There are four main components of the diet: proteins, carbohydrates, fats and water. The first three components are what provide the calories in your diet. Eat too many calories and you get fat. Conversely, eat too few calories your body goes into ‘starvation mode’ and your metabolic rate will become so low that you won’t really lose any real weight. So what are these diet components and how they affect your weight?
Proteins: Proteins are a very important part of a healthy diet!
Your body uses proteins for many different tasks. There are two types of proteins: complete and incomplete proteins depending of the type of amino acids they contain. Complete proteins are found in eggs, meat, cheese, dairy and soy. Vegetables, except soy, are sources of incomplete proteins.
The ideal proteins are the complete proteins. You may try Lean beef, chicken and turkey to reduce fat intake while getting enough complete proteins.
For vegetarians, vegetables are the main source of proteins. It is important for vegetarians to have in their daily diet a variety of vegetables, whole grains and soy (which is the only known vegetable source of complete proteins).
Even when dieting, you still need enough proteins to build lean muscles, maintain healthy skin, hair and nails and feed your brain. A sufficient amount of proteins in your diet will also help to make you feel full. This is the real reason why the Atkins diet works. A high protein diet with hoodia gordonii used to suppress the appetite will undoubtedly work in terms of giving you rapid results.
Carbohydrates: Not all carbohydrates are bad for you when dieting for weight loss!
There are two main categories of carbohydrates (carbs for short); simple and complex carbs. Consuming carbohydrates produce glucose, a type of sugar, in your body. Simple sugars have been shown to contribute to obesity and diabetes. In the other hand, complex carbs can shield you from many types of cancers.
Carbs are found in all foods except meat products. Bread, pasta, biscuits and cookies, cakes, candy and sweets, and sodas contain simple carbs (sugars). Fruits, cereals, and whole grains contain complex carbs.
Simple carbs are digested a lot faster than complex carbs. Therefore if you consume a meal of simple sugars, you will feel hungry sooner than if you ate a meal made of complex carbohydrates. This is why, consuming simple carbs can add up to a lot of calories at the end of the day.
If you want to lose weight, it is essential to limit bad carbohydrates from your diet and replace them with good carbs. After all, it’s recommended that you have at least five portions of fruit and vegetables during a day. Ideally you should restrict yourself to no more than 40–60g of carbohydrates a day.
Fat: Not all fat is bad for you!
There are three main types of fat, however, and they are not all bad for you. These are: saturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, and monounsaturated fat.
Saturated fats are mainly found in meats, meat products, dairy products and coconut oil and contain cholesterol. Too much saturated fat in your diet is bad for your health. It is known that saturated increases health risks if too much of it is eaten over a long period of time.
Polyunsaturated fats are found in oily fish (for example mackerel, salmon, trout, herring and sardines). This type of fat can also be found in some spreads and cooking oils such sunflower and corn oils. Polyunsaturated fats are good for your health. In particular, fats from fish, known as omega-3, lower blood cholesterol levels and may help prevent heart disease.
Monounsaturated fats are found in olives, olive oil, groundnut oil, nuts, and avocados. This type of fat makes an important part in the Mediterranean diet. It is believed that monounsaturated fats are good for your health; they may also reduce the risk of heart disease.
All types of fat contain more calories than any other food source. Having too much fat in your daily diet may contribute to weight problems. Therefore, it is recommended that you should not take more than 33% of your total energy (calories) from fat. Because of its harmful effect on health, your diet should contain no more than 10% of saturated fat. The rest of the calories from fat should come from healthy fat such as monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats.
Water: Water is a very important part of a healthy diet and may speed up weight loss!
Water is an essential part of a healthy diet. Drinking at least 8 ounces of water throughout the day should be an essential part of your diet.
Studies have shown that water can also raise your basal metabolic rate (the rate at which calories are burned) and may speed up weight loss. Researchers from the Berlin’s Franz-Volhard Clinical Research Centre recently measured the resting metabolism of 14 healthy men and women before and after they drank 450ml of water. It took only 10 minutes for their metabolism to rise. And, after 30 to 40 minutes their metabolic rate increased by 30%.