Proper Diet for Weight Loss

Overview

Weight loss occurs when you consistently eat fewer calories than your normal calorie intake or you consistently burn more calories with exercise without increasing the amount of calories you eat. A proper diet for weight loss is a healthy diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, lean proteins, and beans and lentils and healthy fats from avocado, olive oil, nuts and fish.
A Healthy Diet

Sometimes it seems easier to just grab fast foods or convenient foods for meals and snacks. However, these foods are often loaded with added sugars and fats and contribute to weight gain. By preparing your own healthy meals and snacks you will know what your food is made out of and what you are putting into your body. With a little planning, healthy eating can be just as easy. In addition, healthy foods are just what your body needs to deal with the challenges of a busy lifestyle. Eating healthy will help you to be more focused, more productive and more efficient.
Healthy Eating Tips

There are many quick and healthy meals and snacks that you can eat at home or at the office. Some examples are yogurt or cottage cheese mixed with nuts and dried fruit, a peanut butter and honey sandwich on whole grain bread, fresh fruit with cottage cheese or nuts, raw vegetables with hummus dip, oatmeal with nuts and dried fruit, a turkey or chicken wrap using a whole grain tortilla, a chicken salad, a grilled chicken sandwich on a whole grain bun, brown rice with chicken and vegetables, and a grilled cheese sandwich with low-fat cheese and whole grain bread. In the past it would have been more difficult to make meals with brown rice but now stores offer fully cooked brown rice so all you need to do is heat it up in the microwave.
Combat Hunger Cravings

One of the challenges for weight loss is that when you decrease your calorie intake you may feel deprived or experience hunger cravings. Sometimes hunger cravings can result in overeating. To combat hunger cravings and overeating it is important to avoid skipping meals and to eat small meals and snacks every three to four hours. According to the Weight Control Information Network (WIN), "studies show that people who skip breakfast and eat fewer times during the day tend to be heavier than people who eat a healthy breakfast and eat four or five times a day." It goes on to discuss that eating small meals throughout the day results in appetite control.
Strategies to Feel Satisfied

Many people are successful at losing weight by making sure to eat adequate protein at each meal and snack, which can help you to feel satisfied for longer. According to an article posted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute, "pairing protein-rich foods with your carbohydrates helps you to feel satisfied longer because proteins are digested more slowly." Examples of good sources of protein are peanut or almond butter, raw nuts, cottage cheese, yogurt or low-fat cheese.

Fiber can also help you to feel full and as a result eat less. Fiber comes from whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Vary your whole grains to include brown rice, barley, rye, quinoa, buckwheat, amaranth, millet, bulgar and cous-cous. Try eating at fruit or vegetable with each meal and snack.
Avoid Empty Calories

Empty calories are calories from foods that contain little if any nutrients. These foods can add up to a significant amount of calories, which translates into weight gain. Empty calories come from processed and refined foods, chips, sodas, cakes, candies, sweets, artificial fruit juices and fried foods.

The article was re-posted from http://www.livestrong.com/article/78185-proper-diet-weight-loss/