating at work, it can be controlled by following the eating guide below.

1. Eat food that is rich in protein

To avoid tiredness at work after eating you should include food that is rich in protein because protein slows down your digestion and prevents you from getting tired after eating at work. This is possible as food rich in protein prevent the rise and flow of blood sugar.

2. Do not skip breakfast

We all know how important breakfast is to the entire body. Studies have also shown that taking breakfast helps to reduce your level of appetite during the day; thus, preventing you from eating unhealthy lunch which can get you tired at work.

Also, taking breakfast can increase your energy level at work which prevents you from feeling tired. On a final note, do visit your doctor if you get tired after a meal more often than normal.

3. Eat healthy mid-afternoon snack

Snacks that contain lots of sugar breaks down into glucose in your body increasing your blood sugar level. The increase in blood sugar leads to an increase in insulin which makes your brain produce sleep-inducing melatonin and the neurotransmitter serotonin, which can make you feel drowsy and tired. Avoid the temptation to eat chocolate, instead, choose a piece of fruit. Also, pick some crackers with low-fat or a handful of almonds instead.

4. Reduce your caffeine intake

Caffeine is known for promoting alertness and also prevents people from getting tired. However, coffee, tea and cola are short-term solutions for sleepiness because too much intake of caffeine can reduce effectiveness over time. Increasing your caffeine intake is unhealthy because you can easily end up having too much caffeine, crashing quickly after it wears off each time. Instead, you should take to non-caffeinated drinks to get you through at work. Water is an excellent substitute for caffeinated drinks as it is also important to keep well hydrated throughout the day.

5. Eat in small portions

A large meal weighs you down, making your digestive system over work. If you feel bloated after eating a big meal, you should re-arrange your meal plan and go for a small portion because it will enable your digestive system work more effectively and prevent tiredness at work place.


Do you have any food related question? Use the contact form to ask me or start a chat with me now, the chat box is available below this page at the right corner. I look forward to chatting with you.

Share on:

Why you still need carbs in your diet

you should include carbohydrates in your diet

There is so much debate about how harmful carbohydrates can be to the health. As such, some experts have advised zero carbohydrate diet to ensure weightloss. However, there is a need to include carbohydrate in your diet because of its many benefits to your health.

Below are reasons why you should include carbohydrates in your diet

1. It gives energy

Carbohydrates are known as energy giving food and you know how important it is to stay energized when trying to lose weight.

Imagine trying to ride a car without fuel inside, you will agree with me that it is impossible for the car to move. This is how important carbohydrate is to your body. It serves as fuel because it provides glucose. Without carbohydrates, you will burnout from exercise and feel lazy to carry on and this will affect weightloss.

2. It helps to prevent heart disease

Research shows that whole-grain carbs, like bread, pasta, and rice, help reduce your chance of heart disease and lower your cholesterol levels”. This alone proves the need to include carbs in your diet because a healthy body leads to better life and longer life span.

3. It helps to retain good memory

According to a research on overweight women after a “low-carbohydrate” diet for a week where participants were instructed to remove carbohydrates from their diet to enable weightloss, it was discovered that they did worse on tests of working memory (i.e., why did I walk into this room?) and visuospatial memory (remembering locations on a map).

The low carb diet was based on American Dietetic Association guidelines, in a study from Tufts University.

This research has shown how carbohydrates can help one to retain good memory.

4. It helps to boost your mood

Research has also shown that carbohydrates promote the production of serotonin, a feel-good brain chemical. Most importantly, an absence of enough tryptophan and serotonin can easily lead to depression and difficulty to sleep. It is important to note that lack of sleep can hinder weightloss, so you need sufficient sleep for an effective weightloss journey

5. Carbs fill you up

Most times, we eat when we feel hungry. Carbohydrates act as a powerful appetite suppressant. They can be more filling than protein or fat. Carbs fill you up because they digest slowly than other types of foods, which triggers a feeling of fullness in both your brain and belly.

On a final note, moderation is key when it comes to diet, so, always go for healthier options of carbs.

Share on:

How to master a healthy attitude towards food

Having a healthy attitude towards food means loving what you eat and maintaining a healthy eating habit. This concept is not about dieting or eating superfoods for a short period because you want to lose weight. It has more to do with eating a balanced diet, eating moderately and putting your health first when you eat.

How to master healthy attitude towards food

If you have a complicated attitude towards food or struggle with your eating habits, consider using these points as an improvement strategy.

1. Choose balanced diet over dieting

Balanced diet is a diet that contains the proper proportions of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and water necessary to maintain good health. – Dictionary.com

Always add the right classes of food to your meals so that you get the required nutrients when you eat.

2. Plan to eat good food

Avoid eating on impulse. Impulse eating can make you eat unhealthy foods that will make you go fat in the short run and cause damages to your health in the long run. Learn to use meal plans to plan your foods and use substitution to replace unhealthy food ingredients with healthy ones.

3. Be conscious of what you eat

Being conscious of what you eat will bring you happiness and satisfaction when you eat. It is easy to attain consciousness as regards to food if you set your mind on it. Some tips you can follow are:

  1. Chew your food properly to aid digestion
  2. Stop eating when you feel full
  3. Always eat at the right time
  4. Do not skip meals to avoid feeling very hungry and subsequently over-stuffing your stomach.
  5. Be thankful to your food for providing you the nutrients that you need to function properly as human

When you practice the above tips and get used to them, you will always look forward to eat because of the benefits you stand to gain from eating good food. This will in turn help you to pick only healthy options when you plan your meals.

Related post: The concept of mindful eating for weightloss

4. Put yourself first

Instead of starving yourself because you want to look slim, you should rather eat to feel good both within and outside your body system. If you eat the right food, at the right time and in the right proportion, you will always feel smart, healthy and active which are the qualities that matter as against looking skinny and being able to wear certain clothes.

Your well-being comes first at all times. A good weightloss regimen will not require you to starve or eat wonder diet, neither is it wise for you to be required to binge eat or stuff up on fatty food if you are looking to gain weight.

Having a healthy attitude towards food is a lifetime habit that will help you love yourself and have a good health. It will also keep you in good shape which is neither overweight nor underweight but in a perfect-you shape.

Are you in a complicated relationship with food? Talk to me, let’s make it work together.

Share on:

Shopping list idea for superfoods

Superfoods are those foods that support your weightloss purpose. They are like friends who cheer you on and also like coaches who push you off the couch when all you want to do is lie in all day.

When you incorporate superfoods into your weightloss plan, you will find that it is easier to eat the right food to lose weight than indulge in only rigorous exercise or wonder diet. This is so because eating good food will help you maintain your new shape, unlike if you had used only exercise and stopped.

What are these superfoods that help weightloss?

Superfoods are foods — mostly plant-based but also some fish and dairy — thought to be nutritionally dense and thus good for one’s health. – Livescience

Do not buy into the idea that superfoods are a class of food. Instead, they are foods which contain nutrients, vitamins and antioxidants, all of which keep diseases away from the body.

Here is a shopping list idea for superfoods you should look out for when next you are in the food market.

1. Vegetables

Vegetables top the list of foods that are mostly beneficial to the body. They help in detoxification and contain doses of vitamins such as vitamins A, K and B6. Some vegetables you should add to your list include:

  • Asparagus
  • Carrots
  • Broccoli
  • Lettuce
  • Beets
  • Cucumber
  • Leak
  • Spinach
  • Cabbage
  • Bell pepper

2. Berries

A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Berries are usually juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet or sour, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. – Wikipedia

superfood ideas

Some berries such as strawberries are full of nutritional values such as vitamins C and E, fibre, magnesium and copper. Others such as blackberries contain vitamins and ellagic acid which helps fight cancer. Cherries are high in anthocyanins and bioflavonoids, which are related to reducing joint and muscle discomfort. Examples of berries you should add to your diet include:

  • Strawberries
  • Raspberries
  • Black currant
  • Blue berries
  • Cherries
  • Black berry

3. Fruits

Taking 5 servings of fruits per day is highly recommended, so it is just natural that fruits are superfoods. Fruits are full of dietary fibres, folic acid and nutrients which help with the maintenance of your body. Examples of fruits are:

  • Banana
  • Orange
  • Apricots
  • Pawpaw
  • Pineapple
  • Almonds
  • Lemon
  • Kiwi
  • Watermelon
  • Honeydew melon

4. Poultry, fish and diary

Under this category are greek yogurt, eggs, salmon and skinless chicken breasts. These foods are full of proteins and omega 3 fatty acid which are needed for normal body function and good heart health.

Now that you have an idea of what to buy when you go shopping for superfoods, which foods would you like to add to the list? Share with us in the comments section.

Share on:

10 workable ways to stick to your meal plan everyday

stick to your meal plan everyday

You may find it quite difficult to stick to a meal plan due to your love for variety or the difficulty to change old habits of eating just anything you feel like eating.

Here are some tips to help you stick to that meal plan you took so much time to prepare. I know you do not want to see your efforts go to waste, so here I am providing you with workable strategies to eat healthy.

1. Identify the why

Why did you prepare a meal plan? Is it to eat healthy? To improve your cooking abilities, to lose weight or to reduce expense on food shopping? The reason will serve as a reminder and motivate you.

2. Get creative in your meal preparations

For you to stick to your meal plan, you have to be creative in meal preparation. Prepare your meal in an attractive way that will make you stick and not cheat. These are several healthy meals recipes to inspire you. Just ask Google.

3. Include food that you love in your meal plan

For any reason, you first have to have love what you eat. Adherence to your plan can be achieved when you include food that you enjoy eating. However, if you are trying to lose weight and the food you love is unhealthy, then you have to look for the healthy options that will help you achieve your goal.

4. Try to be accountable

Try as much as possible to be accountable to someone on how you stick to your meal schedule. So you need to make it a family affair. Involve your partner and kids in the type of food you eat. In addition, try to get a partner that share the same goal of conscious eating.

5. Plan ahead for cheat days

Festivities such as birthdays, anniversaries and private dinner with friends are good examples of cheat days. So, you need to plan ahead not to be caught unawares in terms of what to eat.

6. Don’t starve yourself

Try not to starve yourself in the name of sticking to a meal plan. If you notice that you get hungry a lot lately then you have to work on your portion and look into your meal components. Improve on the plan to prevent yourself from cheating or looking malnourished.

7. Don’t remove calories from your meal

Do not forget that calories produce energy and prevent you from starving. Removing calories from your meals will make you hungrier and weak, thus tempting you to eat unhealthy foods. To avoid this misery, consider eating sufficient calories of healthy and nourishing foods.

8. Carry a healthy snack

Sometimes sticking to your healthy meal plan can be quite difficult especially once you are outside your home. Therefore, you will need something to snack on to prevent you from going for unhealthy options. You can snack on healthy high-protein snacks or fruits. This will help keep your appetite in check until you’re able to have a full meal.

9. It takes time before you totally change your habit

Researchers have found that it takes about 66 days on average to make a new behavior a habit. Therefore don’t feel terrible if it feels difficult to drop your old habit and stick to your new healthier way of eating.

10. Make sure you figure out what works for you

Figure out what works for you and include it in your food options, just make sure it is healthy and not full of junks. This will prevent you from cheating.


So you are now aware of the above tips and you don’t even have a meal plan? No worries, download one from here for absolutely free of charge.

Image reference

Share on:

Ramadan, you and your health

Ramadan, you and your health

Alhamdulillah the glorious month is here again. The month to reap multiple rewards and gain nearness to Allah.  Although it’s a month of losing sins, we can still make it a month of losing weight and getting used to healthy eating habits.

Ramadan is when you can potentially lose a lot of muscle tone and hinder your fitness goal. You don’t have to spoil all the hard works you have been doing all this while. You should understand your goal and be realistic.

With Ramadan, you can learn how to manage your eating habits, improve self-control and discipline.

Ramadan, you and your health

Normally, the body enters into a fasting mode 8 hours after the last  meal, when the gut finishes absorption of nutrients from the food.

In the normal state, body glucose which is stored in the liver and muscles is the body’s main source of energy.

However, during a fast, the stored glucose is used up first to provide energy. Later in the fast, once the stored glucose runs out, fat becomes the next stored source of energy for the body. As Ramadan fast only extends from dawn till dusk, there is ample opportunity to replenish energy stores at pre-dawn and dusk meals.

This provides a progressive gentle transition from using glucose to fat as the main source of energy and prevents the breakdown of muscle for protein. The use of fat for energy aids weightloss, preserving the muscles and in the long run reduces your cholesterol levels.

After a few days of the fast, higher levels of a certain hormone called endorphins are released resulting in a better level of alertness and an overall feeling of general mental well-being.

To benefit maximally from this month and improve your health, here is my advice:

  • Your meals must contain adequate level of energy food such carbohydrates and healthy fats to prevent muscle breakdown.
  • Meals should be simple and not different from your everyday diet.
  • Your diet should contain complex carbohydrates that will help release energy slowly during the long hours of fasting. Consider eating foods such as oats,  wheat, millet,  beans and  lentils for this purpose.
  • Also consider fibre rich foods such as grain, wheat, potatoes, vegetables, because they are digested slowly.
  • Avoid heavily processed fast burning foods that contain refined carbohydrates. These foods come in form of sugar, white flour, cakes, chocolate etc.
  • Avoid too much fatty foods.
  • Stay away from caffeine as it stimulates faster water loss through urination.

What you should eat

For the pre-dawn meals, chose slow digesting foods that are filling and provide energy for many hours. Examples of such foods are:

  • Sweet Potato
  • Brown rice
  • Ofada rice
  • Whole wheat bread
  • Oat
  • Banana

Bananas are high in potassium. A banana at this  time can control your thirst level throughout the day.

Other sources of potassium  are

  • Milk
  • Dates
  • Avocados
  • Dried peaches
  • Pistachios
  • Pumpkin
  • Peas
  • Dark chocolate

Balance your food and water fluid intake. This is very vital. You should take lots of water between Iftar and Suhoor. Drinking enough water at Suhoor is important, but not as much as drinking it throughout your non-fasting hours.

Now to break your fast, (Iftar), consider the following foods:

  • Dates, because they are refreshing and provide the energy you need.
  • Fruits in form of juices and smoothies should also be included.
  • Meals at Iftar should also be light. This will help you to remain alert for the Tarawih prayers.
  • You may have desserts after Tarawih prayers.
  • You may also decide to have cups of tea but avoid meals very close to bedtime.

May Allah accept our fasts.

Do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions concerning your diet and fitness routines. Also, go here to download a free meal plan I designed to ease your eating options this month.

RAMADAN MUBARAK FROM ALL OF US AT SLIM FIT U SOLUTIONS.

Share on:

The effects of stress on your eating habit

effects of stress on your eating habit

Stress is an intense attack which could cause emotional, psychological, physiological or behavioral exertions on the human body.

Stress can modify your eating pattern and also determine the type of food and frequency at which you eat. All of these are not ideal for your fitness or weightloss goals.

Effects of stress on the eating habit

Investigative studies have shown that stress can affect the eating habit in diverse ways and they can be grouped under four major headings. They are

  • Emotional
  • Physiological
  • Psychological
  • Behavioral

1. Emotional effects

Stress can affect your emotional state and modify your eating habit in the following ways:

  • Preference for energy dense snacks, which means intake of excess calories
  • Snacking without limits
  • Impulse eating i.e., eating on-the-go, not necessarily out of hunger
  • Overeating especially for depressed people just to while away time

2. Psychological effects

Just as stress is able to affect your state of the mind, it is also capable of changing your eating habits. An unstable person cannot think straight and as such the below factors are noticeable with psychological effects of stress:

  • Poor eating habits which could be the end result of nervousness, loneliness or boredom
  • Substance abuse such as taking alcohol or drugs
  • Nutritional vulnerability because of lack of dietary requirement in your foods
  • Skipping meals
  • Heavy consumption of unhealthy food

3. Physiological effects

The major effect of physiological stress on eating habit is binge eating. Read more about this eating disorder here.

4. Behavioral effects

  • High dramatic shift in food choices which could be detrimental to your well-being
  • Higher levels of stress might make you choose unhealthy foods such as fatty foods or baked foods over wholesome meals

Way forward

It will be beneficial for your health if you keep stress at bay. Always remind yourself that the key to a healthy mind is a healthy body. So, be mindful of what you eat and how you eat regardless of the situation.

Consider the suggestions below to alleviate the effects of stress on your eating habit

  • Identify the root cause of the stress and solve it once and for all
  • Have a record of these stressors and know how to avoid them when you see signs

Above all, do not hesitate to see your doctor if you have symptoms of stress that refuse to go away.

Have you considered using a meal plan to organize your diet? Contact me now for a free meal plan. Offer valid while it lasts.

References

Image credit

Link 1

Link 2
Share on:

10 health benefits of avocado

Health benefits of avocado

Fruits have so many nutritional values for the body which justifies why doctors always advise their patients to always take one fruit per day. One of such fruits with high nutrients is avocado.

Avocado is the fruit of the avocado tree majorly found in South Central Mexico. It is also known as an alligator pear and classified as a member of the flowering plant family called Lauraceae. Avocados have a green-skinned, fleshy body, which is mostly seen in a pear shape.

Over the years, numerous studies have shown the health benefits of avocado. Below are some of these health benefits.

1. Avocado is loaded with healthy fat

Avocado is one of the fruits that contains the highest amount of fat (which is 77%). The fat in avocado is from Oleic acid which studies have shown is heart friendly (i.e. it does no harm to the heart). This acid has also been linked to helping reduce inflammation and providing a lot of beneficial value on genes linked to cancer.

2. Avocado contains fiber

A large amount of fiber can be found in avocado. Fiber is a part of plant food that is indigestible, it passes through the digestive system, absorbing water along the way and it also helps bowel movements.

Research has also shown that fiber in avocado has helped people to achieve weightloss and also maintain a healthy weight. Fibre in avocado is also useful for the following:

  • It helps to lower risk of contracting many diseases
  • Controls blood sugar level,
  • It helps to prevent a heart attack
  • It also helps to prevent acne and skin rash.

3. It prevents the risk of eyes disease

Avocado contains lutein and zeaxanthin which are good for the eyes. They protect your eyes from dangerous high-energy light waves like ultraviolet rays in sunlight. They also decrease the risk of eyes infection.

4. Avocado contains potassium

Potassium is a component that we cannot ignore its beneficial effects because it plays a key role in helping us to attain good health.

According to Lawrence Appel (MD, MPH), a professor of medicine, epidemiology, and international health at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, he mentioned that: “Potassium in the diet lowers blood pressure. High blood pressure is the major risk factor for stroke and heart disease.” Furthermore, potassium reduces the risk of kidney failure and heart attack.

5. It contains vitamin C and vitamin A

Vitamins C and A are essential vitamins​ for the body. “Vitamin C has received a great deal of attention, and with good reason. Higher blood levels of vitamin C may be the ideal nutrition marker for overall health,” “the more we study vitamin C, the better our understanding of how diverse it is in protecting our health, from cardiovascular, cancer, stroke, eye health [and] immunity to living longer”, says study researcher Mark Moyad, MD, MPH, of the University of Michigan.

The above statement has helped explained the benefits of vitamin C.
On the other hand, vitamin A is also as important as vitamin C because it helps to provide good sight, fights against inflammation and helps to prevent cancer amongst other benefits.

6. It is also good for pregnant women

Avocado provides a vitamin called folate, which helps to prevent birth defect as well as heart defects during pregnancy.

7. It reduce symptoms of arthritis

Avocado reduces the symptom of arthritis in the body. Avocado provides food supplements that help to treat and also suppress the symptoms of arthritis, mostly in the knee and hip area.

8. Avocado prevents liver disease

It contains glutathione, this helps to prevent chronic liver disease. Avocado is also rich in vitamin C and E, these two nutrients help to deactivate free radicals. By deactivating free radicals, you protect your liver cells from damage. Avocado provides anti-inflammatory properties which support your liver health.

9. It helps to get rid of bad breath

Studies have shown that the antibacterial and antioxidant properties of flavonoids found in avocado have helped to get rid of bad breath. This is because flavonoids have the ability to kill the bacteria in your mouth.

10. It helps to prevent oral cancer

Studies have also shown that avocado can help prevent oral cancer due to its overall nutritional contents.

With the above-listed health benefits of avocado, do yourself some good and get one today!

Share on:

Nine dieting rules for effective weightloss

Dieting according to an online encyclopedia is the practice of eating food in a regulated and supervised fashion to decrease, maintain or increase body weight. One key to a successful diet result is obedience. If you obey the rues and regulations you will get the desired result.

So you have made up your mind to start your weightloss journey by dieting? Follow these rules for effective weightloss and you are set for a good result. I have broken​ the rules into two parts: the dos and the don’ts.

Dos of dieting for weightloss

1. Eat food rich in fiber

If you are dieting, it is pertinent that your food be rich in fiber, so that the little food intake will be nutritious and filling, therefore, keeping you healthy and full throughout the day. Resist calories loaded foods. Example of fibre rich foods are cereal, whole grain, wheat bread, oatmeal etc.

2. Drink enough water

Take clean and pure water at interval to boost your energy. The recommended amount of water to drink per day is 8 glasses. So when dieting instead of you marring the journey with consumption of fizzy drinks and juices, replace them with water. Remember that those drinks are loaded with empty calories. Water is quite filling, helps in better digestion and also helps to clear the system of built-up toxins.

3. Eat in small portion

Nutritionists advocate eating in small portion throughout the day. Portion moderation will keep you full all day and helps you refrain from grabbing junks. So instead of finishing a bowl of food at a go, try and eat them in bits, that way you wouldn’t be taking in more calories than expected.

4. Use hand-fist measurement for all your consumption

This method works perfectly well for dieters. Whatever healthy food you are consuming shouldn’t exceed your hand fist size, so as to reduce calories intake, which is a culprit in dieting for weightloss.

5. Eat balanced diet

Most times, we do not know how to combine our foods to get the maximum result. You need to consult the experts in the field. Get the nutritionists, food technologists, food scientists, and dietitians e..tc to assist you in getting your food combination right. Contact me now for your affordable mealplan.

Don’ts of dieting for weightloss

6. Don’t starve yourself

It will be an effort in futility if you go starving yourself. Experts say you will be slowing down your metabolism. So eat but make sure you do so in a healthy way and in little portion.

7. Dump junk foods

These foods are high in sugar and loaded with heavy calories. They raise your taste bud leaving you  with cravings for more of the sugary stuff, and this automatically means consuming more calories. Refrain from eating junks when dieting.

8. Reduce or don’t eat fatty food

Saturated fat should be eliminated from your menu; these fats hinder progress in the dieting journey. They line up cells in the body, thus making easy digestion almost impossible. So avoid them foods such as red meat, bacon and butter.

9. Don’t be a food lover

Dieting and food addiction cannot go together. Because if you need to lose weight through dieting, then you must look the other way when food is staring you in the face. Refrain from always been around food and learn to restrict your intake to the set calories intake for the day.

Follow these rules and you are fit for life.

Share on:

These eight eating habits will help you lose weight fast

Losing weight is no longer rocket science, as it has been discovered that little changes to diet content, mild exercises and modified lifestyle can do the magic.

Have you been depending on weightloss drugs, surgeries, and advanced technology to lose weight? Worry no more because the following minor tweaks and adjustments can add up to save calories and help quicken your goal of fast and lasting weightloss.

Here are eight eating habits that will help you lose weight fast

1. Prepare healthy meals ahead of hunger

Change or modify your eating habit of preparing foods only when hungry. With the intense of hunger you may grab whatever is available, which are mostly unhealthy options. So to consume more weightloss friendly foods, prepare your foods ahead of mealtime.

2. Eat in smaller bowl

Putting foods in big plates naturally means heaping your plate with more calories. So load foods in smaller bowl, that way you trick your brain to believe you are eating a lot, which results in the consumption of fewer calories.

3. Add flavor to your water

The role of water in weightloss journey cannot be over-emphazied. Apart from cleansing, it makes you feel full without taking in calories. But some people claim that water is tasteless, they’d rather take more of tasty liquids. The trick to take in tasty liquids without calories is to add flavour to your water. You may squeeze in lemon, lime or berries so as to add some cool taste to it.

You may also like: The concept of mindful eating for weightloss

4. Quench hunger with water trick

Most times hunger masquerades as thirst. The secret is when you feel hungry in-between meals, you might just need to drink a glass of water and wait for some minutes to see if you still feel hungry. If you feel full afterwards, you would have saved yourself from consuming unwanted calories.

5. Avoid eating too fast

If you eat in a haste, you are more likely to gulp down more food than necessary and of course the satiety rate from the brain kicks in late. So the trick is to eat slowly, take smaller bites and spend time to chew. Within a short period, the brain will trick the body to feel full even when you have just ate little food.

6. Add more metabolism revving veggies

A recent study has postulated that adding spices, salsa or chilli pepper to food does not only add flavor but can actually speed or rev up your metabolism. So take advantage of this trick daily by adding more of chilli veggies to your dishes.

7. Use the portion control trick

Be a winner in your weightloss journey by apportioning your meals. Let whatever you want to eat be your hand fist size. Eat whatever you want but take more of the healthy options and maintain recommended portion size.

8. Flee from temptation

Get yourself off places, event or people who add more damage to your weightloss goal. Try to avoid living in the kitchen, attend get-together only when necessary, organise fruits party if there is need to party. Let fast food joint be the last place on your mind. Basically, keep all temptation at bay.

Reference link

Share on:

Best organic protein sources for a healthy diet

Organic protein refers to dietary proteins which are in the form of whole food or supplements. They are organically grown and usually free from chemical induced soil, pesticides, fertilizers, antibiotics and artificial additives.

Organic protein is available in powder form and you can mix it with milk or water to form a shake, you can also blend it into smoothies or add it to oatmeal. It is quite healthy for the body and nutritionists have recommended it for various health benefits which include but not limited to:

  • repair of muscle cells damaged during exercises
  • repair of wornout tissues
  • a good source of nutrient for vegetarian diets
  • help with quick recovery after surgery
  • help with fast healing of injuries
  • support the building of muscle mass

Vegans whose diets are lacking in animal protein may be recommended to take plant-based protein. The below listed foods are good sources of organic protein.

Soybeans and soy products

Soy beans are grown organically, that is, without chemical or additives. Soy bean and its products contain amino acids. It could be made into soy protein powder, tempeh, soymilk, roasted soybeans and shakes.

Hemp seed

These nutritional seeds are good source of organic protein. Studies have recorded that hemp seeds are good for fighting heart diseases, reduction of obesity risk and metabolic syndrome. Hemp seed is rich in fiber and omega 3.You can make hemp seeds into protein powder, unsweetened hemp milk and bars.

Quinoa

This food contains a higher dose of protein along with healthy unsaturated fat more than the other sources. It helps make you feel full throughout the day because of its abundant fiber and it also contains a good amount of amino acids.

Amaranth

This organic protein source is a natural gluten-free grain or seed, which studies shows, is a good source of digestion assisting fiber. It also contains calcium and bicep building iron. You can prepare porridge with Amaranths for easy consumption.

Eggs

Eggs are good source of organic protein. They are very good for vegans and others, who want to stay healthy all year round. The protein in eggs helps to preserve the muscles, promote metabolism, keeps hunger under control, thereby aiding weight loss. You can eat eggs on its own, take it with sandwich or diced in salad.

Spinach

Spinach contains organic protein just like the other sources of protein. You can retain its nutrients by steaming it, which in turn  will cause it to keep its vitamins. These vitamins boost the absorption of calcium and cut away any bloating effect from vegetables. You may add spinachs to your salads for a healthy diet.

Beans

This is also a good source of organic protein, and its nutrients help the heart, brain and muscles to function properly. Beans digest slowly keeping one full for a long period of time. You can eat it  as porridge or soup.

There are several ways to prepare these proteins into yummy looking foods. Like I said in my previous post, get creative and eat healthy.

Share on:

How to reduce calorie intake without starving

Calories in nutrition are likened to consuming energy through eating and drinking. This implies that anything you eat as food or fluid, aside water, contains calories. You should be aware of what you eat, so as to avoid negative health implications such as:

  • Hormonal disorders
  • Weight gain
  • Overall health risk as well as elevated triglycerides,
  • Breathing problems,
  • Diabetes
  • Coronary artery disease, etc.

Calories are essential to human health but the key is taking the right amount of it. If you consume just the number of calories your body needs each day, you will enjoy a good and healthy life. Health authorities have come up with calories requirement for men and women. They are around 2700 and 2000 per day for men and women respectively.

The fact remains that high calorie intake poses some health risk, and people undeniably are making efforts to control it which have resulted into starving for some individuals. Starving on its own is not good for the body system.

Here are some healthy ways you can reduce calorie intake without starving

Eat fewer carbohydrates

This category of nutrient is the main source of added calories in a typical diet. It is a good place to start cutting calories. Cut down carbohydrates filled foods such as yam, garri, bread, pasta and trans fat from your diet. The body stores excess calories from these foods as fats which leads to weight gain and subsequently, weight gain related ailments. Endeavour to replace them with oily fish, nuts, seeds, vegetables, plant based oil and sesame.

Always drink plenty of water

Drinking water before you eat is a trick that will make you feel full, resulting in the consmuption of little food when you eat. Water also increases the amount of calories you burn. It is more impressive to note that cold water intake makes the body use extra calories to warm the water up to body temperature and this can drastically help in calories reduction.

Eat more protein

Eating more protein filled food than carbohydrates is the way to go in calorie reduction. If you replace carbs and fat with protein, you can actually reduce the hormones which boost hunger and cravings for more food and calories. So a maximum boost of satiety hormones, will lead to a major reduction in hunger, which means less intake of calories.

Workout

Exercise is the best bet to help you cut down on calories. If you eat excess calories, you should expend them with exercise. You may feel lazy to do aerobics and other strenuous exercises but simple movements such as cleaning the house, walking around your neighbourhood, and taking the stairs can go a long way in helping you expend energy. The most important thing is to get your heart pumping and breaking a sweat to burn significant amount of calories.

If you like this article, you will also like our weightloss challenge where we encourage you to lose 5kg in 15 days through healthy lifestyle modifications. Join us here.

Share on:

Five ways to consume pastries the healthy way

The hard truth is that letting go of pastries is a really tough one. Think of it, the deliciousness ?, the sumptuous look and oh! the beautiful colours. But, here is another hard fact, indulging in pastries without slowing down will do you more harm than good. Sorry.

However, if you are a lover of pastries, here are some healthy ways you can indulge in them without too much compromise to your healthy diet.

Prepare the pastries yourself

This gives you the power to add or subtract ingredients that are detrimental to health, unlike when you order them from your favorite fast food joint where they come with loads of calories, unhealthy toppings, dressings and preservatives.

When preparing them yourself, you can eliminate or substitute some ingredients like swapping trans fat with healthy oil. If you are frying, a good non–stick pan should be used to dry fry instead of deep frying. This gives you the advantage to cut down calories, fat and oil, unhealthy dressings that are usually not required.

Eat a little portion a time

Moderation is always important. Do not stuff your system with too much junks. Avoid valued sized items and go for small sizes when it comes to snacks with a lot of dressings and toppings. Satisfy your appetite with little at a time, i.e. eat a slice at a time and save the rest for later.

Customize your orders

If you do not have the time to prepare the pastries yourself at home, then, you can take advantage of special order offer granted by some fast food restaurants. Order for healthier options that are tweaked to suit your desire. You could swap a hamburger for a wheat bun, or a white flour pizza for a wheat pizza.

Go for quality

Go for pastries with quality ingredients, like pastries with more fiber, whole grains and high quality protein. If it means paying more, then don’t hesitate to pay instead of gping for cheaper options that are loaded with unhealthy oil, fats, sugar and calories.

Weightloss? Start here free of charge

Steer clear of cheap pastries that are kept fresh with trans fat. Eat healthy pastries with quality toppings of dried fruit, nuts, seeds, cottage cheeses etc. Alright, these recommendations do not come cheap, however, your health is safe when you eat quality food instead of cheap alternatives.

Load up on veggies

Do not be confused about this. Ignore the baseless rumours that adding loads of veggies to your pastries reduces taste and crunchiness. Rather adding veggies is really an easy way to add loads of flavor and vitamins to your food. Load your pizza, pies, buns, hamburger etc, with tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, onions, green, red, pepper, mushroom, spinach, broccoli and so on.

Eating healthy is actually fun and it can help you unleash the creativity in you. Now go create some healthy recipes.

Share on:

How to control food cravings at night

Diving into chips and other junk foods after night meals is fast becoming a trending unhealthy addiction. Most people are not able to control this obsession because of their lifestyle such as getting home late from work and too tired to put together a healthy dinner.

This post provides help and information for controlling your late night cravings, so you can embrace healthy eating.

Understand yourself

Knowing the right quantites and type of foods you need to eat will help you a long way. We all have different reasons for late night food cravings; some of just want to get busy while watching TV, while others love to snack after some types of meals.

Some people just have to eat late at night due to inevitable reasons, like the example mentioned in the first paragraph. However, in this case, it is important to rearrange your schedule and fix your meal times to reasonable hours of the day to make sure you eat at appropriate hours. Remember, health is wealth.

Summarily, understand yourself first and seek to provide solution to your cravings.

Be low on simple carbs and high on proteins

Simple carbs such as white bread and white rice have a way of making you filled up immediately you take them and very hungry after some minutes because they break down just as fast as you eat them. Replace these foods with complex carbohydrates and include healthy proteins in your diet. Pick your dinner carefully, and eat as early as you can.

Early to bed

Staying up late in the night to watch TVs, or do some work can increase your cravings because at these times, you get hungry. Don’t put yourself in a helpless situation, always go to bed early as early as you can.

See the four foods you should consume for longevity

If your schedule involves working late into the night, try to restructure your work plan if possible, so that you can sleep early and evade night cravings. Early to bed early to rise makes a man HEALTHY, wealthy and wise. Remember?

Disgust yourself with unpleasant choices

As unusual as this idea sounds it works just fine for a lot of people. If you have something that disgusts you, it can serve as a reminder for you to stop taking late nights junks.

Distract yourself

You can chat up your friends, finish your homework, write in your diary, or do any other choice chore. If you get busy with productive task, you will think less of food and even be able to ignore false ignore pangs.

I hope you enjoyed these tips. Do not forget to share with that your late night food craving friend.

Share on:

Four tricks to eating out the healthy way

At times we get too busy too cook our own meals and we are forced to eat out. We may also be tempted to eat out due to laziness or cravings. It is simply inevitable to feel like indulging in some eating habits that do not go well our diet.

If you find yourself in this situation too often, the solution is finally here. Stop feeling guilty all the time, instead follow these tweaks to make sure you are eating out the healthy way.

Do you want to lose weight? Start here for free

Walk to the restaurant

Walking shortly before you eat (typically within thirty minutes to one hour), promotes your metabolism, reduces the amount of sugar that stores up in your blood after eating, and protects your blood vessels against fatty foods.

If you are eating out, choose a restaurant close to your location that you can walk down to, or park your car at a convenient space several metres away from the restaurant and stroll down the rest of the distance, if the whole distance of the restaurant is not trekkable.

Walking before a meal can help get your system ready to get rid of the high amount of carbohydrates, sugar or high protein from the junk or not too healthy food you are about to eat.

Eat moderately

Moderation will help you maintain a healthy diet and also save money. One way you can eat moderately is by eating only one serving. Do not be tempted to go for a second serving because the first one was too delicious or did not satisfy you.

In fact, you should divide your first serving into two, eat one part at the restaurant and take the other part with you to eat later. If you do this, you are giving your system enough time to get rid of the first set of junk you consumed.

Make a healthy choice

Eating out should not necessarily translate to going to eat junks or unhealthy foods. There are also healthy foods at the restaurants. You just need to order right or make healthy subsitutes.

How to make up your mind to lose weight

Healthy subsitutes include ordering for water instead of beverages or requesting for vegetables filling in your sandwich instead of beef.

Another trick is to carry your own substitute along, such as honey, instead of using the sugar at the café if you have to drink coffee. You could also order for appetisers that would fill and hold you till you are able to get home to prepare your own food.

Walk back to your location

After eating at the restaurant, do not jump into your car or into any relaxing position, instead, slowly walk back to your car. And if you actually walked from your location, then just stroll back.

Do not walk briskly, for this is not recommended after a meal. You should indulge in moderate physical activity after eating as it aids digestion, burns calories and gives you a good heart health.

Are you craving an eat-out? Indulge yourself but always remember that too much of everything is bad.

Share on:

The concept of mindful eating for weightloss

Aside quenching hunger, eating plays a great role in your life but
most of you are not aware of this fact because eating is a routine activity.

There are some eating abnormalies you exhibit without plans to curb them. Some of this habit include:

  • Not eating at the right time: for one reason or the other, breakfast becomes brunch, lunch becomed dinner.
  • Finding it difficult to cook your own foods at times, instead you resort to eating fast food, junk or even skipping meals.

All of these habits summed up greatly affect the nutrition in your body. When trying to lose weight, it is pertinent to be mindful of what you eat, how and when you eat.

Mindful eating is learning to pay attention. Instead of eating mindlessly, putting food into your mouth almost unconsciously, not really tasting the food you’re eating … you notice your thoughts, feelings, and sensations.

In mindful eating, you learn to pay attention to:

  • Why you feel like eating, and what emotions or needs might be triggering the eating.
  • What you’re eating, and whether it is healthy or not.
  • The look, smell, taste, feel of the food you’re eating.
  • How it makes you feel as you taste it, as you digest it, and throughout the day.
  • How full (or sated) you are before, during and after eating.
  • Your emotions during and after eating.
  • Where the food came from, who might have grown it, how much it might have suffered before it was killed, whether it was grown organically, how much it was processed, how much it was fried or overcooked, etc.

If you adopt this technique to your weightloss routine, you will lose fat once and for all, and all your subsequent activities will be geared towards remaining fit. Mastering this technique takes practice. However, learning it is worth the time and effort.

At Slim Fit U, we will help you become conscious of your food consumption process as part of your weightloss routine.

We believe in the 80/20 rule, that is, 80% diet and 20% exercise. So when it comes to diet, and eating generally for weightloss, you can trust us to give you the best coaching, encouragement, group support and gentle nudges.

Aside for weightloss, some other benefits of mindful eating include:

  • Learning to eat when you’re hungry, and stop when you’re sated.
  • Really tasting food, and to enjoy the taste of healthy food.
  • You slowly start to realize that unhealthy food isn’t as tasty as you thought, nor does it make you feel very good.
  • As a result of the above three points, you will often lose weight if you’re overweight.
  • You learn how food affects your mood and energy throughout the day.
  • You learn what food best fuels your exercise and work and play.

Stop eating for eating sake. Eating is not supposed to be a mindless routine activity. Instead, eating is a well planned activity that should take extra care because, you are what you eat. And you know what? The saying, garbage in garbage out, is as real as tomorrow being Wednesday.

Our door is always open for questions, your weightloss concerns, and suggestions. If you are interested in joining our weightloss group on WhatsApp register here for a free starter session.

Reference: zen habits

Share on:

Seven ways to get junks off your diet

Junks

Junks are of no nutritional value to man’s food diet. It leads to an increase in weight and consequentially develops into health hazards that can in turn cause death.

Various blog posts have fixed their attention on either the ‘deliciousness’ of the junks, or on how dangerous it can be, but very little attention has been devoted to getting rid of this ‘delicious but dangerous’ diet from our dietary plan.

To some people, this may look like a fruitless exercise, a seemingly impossible task. But impossible as removing junks from our dietary plan may look, it is possible. Of course, it may be a difficult task.

However, it is important to know that we all consume ‘calorie-ridden’ food substances one way or the other and at different proportions, hence the reason for the differences in our weight.

Below are some tips that can help to get the junks out of our diet.

Slow and steady start

It is important to note that the sudden switch from all forms of junks cannot give result as quick as we want it. That is, it can’t happen overnight. It has to be a gradual process that can only happen over time. A dedicated weekly change in diet from junks to vegetables could be an excellent starting point.

liquid-1210614_1280Consume lots of water

Often regarded as the best liquid substance in the world. It is one of the few drinks with nutritional benefit. Drinking lots of water until it fills up the stomach is good.

Fall in love with the food you eat

There are so many delicious less dangerous food with more nutritional value out there that can surely tickle your fancy. Find yours and start eating.

Make sure you are eating enough food

After discovering what food you are in love with, determine and make sure you eat substantial amount of it until you get filled up.

Exercise

Most people may be surprised to find this particular item on the list. But little do they know that exercise is a great way of getting the junks out of the diet plan. Once you realize an appetite or a craving, but not real hunger, the solution is simply exercise. Do something until you get bored or sleep.

Cut the addiction

If you discover you have become an addict to certain dangerous junks, reduce the consumption of such to a little less every day. Eat one instead of those three sugar-coated doughnuts during lunch break. If you are addicted to chocolate, slowly replace sweet milky ones with less sugary dark chocolates.

Get an occasional treat

A lot of people may be alarmed to see this here, many may tend to disagree but, trust me, this works well. Don’t be obsessed with avoiding junks. You’re allowed a treat once in a while. This may take some time.

If you find yourself wanting more than the occasional treat, step back and find the problem. Re-plan your eating habit to make sure you are happy, healthy and satisfied.

The usefulness of these tips are relative to your compliance and obedience to them.

Share on:

Seven spices that fight obesity in the body

Spices are easily the most overlooked category of food. Meanwhile, they do not only add flavor and taste to meals, spices also fight obesity in the body. A spice, as described on Wikipedia, may be a seed, fruit, root, berry, bud or vegetable. Common spices include, nutmeg, cinnamon, black pepper etc.

Spices are basically underestimated because most people believe they are of no value other than to add attractive aromas to meals. They are majorly used in cosmetics, medicine and religious rituals.

However, a fact unknown to many people is that spices tend to add to the calorie composition of the body, despite the fact that many spices contain high portions of fat, protein, and carbohydrate by weight. They are ingredients that not only add flavor to your favorite dishes but help fight obesity in your body.

Here are a few of the spices that helps enhance your well being.

root-617409_640Ginger

Ginger, a flowering plant that originated from China is popularly known for its cooking usefulness and its medicinal properties. It improves movement and flow in the intestine. It is useful in easy digestion.

It contains several oils, which gingerol happens to be the most important. Not only is ginger useful in guarding against obesity, it drastically lowers blood sugar and it may significantly reduce menstrual pain.

spice-991101_640Black Pepper

Also known as piperine, research shows that black pepper reduces fat levels in the bloodstream and is also an antioxidant. It has been known to combat gastrointestinal problems, inflammation, and other problems. Black pepper is not of medicinal benefit alone. Athletes and bodybuilders also benefit from the fat-burning benefit of black pepper.

Cinnamon

This is a spice that is not so popular in Nigeria. It is a spice that boosts metabolism and is also regulates blood sugar. It makes an ideal recipe for diabetic patients, particularly people with type 2 diabetes. There are two major types of cinnamon, ceylon cinnamon and cassia cinnamon. 

Since high blood sugar level can develop to increased fat storage, cinnamon guards against this by improving insulin function, in turn causing weightloss.

ginseng-641890_640Ginseng

Also known for its use in boosting energy level and metabolism. A common type of ginseng, known as panax ginseng has been linked to weightloss.

Cumin

Cumin is a medicinal spice that has been discovered to enhance memory. It is useful for digestion and energy production and also a major recipe in improving glycemic control in people with type 2 diabetes.

Garlic and onions

These spices are surplus in Nigeria. They contain phytochemicals that are capable of breaking down fatty deposits in the body at the same time breaking down cholesterol, killing viruses and bacteria, and also guarding against heart disease.garlic-1144921_640

Cayenne pepper

It boost metabolism just like other spices and can aid the body in burning excess fats. It is a good a appetite suppressant, and it also helps to reduce calorie intake.

Which of these spices are you adding to your dish today? Tell us in the comments section.

Share on:

Weightloss smoothie recipes that you can start with

Last week, I posted about ‘the whats and whatnots of weightloss smoothies’ and I promised to post weightloss smoothie recipes that I know of this week.

And just as I promised, I have a few weightloss smoothie recipes here that you can start with.

Each of the recipes here are for a one-time serving for an average-size person. Some of these recipes may seem high in calorie but know that they are high in good calorie that will help you shed weight and feel full until your next meal.

1. Mango Avocado Green Tea Smoothie

– 1 cup green tea
– 1 cup fresh or frozen mango chunks
– 1/2 medium avocado
– 1 cup spinach
– 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil
– A dash of sea salt
– A little honey (optional, mango provides enough sweetness already)

Nutrition information

– Calories 329
– Fat 22g
– Protein 4g
– Carbohhydrate 35g
– Fiber 10g
– Sugar 23g
– Vitamin C 131% RDA
– Vitamin K 216% RDA
– Calcium 6% RDA
– Iron 14% RDA

2. Berry Banana Smoothie

– 1 cup water
– 1 cup fresh or frozen mixed berries
– 1/2 fresh or frozen banana
– 1 cup spinach
– 1 tablespoon coconut oil
– 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
– 1 tablespoon gelatin (optional, for protein)

Nutrition information

– Calories 251
– Fat 14g
– Protein 3g
– Carbohydrate 32g
– Fiber 5g
– Sugar 18g
– Vitamin C 43% RDA
– Vitamin K 181% RDA
– Calcium 10% RDA
– Iron 10% RDA

3. Blueberry Greek Yogurt Smoothie

– 1/2 cup water
– 1/2 fresh or frozen blueberries
– 3/4 cup of plain, Greek yogurt
– 1/2 table spoon chia seed or chia seed gel
– 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
– 1/2 tablesloon honey (optionally use 1/2 banana to sweeten)

Nutrition information

– Calories 327
– Fat 20g
– Protein 8g
– Carbohydrate 31g
– Fiber 5g
– Sugar 21g
– Vitamin C 13% RDA
– Vitamin K 86% RDA
– Calcium
– Iron

To prepare each smoothie recipe, place the ingredients in your smoothie (highspeed) blender. Blend for 30-45 seconds or till it is as smooth as you like. With lowspeed blender, blend everything else before the coconut oil to avoid clumping.

Feel free to vary ingredients to your preference if you wish. Every new variation you make will just be another great weightloss smoothie as long as you use the right ingredients. Enjoy!

Share on:

The whats and whatnots of weightloss smoothies

Smoothies are great for weightloss. This is because they are usually low-calorie and nutrient-laden. One can also control the ingredients.

Smoothies really taste great and help you lose weight if they are well prepared. Smoothies that taste great and work well for weightloss usually contain certain ingredients and cannot not include some others. These are the whats and whatnots:

The whats

Avocado

Avocado, also known as alligator pear, is a great source of healthy fats, vitamins and minerals. It is a preferred thickener for healthy smoothies. It gives smoothies that signature creaminess.

Berries

Generally, berries are high in fiber. They also work as antioxidants. Berries add flavour to smoothies without adding high level calories and sugar. Any kind of berry will do, strawberry, blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, etc.

Leafy greens

Green leaf vegetables are loaded with phytonutrients and low in calorie. They have high fiber content as well. Ryan Carmody, author of ‘15 Simple Healthy Smoothie Recipes‘, advises that one should rotate one’s greens on a regular basis.

Tea/water/ice

Smoothie recipes usually require milk or juice to mix up. But to reduce calorie and sugar levels, it is best to mix with tea, water or ice. Green tea is particularly suitable for weightloss and can replace juice.

The whatnots

Canned fruits or vegetables

Because canned fruits and vegetables often have added preservatives or sweeteners, they usually have high level of calories and sugars which make them cause weight gain instead of weightloss. Fresh commodities are the best, if fresh ones are unavailable then use frozen ones, but avoid canned ones by any means. Many canned foods have lost a great amount of nutritional value.

Sweeteners

If you are thinking weightloss, then you must forget about sugars. No room for sugars in weightloss smoothies. If you are making very sweet smoothies, then you are probably overusing sweeteners and adding too much sugars. Honey is a more natural and low-calorie sweetener that you can use.

Diary

Most diary products have very high calories and it is best you avoid adding them in your smoothie, especially milk or ice cream. Some diary products are exceptions to this, like raw milk which is high in protein and low in sugar, Carmody suggests.

Fruit juice

Fruit juice has low nutritional value and is high in sugar and calorie. Most juice contain sweeteners and preservatives, and they have lost the fiber of the whole natural fruit.

I will share some of the best weightloss smoothie recipes I know of next week. Visit back next week or subscribe for post notifications to get updates in your email.

Share on:

Five secrets to dieting compliance

Dieting

‘Okay, please serve me some full cup of ice cream; and my favorite is vanilla flavor. Don’t forget to add enough cheese in the stuffing of that hamburger. And you know what? I’m just going to spoil myself with all the pizza I can get from Domino’s tonight. After all, it is only for today, and then I will continue with my dieting tomorrow.’ But, that is just how cheating starts and before you know it, you are off your dieting.

Okay, could you cut yourself some slack? No! Statistics have it that 30% of all dieters fail in the first 5-10 days. But you do not want to be among those. A whopping 70% makes it this far, and that is where you belong! Instead of quitting, you could encourage yourself to compliance. So, how do you do this?

Be disciplined

Call it self-will, willpower, resolve, or determination. It all boils down to discipline. Without self-discipline, absolutely nothing can be achieved. You have to understand that you could either be your own worst enemy, or figure out that your strength lies within you first. It is all a choice you have to make. Your success depends largely on you.

Keep company of other dieters

You need the company of other dieters. There is a synergy that this brings. It is just like a group of birds flying in unison; they gain more speed and altitude. A company of fellow dieters gives you support and cheers you on at every achievement. You should find one in your neighborhood or online. Both will be useful for your cause.

poached-eggs-on-toast-739401_1280Use a meal planner

You need a meal planner to achieve your dieting goal. We eat food for a number of reasons which include palatability and the need to satiate hunger. Your choice of meal must not only be palatable, but also filling. Anything short of this, you would just be setting yourself up for spells of cheating in your dieting. Any needless to say that you cannot achieve your goals that way.

Add garnishing to your meal

The beautiful thing about colors is that they appeal to us beyond our conscious realization. Garnish your food; make them colorful and attractive. There is no end to the beauty you can achieve with fruits and vegetables. Present your food to yourself in style. This should help you cope with acquiring some new but needed tastes along your dieting journey.

Do not skip meals

Yes, you want to keep the calories down, and it may seem logical that by skipping meals, you can achieve this. Wrong move! In fact as a rule, do not wait till you are hungry before eating, but rather stick to a consistent meal schedule. By this, the temptation to over stuff yourself due to hunger pangs is avoided.

Are you on a diet? Share your compliance secrets with me, I will not tell 🙂

Share on:

Weightloss friendly foods for your meal plan

Foods

Food relatively influences hunger, hormone generation and calorie burn-down in the human body. This is why some foods are better for weightloss than others, according to science.

For people trying to lose weight, it is a good idea to stick to foods that are weightloss friendly.

Based on their overall effects in the human body, here are top weightloss friendly foods that you should know:

Whole eggs

Egg has almost all the nutrients that the body needs in its yolk. It is very high in protein and can make one feel full without eating large amount of calories.

Kris Gunnars, a nutrition researcher, writes in his post ‘The 20 most weight loss friendly foods on the planet’ on AuthorityNutrition.com that, an ‘8 week study found that eggs for breakfast increased weightloss on a calorie restricted diet.’

Tuna

Tuna fish is a lean fish, meaning it is fish with low fat. It is a low calorie and high protein food.

‘If you’re trying to emphasize protein intake, then make sure to choose tuna canned in water, but not oil,’ Gunnars advises.

Cruciferous vegetables

Cruciferous vegetables are vegetables that are members of the family Cruciferae. These are the gabbage and broccoli family. Apart from being high in fiber, this class of vegetables also contain some amount of protein.

They also contain cancer fighting substances, Gunnars noted.

Soups

Foods with lots of water often have low energy density and they make people feel full without eating too many calories.

‘Some studies have shown that eating the exact same food, except made in a soup instead of as solid food, makes people feel more satiated and eat significantly fewer calories,’ according to Gunnars.

Beans and other legumes

Legumes like beans, lentils, kidney beans, black beans and some others, are highly useful for weightloss. These foods are high in fiber and protein, two nutrients that have been linked to satiety.

But Gunnars warns that ‘the main problem is that a lot of people have problem tolerating legumes. For this reason, it is important to prepare them properly.’

Boiled potatoes

White potatoes score high on satiety index, the scale that measures how filling foods are. On top of that, they contain a large variety of nutrients, a ‘little bit of almost everything’ the body needs.

‘They are particularly high in potassium, a nutrient that most people don’t get enough of and plays an important role in blood pressure control,’ Gunnars mentioned.

Other root vegetables like sweet potatoes are also excellent.

Nuts

Nuts are great snacks. They have a balanced store of nutrients. They contain fiber, protein and healthy fats.

Nuts are high in fats, but are not fattening. However, they are high in calories, so it would be wise to not eat too much of them.

Gunnars writes that, ‘Population studies have also shown that people who eat nuts tend to be healthier, and leaner, than the people who don’t.’

These foods should help you achieve weightloss without having to stay hungry or keep a strict eating timetable.

This list could be useful for your next shopping, you can find it here anytime.

Share on:

Five ways to avoid unhealthy food cravings and stay fit

Unhealthy

Unusual and uncontrollable desire for unhealthy food can become a problem for your body. And the only way to avoid this problem is to mind how and what you eat daily.

‘Cravings are one of the biggest reasons why people have problems losing weight and keeping it off,’ licensed nutritionist Adda Bjarnadottir wrote online in her post ’11 ways to stop cravings for unhealthy foods and sugars’ on AuthorityNutrition.com.

There are various reasons why people have desire to eat food. Hunger is the only healthy reason and whole natural foods are the best things to eat to stay healthy and fit. But snacks and unhealthy foods are what people find available to eat most times.

Apart from hunger, emotional and physiological factors determine how people desire to eat. ‘Cravings are usually stimulated by emotional cues, but then fueled by physiological ones as we imagine what it will be like to eat the food we want to have,’ Brian Wansink, professor at Cornell University, says.

If you currently have unhealthy craving for food, these are some of the tips that would help you get back to normal and healthy craving:

Drink water

Sometimes when you feel hunger, it might just be your body telling you it is thirsty (or dehydrated). So you should not rush for food each time you feel hunger, try to drink plenty water instead and see what happens.

If after you drink water the hunger stops, then you might have actually been thirsty and not hungry.

Bjarnadottir also wrote that, ‘In middle-aged and older people, drinking water before meals can reduce appetite and help with weightloss.

Distance unhealthy cravings

Whenever you have unusual desire for food, try to ignore it and stay away.

The farther you take your mind away from it, the lesser you feel a desire for it, and the farther you keep food that you crave for away from your reach, the lesser the chance you would eat it.

Try doing anything that will distract you from desiring food and keep the food you crave out of reach. You could take a quick walk or a shower. Stop shopping for foods that encourage you to have unusual cravings, which are mostly snacks and sugars.

Eat protein

Protein may be useful. It can help reduce your appetite and stop you from overeating, especially when you eat plenty of it. It fills and satisfies you for a longer period.

Bjarnadottir wrote that study proved that increasing the amount of protein in your daily calories can reduce your unusual desire to eat significantly.

Plan your meals

Planning out your meal for the day or week and complying with the plan can help you control what and how you eat. With your meals more planned out, you can reduce the likelihood and urgency of having a desire to eat unhealthy foods.

Avoid extreme hunger

When you allow yourself to get extremely hungry for long, you are more likely to rush to eat any kind of food. To remain fit and healthy, the goal is to watch how and what you eat, but extreme hunger will make it very difficult to do that.

Eating more regularly and having healthy snacks close at hand is a good way to avoid getting extremely hungry, Bjarnadottir suggested.

Share on:

Four healthy fats that work for weightloss

Fats

Over the last two decades, several health and weightloss campaigns have been launched against fats. In that period, health and weightloss advisers started to recommend that meals should have less fat.

This was based on the belief that fats were generally connected with increased risk of heart disease and obesity.

But a group of diet and nutrition researchers led by Dr Iris Shai of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, after a 2-year study between 2005 and 2007 in Dimona, Israel, made observations which revealed that fats are more healthy than we thought.

Dr Shai, et al., observed that moderate-fat diets, especially ones with high proportion of monounsaturated fat supported weightloss and healthy heart than low-fat and low-carbohydrate diets.

Following this observation, here are four healthy fats that you can have in your diet even when you are trying to lose weight:

butter-617638_640

Butter

Butter faced very harsh criticism in the war on fat that it would be surprising to see it make a comeback. But here we are and it is about to make a respectful comeback.

The new knowledge that butter is rich in omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids which help the brain function well and improve skin health is changing the former beliefs we had about it.

Butter is also rich in fat-soluble vitamins (A, D and E) and trace minerals, including ‘beneficial selenium’, a powerful antioxidant, Dr Josh Axe explains.

Omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids are essential nutrients, they are not produced by the body, rather our body needs food sources like butter to get them.

breakfast-1425705_640

Avocado

Avocado is a common fruit with numerous benefits. It is very rich in monounsaturated fats which increase the level of good cholestrol, also known as HDL (High Density Lipoprotein) and lowers the level of bad cholestrol, LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein), in the body.

It is also a super storehouse of healthy protein and has the benefits of vitamin E.

coconut-oil-1469339_640

Coconut oil

One of the richest source of saturated fat is coconut oil. It is very rich in fats called Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCTs) which make it easy to digest. This kind of fat also boosts metabolism.

Coconut oil is very suitable for cooking. Saturated fats like coconut oil are recommended as the best choice for high-heat cooking because they are more stable and do not react to oxygen easily, nutrition researcher Kris Gunnars wrote.

sardines-1489630_640

Omega-3

You can get Omega-3 fatty from seafoods like salmon and sardines. It helps improve brain function and skin health. It does not cause weight gain.

The best types of omega-3 fatty acid are DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) which are readily found in seafoods like salmon and sardines.

Do not fear or avoid fat because you are on a weightloss journey. Saturated and unsaturated fats can be part of your diet. They contribute little to weight gain than low-carbohydrates and refined sugars would do.

Above all, always remember that moderation is key in anything you consume.

Share on: