What To Eat To Lose Weight
To start a weight loss campaign you must first possess the willpower and discipline to make the serious adjustments that are necessary. Although counting calories can be desirable when trying to change your eating habits, it is not essential, and you can reduce your calorie intake by changing the way you approach food. This allows you to achieve the desired goal in a more natural way. So the question "what to eat to lose weight?" is indeed a question which has validity and also has an answer of some sorts.
The trick is to eat more food and hence feel fuller whilst you are taking in fewer calories. Surprisingly, this can be achieved. You need to choose foods that are low in energy density.
The energy density of a food is defined as the amount of calories in a portion. Low energy density foods tend to give you plenty of water and fibre with very few calories. High energy density foods, on the other hand, tend to have less water and more fat. Fat, remember, has twice as many calories as either protein or carbohydrates.
Foods with high energy density:
ChipsFoods with low energy density:
FruitsIf you choose foods that are high in water and fibre and low in calories then you can enjoy larger portions of food, allowing you to lose weight without feeling hungry.
Barbara Rolls, a professor at Pennsylvania State University, has done many studies into the role of energy density in facilitating weight loss. One study, which was published in The Journal of the American Dietetic Association, found that people who ate a low energy density salad before a meal ate less food during the meal. Those who ate a high energy density salad ate 8% more during the same meal.
Having a low energy density food before a meal should be an effective strategy for controlling your weight. E.g., try lowering the size of your main meal and have a soup as your first course.
In another study done by Rolls, young women who replaced high energy density foods with low energy density foods naturally ate 800 calories fewer per day.