Weight Loss Journal

One of the best ways to ensure healthy weight loss is to find the right balance for your meals. Proteins, fats and carbs are all essential, but you need to have the right amount of each to make sure that your diet will work. It can be a little difficult at first, but once you get started it will become easier.

First, you'll need to discuss your options with your doctor or with a nutritionist. They can help you come up with a percentage of each type that will work for your own unique needs. Remember, we are not all the same when it comes to the type of fuel that we need for our bodies. Some people can get away with a diet consisting largely of protein, while others will not be able to do without carbs.

In order to avoid feeling deprived, you need to find this balance and the right percentage. Commonly, most dieters stick to the 40/30/30 percentage, but you may find that you need to tweak this a bit for your own needs. With the right balance you should not experience feelings of dissatisfaction or cravings.

One of the main reasons that we suffer from cravings and have a hard time handling a new diet is due to blood sugar. After years of indulging in sweets, our bodies become used to that influx of sugar. If you suddenly stop eating these foods, your blood sugar can get out of whack very quickly. The sudden lows can lead to dizziness or feeling light headed.

To avoid this, make sure that you are getting the right amount of good carbs in your diet to replace the bad ones. For example, instead of eating white bread, switch to whole wheat. Instead of a can of soda, have a piece of fruit. You'll be giving your body the sugar it needs with much less calories.

Protein is a very important part of building lean muscle mass which in turn serves to ramp up your metabolism. Once again, the key to finding the right balance is substituting high risk protein with foods that are good for you. Instead of having a fatty piece of red meat, eat a chicken breast or a serving of tuna. Your body won't feel deprived, because it is getting the right amount of protein, just in a lower calorie form.

Although you wouldn't think it made sense, our bodies actually do need fat to function properly. If you try to aggressively cut all fat out of your diet, your body is definitely going to suffer. However, you need to make sure that you are eating the right kind of fat. Stay away from saturated fats, like butter, and use the "healthy" fats such as olive oil.

It may not be as tasty at first, but you'll be providing your body with the fuel that it needs to survive and retraining your cravings with much healthier foods.

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Even though carbs get a bad rap, it’s commonly accepted that if you do have to eat them, whole grains are the way to go. There are many benefits to having a diet rich in whole grains, and this book from Drs. Lisa Hark and Darwin Deen offers a plan that is based almost entirely around adding these nutrient rich foods. Let’s take a look at the book and see whether or not it’s based on sound science, or it’s just another fad.

This diet calls for removing all processed grains from your diet, and for many, that certainly won’t be easy. The first part of the diet is absolutely the most difficult. During this stage, you are not allowed to drink alcohol, you must eat at the same time every day and meals cannot be skipped. Fruit and vegetables are also a very important component during this time period and the diet calls for four servings of these foods to be added to your diet.

The main premise of the book is that whole grains are not only good for helping you lose weight, but they are also important towards getting healthier. The authors state research and studies to show that whole grains can help prevent certain diseases and may be able to aid digestion. That is most likely due to the fact that you’ll be eating more than 48 grams of fiber a day, which is a big increase for most people.

The book includes some helpful recipes to get you started and the whole diet is mapped out in a very easy to understand way. Overall, while it may be difficult to follow, there are some good lifestyle changes that can be achieved from following the diet. We would have liked to have seen exercise focused on a bit more, but the do touch on it briefly. Since this is a book about changing the way you eat, more than a true “diet” book we can cut them a little slack on that area.

For those that like whole grains, making the switch will be pretty easy, but for those that have relied on white bread and processed flour, it will undoubtedly be difficult. However, the authors state that it is well worth the effort, if you can stick to it.

Overall, this is a very interesting book that offers up a lot of facts as well as some great recipes. While the diet may be too hard for most to stick to, you can still learn quite a lot from the book and use some of the recipes to enrich your current diet. We recommend the book to those looking for a healthier way to eat and for those that need to start eating foods that will do their bodies good. We can’t really recommend the diet plan per se, but you can still get a lot out of just reading the book and implementing a few changes in your normal diet.

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