Can eating make you lose weight?
You bet! 😀
However, one minor correction is necessary.
SELECTIVE eating can make you lose weight. That’s right…
Nutrition is the single most powerful way to not only lose weight but also to maintain health and fitness.
And nutrition is not just about avoiding oily foods or unhealthy stuff; it is also about eating right!
Almost everything (about 80%) about you, especially your weight, is determined by what you eat.
So, “You are what you eat” is almost correct! 😀
Eating a lot will make you gain weight, whereas eating too less will make you anorexic.
Wait, will it, really?
Say you and your friend weigh the same weight, have similar metabolism and are pretty much similar in every way possible concerned.
We feed you a tub of ice-cream and your friend a dozen cucumbers, carrots and beetroots. Now you are eating way less than your friend in terms of quantity. A dozen cucumbers, carrots and beetroots surely weigh way more than a single tub of ice-cream.
We keep you on this diet for a couple of weeks. Who do you think would have gained weight?
That’s right! You would be the one who gained more than a few pounds, whereas your friend would actually lose a couple of pounds.
Clearly, what you eat is more important than how much you eat.
Isn’t it?
Well, that’s the reason we ask you to focus on eating healthier things and not eating lesser calories. If you eat right, the calories will take care of themselves and so will your weight.
In this article, we are giving you a list of such healthy foods that you need to focus on.
Include these in any form you can in your diet, because these are the foods that are what we call – Scientific Nutrition’s Weight Loss Agents.
So, let’s begin…
Leafy Greens
Remember the time your mother forced the methi or palak sabzi down your throat?
There is a very legit reason she did that and also a legit reason why you resisted vegetables like methi.
‘Leafy greens’ is the healthiest category out there.
It is perhaps the solitary food category that can supply to you each and every nutrient essential for your survival and well-being.
Vitamins, Iron, Proteins, Good Fats, Calcium… you name it leafy greens have got it!
BTW, as opposed to leafy greens being only vegetables like spinach and methi is not what we mean here.
By leafy greens we refer to all vegetables that are traditionally eaten in Indian homes like bhindi, ghevada, brinjal, cabbage and every other sabzi you can possibly think of!
To justify our claims that all veggies combined are capable of giving you all the nutrients that you need we have mentioned which veggies are rich in which departments.
Fish
Seafood lovers, anyone?
Many, I bet! *hi5*
Fish is perhaps the tastiest food that features in this list.
And you can safely throw a fish at someone who says healthy food is never tasty! 😀 He’ll get the point.
Fish is perhaps the lightest non vegetarian food for your digestive system to process unlike chicken or mutton which take some processing.
Fish is one of the best foods for skin and hair care since it contains a lot of vitamins, proteins, micro-nutrients and most importantly it is one of the few sources of good fatty acids (omega-3).
The best part is fish is really low on carbs – around 120 calories per 100 g of fish. So there is nothing like too much fish! 😀
Chia Seeds
Chia seeds is more popularly known as ‘sabja‘ in India.
Mostly, ‘sabja’ is used only in falooda, a type of dessert which is a salmagundi of different sweet items like ice-creams, juices, soft vermicilli (sevaiyya) etc.
Apart from this, sabja is almost nowhere to be seen.
Who would believe that these tiny seeds have been categorized as a ‘super food’?
Yes, chia seeds pack more nutrition than you ever could have guessed.
Just to give you some idea..
Just a single ounce (around 30 g) supplies the following nutrients –
Fiber – 40% RDV*
Protein – 10% RDV
Calcium – 18% RDV
Iron – 12% RDV
Magnesium – 24% RDV
*RDV – Recommended Daily Value
Also, small as they seem, they puff up by absorbing water or any other liquid thus occupying more space in your tummy! 😀
Lean Meat
Most people do not realize that there is difference between regular meat and lean meat. Let us address this problem first.
There is a definition for lean meat which you can find here. But in layman’s terms…
Any meat which has very less fat is lean meat. For example, chicken breast without skin.
The most crucial difference between regular meat and lean meat is that lean meat is devoid of all fatty parts of the animal like skin.
Skin etc. have high fat content which adds to the calories you will consume if you eat meat with skin.
So the idea is to remove any fatty part that is pure fat.
Chicken is a good source of selenium, vitamins B3 and B6, and choline.
And an excellent source of protein.
So is mutton and fish(as we have seen earlier).
However, mutton, like all other red meats, should not be consumed regularly in high amounts because it is a very rich source of unwanted cholesterol.
Eating mutton occasionally in moderate quantities is a good thing to practice. 🙂
Olive Oil
What if we told you that the most problematic thing in your kitchen is the oil you use?
The very same oil that goes into every other, if not every dish, in considerable quantities.
Oils are not tricky, as opposed to what most people think. But they aren’t the simplest either!
Everybody knows that olive oil is the best oil out there. But no one seems to know why!
Let us see why olive oil is the best and why other oils are not so good (even though they are advertised splendidly)
Reason #1 Olive Oil is almost 100% natural
Yes, there are refined olive oils as well, but the ‘extra virgin’ olive oils are natural olive juices.
On the other hand, vegetable juices undergo a lot of processing in factories.
Reason #2Â Olive Oil and Good Fats
Unsaturated fats are known as good fats in layman’s terms because, as opposed to the universal notion that fats are bad, unsaturated fats are actually good and essential nutrients.
Vegetable oils also have unsaturated fats but the saturated fats or bad fats are in higher proportion as well.
Reason #3 Olive Oil’s proven health benefits
Replacing your cooking oil with olive oil has a number of proven health benefits.
More good fats and less bad fats ensure that your heart stays healthy.
Olive oil has more antioxidants than regular vegetable oils which make you age slowly.
Olive oil prevents the occurrence of gallbladder stones. And this list can go on and on..
So it is a good idea to make olive oil your new cooking oil and reap the benefits of this change. 🙂
Soups
No Manchow soup please, before most of you start jumping! 😀
A soup should essentially be two things – Healthy and Tasty.
If it is lacking in either of the factors, it is not a good soup.
If you think manchow soup is a good soup choice, you need to learn about soups and what ingredients DO NOT go into a good soup.
So let us tell you the worst ingredients that can possibly go into a soup…
- Corn starch – A big no! Your soups do not deserve corn starch.
- Cream – Never put cream in your soup! It WILL make you fat, trust us!
- Potato – Generally avoid only potato based soups.
- Processed Sauces like soya, schezwan etc.
Also, you should avoid the packaged or instant soups. They use a lot of preservatives and also a lot of unwanted items go in to them.
Apart from these, almost any natural ingredient is fine. Carrots, beetroots, mushrooms, broccoli, chicken, garlic, ginger, lentils etc etc are all great soup-makers!
Soups are especially useful whenever you desire to binge eat.
Drink a bowl of soup or as much you can heartily and you will not be able to binge eat. Soup will fill your tummy up and stop you from binging on unhealthy stuff.
Use this trick whenever you go out for meals, so that you do not lose control and order items that will spoil your otherwise healthy diet.
Yogurt
Yogurt IS NOT firangi curd!
While the differences between yogurt and curd are few, they are significant.
While curd is natural item that you can make at home; yogurt is, essentially, a processed product.
It is perhaps the only processed product Scientific Nutrition will ever recommend to you, so it has to be special.
Well, for starters, it is low calorie.
It has great and helpful bacteria known as ‘probiotics’ that improve digestion drastically.
Also, these ‘probiotics’ will enhance your immune system and make you stronger against common illnesses.
For people over 30, who should have already read this article, yogurt may help prevent osteoporosis by the virtue of being rich in minerals like calcium, potassium and vitamin D.
A few studies have also established that yogurt can reduce the risk of blood pressure related problems, especially high blood pressure.
Yogurt, like curd or nuts, is an item that can and should be had everyday for it’s wonderful abilities mentioned above.
These 7 weight loss agents will make sure that you lose some pounds and slime that waist!
But why do they work?
Actually, there are many more than 7 weight loss agents in reality. And there is only a concise set of factors that makes a food item a weight loss agent.
Any food item that fills the bill below is automatically a weight loss agent –
- Low Calorie Count
- High Protein Content
- High Good Fat Content
- Ability To Make You Feel Full
- Supplies a Plethora of Nutrients (aka Superfoods)
Can you think of any food other food that has all or most of these properties? Tell us about it! 😀