Chapter 3: The Proper Diet

For many of us, eating is one of our favorite pastimes, some of us over indulge a little more than others, not exactly passing up everything crossing our paths. It's quite alright to over indulge in regards to veggies and fruit, but all sugary snacks do to the body is more harm than good.

It is always best to keep good information for healthy eating at your fingertips so illnesses and diseases can be prevented, and as for obesity, so it can be treated through burning fat.

It isn't rocket science to know that good nutrition plays a major role in good health and for losing weight. Time should be taken to become familiar with the many nutritional requirements of the body to maintain health below.

If you eat big meals, but still find yourself hungry afterwards, there's a good chance you are starving NUTRITIONALLY. You can eat all the junk food you like but you find you will never be satisfied and be hungry very soon afterwards.

In his book, ‘Fighting the Food Giants’, Paul Stitt explains how processed foods in the U.S are deliberately laced with addictive chemicals and made nutritionally empty which means the foods never satisfy people and do not register with the body’s appetite mechanism - the little part of our brain that tells us when the stomach is full. In order to feel somewhat satisfied, consumers must keep buying and consuming large quantites of these processed foods. By consuming a large amount of junk and fast food, your body could be literally starving on a nutritional level.

Below we will look at the different nutritional requirements of the body and what foods contain them so you can start adding them to your diet.

Carbohydrates are the main source of energy for our bodies to accomplish daily activities by being broken down to be used as fuel for the bodies cells and muscles. The two types of carbs are starches and sugars. Starches are known as complex carbohydrates and take longer to digest over sugars that are more easily digested by the body.

You will find that most fruits contain adequate amounts of easily digested carbs which are also an excellent source of vitamin C and other important vitamins and minerals.

Starch-rich foods include: Breads, tortillas, pasta, grains, noodles, vegetables and some fruit.

Sugar-rich foods include: Fruit, cake, soda, candy, jellies.

Other carbohydrates-rich food: Most dairy products.

Our bodies should obtain a healthy mixture of proteins and carbohydrates in order to maintain excellent health, so our diets should consist of ingesting the 9 essential amino acids which only dietary sources can provide. The body is able to create the additional 13 amino acids within the body.

Protein also aids us in replacing and repairing tissues and makes up most of our muscles and organs as well as aiding red blood cells to carry oxgen to our bodies. Protein is found in almost every living cell and fluid. Adults and especially children require a good supply of protein to develop and grow.

Proteins can be considered either complete – which supply us with all of the essential amino acids – or incomplete – which lack certain essential amino acids.

Protein rich foods include: fish and shellfish; beef, poultry, lamb; dairy products, including cottage cheese, cheese, yogurt and milk; tofu and soy products; eggs, egg whites or egg substitutes; dry beans, peas, oats and legumes; seeds and nuts.

Incomplete protein: Beans, vegetables and other plant products.

Complete protein: Eggs, protein powders, meat and some dairy products.

Vitamins aid the body in maintaining regular bodily functions such as tissue repair and cell growth. If we are unable to derive certain vitamins from foods, there are many synthetic vitamins available on the market as supplements that can make up for the nutrients we miss out on. We get most of the vitamins needed by our bodies from the foods that we eat, except for Vitamin D, which the body can produce from direct sunlight and Vitamin K, that is manufactured in the intestines by certain bacteria. The list of vitamins include:

Vitamin A - Is found in foods such as egg yolk, fish-liver oil, milk, butter and cheese and contributes to the formation and maintenance of healthy skin and aids in maintaining the reproductive system, vision and bones.

Vitamin B Complex - Water soluble and fragile substances which play a key factor in carbohydrate metabolism and is composed of vitamin B1 (thiamine), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B3 (niacin), vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), vitamin B12 (cobalamin), folic acid, pantothenic acid, and biotin.

Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid) – A major contributer to the formation of collagen, a protein that supports many body structures and aids in the formation of healthy bones and teeth. Vitamin C is obtained from fruits such as lemons, oranges, limes, pineapple, cantaloupe and strawberries and vegetable sources such as cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts, spinach, kale, tomatoes, green peppers, and turnips.

Vitamin D – Is a necessity for the formation of normal bone structure and for retaining phosphorus and calcium in our bodies and can be found in tuna, egg yolks, liver and vitamin-D fortified milk.

Vitamin E – plays a key factor in the formation of red blood cells, muscle and other tissues and also aids in preventing oxidation of vitamin A and fats. The main dietary sources of vitamin E are liver, green leafy vegetables, vegetable oils and wheat germ.

Vitamin K – Necessary for the coagulation of blood and found in livers, and a variety of green leafy vegetables such as kale spinach and other foods like egg yolks, alfalfa and soybean oil.

Minerals are necessary small metallic elements that are important for maintaining growth of our teeth and bones, aiding cellular activities like muscle contractions, nerve reaction, clotting of blood and enzyme action. Minerals are classified as major elements (calcium, potassium, chlorine, phosphorus, magnesium, sulfer and sodium) and trace elements (zinc, selenium, copper, chromium, iron, iodine, and flouride).

Fresh fruit and vegetables contain most of the minerals needed by the body for optimum health although it is highly recommended to supplement your diet with a multi-vitamin that also contains all of the essentail minerals. This will help to correct any current deficiencies you may have and also to give your body the nutrition it might be starving for.

Unfortunately we have it ingrained in our heads that fat is a horrible thing, but really it isn't even though I previously mentioned that when we obtain more calories than the body needs, the body stores additional calories as fat which causes unnecessary weight gain. So, this is when certain fat becomes unwanted.

The major energy storage system for our body is fat so once energy from food we've eaten cannot be used, it is turned into fat for a later time. Fat is also important to us because it protects major organs and cushions bones and joints, regulates blood pressure and maintains healthy skin, hair and nails so cutting out fat entirely would be a major health risk. However, on the other hand, too much fat may lead to health problems such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and more.

It should be noted that all fats aren't the same as there are what are considered healthy fats (unsaturated) and also the unhealthy fats (saturated).

Saturated fats, usually solid at room temperature are the most unhealthy foods to eat as they tend to increase the level of cholesterol in our systems. Foods containing saturated fats include: cheese, margarine, butter, shortening, the fats in meat and poultry skin and tropical oils such as palm and coconut oil. Unless consumption of these fatty foods and oils are moderated, they can bring on a myriad of health issues.

Unsaturated fats raise the level of HDL (healthy cholesterol) in the blood which protects against heart attacks. There are two different types of unsaturated fat; polyunsaturated and monounsaturated. Eating peanut butter, non-roasted nuts, canola and olive oils are high in monounsaturated fats and should be given attention as part of a healthy diet.

Also within the healthy fats category are what's known as EFA's (Essential Fatty Acids) that must be provided to the body via food as it cannot create it's own supply.

The 2 families of EFA's are Omega-3 and Omega-6. Some of the best food sources of EFA's are from pumpkin seeds, fish and shellfish, hemp oil, flaxseeds (linseed), soya oil, canola (rapeseed) oil, chia seeds, walnuts, sunflower seeds and leafy vegetables.

It is also a good idea to supplement your daily diet with some form of EFA. Two of the best known sources are flaxseed oil and cod liver oil. Both are available in capsule form.

After every meal you eat, your body releases a hormone called insulin. This powerful chemical has the power to make you look slim and attractive or flabby and overweight.

One way to help you lose weight is to make your body release the least amount of insulin as possible after each meal because it is responsible for storing fat on your body.

One of the easiest ways to have less insulin placed into your bloodstream after meals is to have a small amount of monounsaturated fat just before each meal. A great idea is to have roughly 1 teaspoon of natural peanut butter about 10 minutes before eating. This will significantly slow down the absorption of carbohydrates therefore limiting the release of insulin.

When losing weight your goal is to lose body fat by decreasing the amount of foods with high-fat content and including more fat burning foods that will speed up your body's metabolism and allow you to consume more food as fat actually has more than twice the calories per gram as proteins (which contain roughly 4 calories per gram) and carbohydrates.

Low fat diets entail consuming foods with hardly any fat calories as opposed to foods with high fat calories which is a prevention method since this type of diet is more ideal to prevent someone from becoming obese. Many parents refer use this approach with their children due to the fear that they might grow obese. Below are some diet suggestions for general good health. The list of foods are categorized into low-fat (allowed to consume) and high-fat (prohibited to consume):

A great fat burning diet burns all unwanted fat calories that have been stored in the body and utilizes certain eating habits which boosts the metabolic fat burning rate. Foods enriched with protein greatly increases the body's metabolism in which calories are burned and used as fuel, think of adding logs to a fire, the more wood you burn, the larger the fire our metabolism reacts the same way.

Poultry: Turkey, chicken, grouse, pheasant, fowl

Lean Meat: Lamb, veal, beef, venison, hare, offal, rabbit

Cheese: Low-fat cottage cheese and low-fat fromage frais, reduced-fat hard cheeses such as Cheddar, in moderation

Shellfish: Prawn, scallops, shrimps, mussels, lobster, cockles, crab, scampi, winkles, whelks, abalone

Fish: Tuna, cod, haddock, trout, plaice, whiting, sole, coley, salmon, mackerel

Soya products

Eggs

The glycemic index (also known as glycaemic index) or GI is the measure of the effects of carbohydrates on blood glucose levels. Carbohydrate foods that break down quickly and release glucose into the bloodstream at a fast rate are known as High GI foods while on the other hand, foods that release glucose into the bloodstream slowly during digestion are known as Low GI foods.

Similar to eating monounsaturated fats with meals, eating Low GI foods lower the amount of insulin released into the bloodstream. The glucose is used up slowly rather than being dumped into the body all at once keeping you satisfied for longer while limiting the amount of glucose that gets converted and stored in your body as fat.

Fruits: Bananas, pears, apples, oranges, grapefruit, mandarins

Vegetables: broccoli, sweet potato, aubergines, okra mushrooms, legumes, artichokes

Cereals and Grains: Whole wheat pasta, brown rice, porridge, wild rice, tabbouleh, pearl barley, oats, muesli, high-fiber wheat-bran cereal, other whole grains

Breads: Heavy fruit breads, multigrain breads (white and brown)

Other: Honey, jam, soya milk and its products

Now that you know what kind of foods to eat and what nutrients you will need to add to your diet to help you lose weight you can now figure out exactly how many calories you need to eat each day. Then, you simply divide that number by 5, then multiply it by 4. This will mean that you eat 4/5th's or 80% of your daily calorie maintenance level.

For example, If a person requires 2500 calories per day to maintain their body weight, they would divide that number by 5 which gives us 500. Then multiply that by 4 and that gives us 2000. Therefore this person would try to consume around 2000 calories a day.

Doing this creates a small deficit in calories causing you to slowly and safely lose weight. Attempting to decrease your calorie intake by any more would cause your body to think there is a famine or food shortage and will slow down it's metabolism bringing any weight loss to a halt or even cause the body to burn muscle instead of body fat.

Calculating your calorie deficit this way is much more safer than others who suggest that you simply subtract 500 calories from your daily calorie requirement. This can be unhealthy for some people, especially women who only require 1200-1500 calories. This would create too large a deficit causing problems stated above as well as the other symptoms associated with crash or starvation dieting.

Simply enter all your details in the form below and you will get an estimated daily calorie maintenance requirement for your body type and activites. From this number, you can then work out how many calories you should eat each day to steadily lose weight using the calculation mentioned above.

* See Appendix A for a list of foods and their estimated calorie content.