In my family, my dad is a huge fan of natural, low-calorie foods and I have recently lost 20 pounds and I’m not even embarrassed about that! As someone who loves carbs, I find it shocking that so many people can lose this much while at the same time maintaining their health. So let me be clear, I love carbohydrates and carbs are a must in your diet for optimal health, however, the key to all fat loss is healthy fats (the ones everyone isn’t talking about) which come from consuming high-quality omega fatty acids, making sure you get enough protein, no salt and plenty of fiber. With most of us becoming more aware that carbs are part of our diets, it can become difficult to understand what we eat that could potentially prevent future problems with such as obesity. It would seem as if only we were paying attention and trying to limit our consumption of these types of carbohydrates.
I often hear from friends, “Oh my god! You just ate too much carb!” And let’s be honest here. We aren’t eating enough carbs. The idea that it’s necessary to eat large amounts of carbs to lose weight, makes sense when you think of food as fuel for our bodies. Carbohydrates make our muscles stronger and give them an increased ability to burn those calories. However, there’s not one little piece of fruit or vegetable, that is higher than the number of carbs that we consume. There is a big difference between how fat-soluble carb is and the total amount of carb in each food, both of which can affect our ability to increase the number of calories we consume. This doesn’t mean that you cannot lose weight by yourself by simply increasing your carbohydrate intake, but instead, it simply means that you consume an unnecessary amount of carbs to get fit.
The first thing to understand when thinking of losing weight naturally is that the human body has several different systems of energy production, the main two being glucose and fat. Both of these systems rely on food nutrients for fuel and function and it’s important to know what are your primary sources of energy and how well you can utilize each to increase physical activity, or in other words, help lose the extra kilos. When looking at the number of carbohydrates that we consumed in total a day in our diet, we aren’t accounting for the amount of carbohydrate that is broken down into glucose. What we need to understand is that any carbohydrate that is being broken down into glucose is converted to glucose as easily as the normal meals we consume in a day. Carbohydrates come from trees, nuts, seeds, grains, and all sorts of greens including broccoli and spinach. They are also found along with fish, mushrooms, fruits, and vegetables such as celery and cauliflower. Carbohydrates are primarily broken down into glucose by animals such as cows, chickens, and sheep. These are called carbohydrates of animal origin because they don’t come from plants. We as humans tend to add starch to our meals so that we can use it to fuel our metabolic engines. One way we do this is by adding milk whey protein, plant-based carbs, and fiber-based proteins, like oats and rice. Although I will leave out wheat gluten from this list of nutrients, a recent study published in Nature Nutrition showed that wheat gluten may interfere with fat loss and thus make it less beneficial to lose weight through fiber. Some examples of carbohydrates that contribute to the human body include cornstarch, amylase, sugarcane, and the like.
When you begin to lose weight naturally you want to focus on getting the most protein you can. Having protein is essential to building muscle and keeping our joints healthy and strong and avoiding fat gain and heart disease. Carbs provide protein too, which helps with growth and repair. Protein can be either unprocessed or processed from whole foods, most commonly whole grains, nuts, and seeds. A healthy source of organic protein would be pea protein, which comes from whole peas, not refined protein. Even though it is mainly a concentrated form of protein, it contains a lot of nutrition and does play a significant role in stimulating protein synthesis. But let’s talk about all things carb and fats right now! Fat is another way we can lose fat without the use of carbs. Fats are mostly composed of fatty acids and thus we can lose fat simply by consuming fewer carbs and more fatty acids. It should be noted that saturated fatty acids are the main contributors to belly fats and may be used in products such as salad dressings, lipsticks, baked goods, and cosmetics. When fat is ingested, saturated fatty acids are broken down into monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Research shows that monounsaturated fatty acids provide anti-inflammatory benefits and reduce systemic inflammation due to lowered blood pressure and reduced joint fluid while reducing insulin resistance. Polyunsaturated fatty acids also have excellent anti-inflammatory properties and improve cholesterol levels within the body, decreasing body fat and increasing HDL (good cholesterol) cholesterol, lowering blood pressure, and helping with heart disease risk reductions.
Losing weight isn’t always easy. For some people, it can be very challenging, especially for those with medical conditions. So we tend to see doctors and nurses going around all over the world advocating certain diet plans and supplements to achieve success when we are having trouble losing weight. To help keep ourselves healthy we need to know what our bodies are designed to do and what type of carbohydrates we consume in our daily life. If we have trouble gaining confidence in dieting then understanding why we’re losing weight can be quite challenging. Regardless, losing weight takes practice and discipline and for anyone who wants to shed off their excess size, it requires more than just willpower and commitment.
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