Hard truth about weight loss – Coeur d’Alene Press

Recently I was reading information posted from one of my go-to health and wellness professionals on six effective foods to eat for weight loss. I was surprised and a bit taken back by the somewhat generic information with little supporting evidence to how and why these foods actually promoted weight loss. I would go so far to say it was a bit reckless for a prominent and well-read health expert to offer up these foods in such a misinformed way.

The foods in question touched on: eating potatoes to turn down your desire to eat more, the value of “Capsaicin” from hot peppers, increased egg consumption to curb hunger with protein, adding apple cider vinegar and coconut oil to promote fat loss. I agree that aspects of each of the food items have benefits that may lead to weight loss but one would need a deeper dive to understand how these foods can be leveraged to losing weight.

With so many people paying very close attention to quick-fix weight loss foods and diets, those of us who write about health and nutrition should be careful posting trendy information without any clear guidelines. Many Americans are desperately looking for the easy fix to weight loss; obesity and self-help weight loss tips are heavily consumed in mass across all forms of media. In fact there are so many bits of trending nutrition and weight loss advice, it has become extremely hard to know what’s true or accurate.

If you the consumer of such advice, can’t rely on the validity and accuracy of the information, what message are these top health gurus sending? Has it become more important to be on the trending bandwagon of hot food topics and buzzwords than to really want to help address weight loss and the obesity crisis in America? OK, I know, get off the soapbox and get to the point.

Weight loss and body composition is a big concern to the majority of the people who read my column. If you are like most of the people whom I have contact with on a daily basis it’s an ongoing battle to drop some inches, lose weight or for that matter keep type 2 diabetes in check because of weight and obesity issues.

Remember the part where people are looking for that quick fix, next big diet or foods to drop weight with? I hate to be the one to break the news to everyone but there is no easy solution to losing weight, obesity and the effects of metabolic disease. The bottom line is your body composition, weight and overall health are established by 80 percent of what you eat. That is a big percentage, which is why it’s so difficult to shed inches, lose weight and have the body composition you want.

What if I told you that only a small percentage of the foods you consume on a daily basis leads to healthy body weight and I gave you advice to give up the vast majority of what you love to eat? I am pretty sure you would not agree and be very grumpy with anyone telling you this information. Sorry folks, it’s mostly true: our average American diet, doubles if not triples the amount of carbohydrates we eat daily. This in-turn packs weight on, driving insulin resistance and slowly creating a health crisis in so many people.

This fact is why I shake my head at the thought of health and nutrition professionals telling people eat six health foods to lose weight. Yes certain foods can be a good start toward weight loss but there is so much more involved and weeks of dietary changes that would need to be made. Once you get your diet changed to foods that support fat burning and low to no carbs and sugars it will then take months to dial it in for lasting significant results.

If any of you are looking for a real answer to weight loss, a healthy diet and a healthy life start counting carbohydrates not calories, remove processed sugar from your diet and stop eating grains if you can, especially refined grains along with processed foods. Most of us just eat too many carbohydrates both good and bad, which places our insulin levels in a constant roller coaster ride making real weight loss near impossible. Exercise is a very good thing but it is not an answer to weight management if your insulin levels are all over the map.

Nothing is simple about managing what we eat. We are bombarded with commercials and advertisements pushing sugary products, great baked goods and amazingly fast processed foods for our on-the-go lifestyles. The cold hard truth as to why 98 percent of all diets and trendy foods fail us is they do not get to the underlying problem around over-consumption of carbohydrates, insulin management and how our bodies handle our misguided approach to a balanced combination of our key macronutrients, carbs, protein and fats.

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Judd Jones is a director for The Hagadone Corporation in Coeur d’Alene.

from myhealtyze http://www.myhealtyze.tk/hard-truth-about-weight-loss-coeur-dalene-press/