Inna Miroshnichenko tried to answer the most common question of people who have recently decided to change their body: how to understand that your diet is not working?
It always seems that the less you eat, the faster you should lose weight. And the more you suffer in the gym, the better the result should be. And no matter how well logic and analytical thinking work, headlines like “lose 5 kg in a week” or “eliminate just one product from the diet and you will definitely lose weight” are still catchy.
In the 2000s, diets reached the peak of their popularity, one followed the other. And the fantasy of the authors had no limits: they wrote books about how to eat only proteins and fats and hate carbohydrates, or how to eat only white and green foods. There were many options. And it’s scary to think how many girls have tried them and harmed their health, and the kilograms, most likely, have not disappeared anywhere.
Now, finally, everyone has come to the only and correct conclusion: the diet kills more often than it helps. And for the lost five kilograms, 10 will definitely come.
At one time, I re-read all available books on different nutrition patterns, listened to hundreds of hours of lectures. While preparing for my health marathon, I personally talked with the best nutritionists in search of someone who could explain everything to me and the girls in the most accessible way. With another consultation with an expert, I was convinced that we complicate things too much and do not know how to trust our bodies.
Of course, if your diet consists of french fries and chocolate, then something needs to be changed. But let’s get acquainted with the base, and you will think about what you can correct in your diet right now.
KBJU. In this abbreviation, you need all the letters: calories, proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. If something is missing – a few calories, not enough protein or fat – there will be trouble.
The body is smarter than you think! When something is missing for a full-fledged life process, all systems enter the energy conservation mode. And this means that food is digested more slowly, reserves are burned extremely reluctantly.
Yes, our body can make fat reserves from any product. This is his main task – to ensure the longest possible existence of our body. But it will be slender, or not very – the body does not care.
The measure is important in everything! At some point, everyone took up arms against potatoes, and someone against bananas and grapes, someone else against oatmeal. But the bottom line is that all-natural products are good for our bodies. Again, if you know the measure.
One banana is a source of important micronutrients for a healthy heart. But at the same time, eating a bunch of bananas at once is an insulin challenge.
People are used to complicating everything: adding thousands of flavors and shades, processing the product, and artificially saturating it with what seems useful. As a student at Stanford University in a course on healthy eating, I learned one simple and important thing: truly healthy foods do not advertise themselves. If the package says “Contains vitamin A, C, etc.,” then it is highly likely a refined and processed product that has been “decorated” with something that will help it sell in the era of health care.
No one sticks stickers on broccoli or apples about how irreplaceable they are. That is why it is worth being especially vigilant about everything that screams about its benefits.
I’m not talking about how on the packaging of rice they write “GLUTEN-FREE” in capslock. It’s like you can find gluten-free rice somewhere. But those who do not understand, for some reason, automatically believe that this rice can be more useful and will choose it.
Don’t take on other people’s illnesses. No need to buy fructose sweets if your insulin response is OK. Do not be afraid of gluten like a fire, if you have never encountered difficulties in digesting it before.
Your diet will not become cleaner or more correct from this, but rather the opposite – it will lead to deficiencies and health problems.
Too much sugar is bad. Too much gluten is bad too. MEASURE! Here again, the measure is important. Sugar from fruits is necessary for our body, but not separately from them! After all, this is a recycled product.
Learn to distinguish real hunger from psychological.
Yes, very often we want to eat because we are sad, scared, or hurt. Food is the fastest and easiest source of pleasure. From birth, we receive food as a foundation for growth and a sedative at the same time. Therefore, it is logical that with age, radars can go astray.
The easiest way is to give yourself 15 minutes. Have you eaten and felt hungry? Take a break of 15 minutes. If after this time you are ready to eat another serving of food, then most likely this is also hunger.
If you don’t feel like eating, but the cake is asking for it, then this is definitely not about physiological hunger. A truly hungry person will equally willingly eat almost any food. If you start to sort it out, and everything is not right, then you are simply not hungry yet but are trying to seize some kind of emotional swing.
Last but not least, value your individuality.
There is no food system that suits everyone. We are all different. What is good for us, only we ourselves know. Someone does not eat beans, someone meat, someone pears. And do not listen to the fact that without this product you will not be able to exist normally. If you do not like any product, then it is not just that. It can harm your body, which is why it gives the signal “Refuse! Let’s eat something else.”
This topic is as voluminous and endless as the existence of food in general. It is impossible to exhaust it or say “I know everything about food.” Every day humanity discovers and tries something new, tests transforms, and draws conclusions. But some truths are only reinforced. Remember that we are what we eat.
So let’s eat tasty, beautiful, and healthy!
