Calorie Restriction : Part II
This is part two of the calorie intake discussion we started last time, by Danna Schneider.
Again, Atkins can work, but at the expense possibly of your colon health, and your blood sugar isn’t exactly stable all the time, with it plummeting every time you burn off the protein you just ate, which burns quickly. Many people on these types of severely limiting diets find that they are sluggish, their bowel movements are irregular, and they are not getting the vitamins and nutrition they need.
Well, it turns out that everything your grandma taught you about “everything in moderation” is true. The key to weight loss and continued weight maintenance, and many even think the key to longevity, is limiting your calorie intake every day. When I say limiting calories, there are really no exclusions as to what you can eat, but in the interest of staying fuller longer and your continued health and energy levels, there are certain foods that you should concentrate on including in your diet more than others, because for the calories they add, they really fill you up and stabilize your appetite for hours and hours.
New studies have shown that it’s clear what results in weight loss and sustained weight loss, and that is the reduction of calories, whether you are on a diet like the Zone, or the South Beath Diet, or even Atkins or Pritikin diet, those that lost weight and kept it off had one thing in common, and that was a reduced calorie diet for a sustained period of time.
The smartest way to eat without taking in very many units of energy (aka, a calorie), is to make sure you load up on foods that are low cal and also very filling. These include foods like salad, spinach, broccoli, pickles, cucumbers, some kinds of nuts, low fat dairy products, lean protein like chicken and tuna fish, and light whole grain bread products. Because you are eating high quality, fiber rich foods, you are really eating that same amount of calories as you would in one tiny chocolate, but only you are enjoying a whole salad, or an entire piece of fresh fruit for the exact same amount of calories.
If you abide by the simple rule of choosing low cal foods with high fiber content, and limiting your intake to about 1400 to 1800 calories a day whether you are a man or woman, you will definitely lose weight and feel great, it’s only a matter of time before you get used to it and it becomes second nature.
Article Author : Danna Schneider
