Healthy Meals to Lose Weight

Choose healthy to lose weight.

We often hear about all of the unhealthy foods that we should avoid – especially if we want to lose weight.

These foods include sugar, simple carbohydrates, fried food, heavily processed foods, products that have a long list of ingredients on the packaging and foods that are high in sodium.

In place of these, we should be eating more natural foods. These include fresh fruit and vegetables, healthy forms of meat like fish, chicken and lean red meat, nuts and legumes. 

If your primary goal is to lose weight, it is hard enough to cut out negative food choices. Finding a good way to build healthy ingredients into full meals can also be quite challenging.

For that reason, I am going to show you three basic meals that you can use to support weight loss while giving your body the essential nutrients that it needs.

Meals that help you to lose weight

- Breakfast: Greek yogurt and rolled oats

- Lunch: Grilled chicken breast, a boiled egg and fruit

- Dinner: Tuna salad

Stay healthy.

Healthy breakfast for weight loss

Greek yogurt and rolled oats

This meal is one of my favorite breakfasts because it gives your body the nutrients that it needs without flooding it with sugar.

Most cereals have more sugar than what we should consume in an entire day.

Greek yogurt is a good source of protein.

This will help to stabilize your blood sugar so that it does not drop too soon. Blood sugar drops lead to cravings for sugar and other unhealthy meals.

Rolled oats are a low GI (glycemic index) carbohydrate. Low GI carbohydrates take longer to digest in your gut. Foods that take longer to digest will leave you fuller for longer and give you a more stable supply of energy.

Oats are a good source of fiber. Your body will use it to clean out the digestive tract.

The cultures in Greek yogurt will contribute to better gut health. Weight loss, as many say, starts and ends in the gut.

Add half a cup of rolled oats to half a cup of plain, Greek yogurt. You may add a dash of honey to sweeten the taste.

Honey takes a little longer to break down than plain sugar and has a variety of health benefits of its own. 

Spice it up: Add flavor and double the health benefits at the same time

If your budget permits, I would suggest adding a sprinkle of nuts, seeds or berries.

Nuts can include almonds, hazel nuts, cashews, walnuts, pistachios, peanuts and macadamia nuts. Seeds may include flax seeds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and poppy seeds. Berries may include blueberries, raspberries, goji berries, cranberries or strawberries. Added fruits like bananas, apples, citrus, watermelon or pineapple are also a great idea.

You may be thinking that this will add to the amount of calories that you consume in the morning, but the difference is that these foods are high in fiber.

Fiber slows down digestion and increases the feeling of fullness. They are also super-rich in important micronutrients like vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, anti-oxidants and plant compounds.

Important notes

• Avoid using instant oats. This version is more processed and is digested sooner in the gut. This leads to rapid nutrient absorption and quicker cravings for more food.

• Avoid sweetened yogurt. Sweetened varieties are more processed. Extra fat, sugar, colorants and preservatives are added to this type of product to increase sales. Don’t let the labels fool you, either. ‘Low fat’ products often contain more sugar, while products that are labelled ‘less sugar’ often contain more fat or unnatural sweeteners to make up for the loss of taste.

• If you are using nuts in your breakfast, avoid salted nuts. This will increase your sodium intake. Excess sodium intake is closely linked to high blood pressure. Raw nuts are generally healthier than roasted nuts because heat destroys some of the precious micro nutrients. Roasted nuts are still okay, although raw nuts are always better.

• Avoid pre-mixed muesli. These products often contain a lot of added sugar.

Splurge on goodness.

Healthy lunch for weight loss

Grilled chicken breast, a boiled egg and fruit

A boiled egg, grilled chicken breast and fruit is a simple and easy-to-prepare meal.

Chicken is healthy and good for weight loss. Grilled chicken is healthier than baked or fried chicken because less oil is needed to cook it. Chicken breasts are high in good protein while also low in fat.

Grilled chicken and boiled eggs are simple to make the night before. You can also make them days in advance and freeze them if you don’t want to prepare your lunch every night.

Many people prepare lunches like grilled chicken and pack them into 5 or 7 separate lunch boxes for the rest of the week. Boiled eggs will last for days in the fridge.

You can add a little variety by swapping out the chicken for fish, but it won’t last as long as chicken before spoiling.

By pre-making your lunch boxes and bringing them to work every day, you greatly increase your chances of resisting unhealthy foods. It is difficult to make the right food choices when you are rushed to get food and eat up before your lunch break is over.

You also don’t need to eat everything in one go. The fruit, for example, make great snacks throughout the day. I recommend 5 servings of different kinds of fruit.

You may want to include vegetables if that is easier for you. Carrots, tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce, for example, are great choices.

You may choose the fruit that you like the most, but try to eat a variety of colors. Aim to eat at least one green, one orange and one yellow, purple or red color every day.

Don’t be scared of the sugar that you find in fruit. Many people want to avoid fruit and vegetables because of their sugar content. Natural sugar is a nutrient. Without it, we would die.

The problem is not whether or not we should consume sugar - It’s about how much sugar we eat and where it comes from.

Fruit are healthy sources of sugar. They also contain a lot less than most commercial products. A large apple, for example, has around 23 grams of sugar. That sounds very scary until you realize that 16 ounces (less than 500 ml) of soda has 52 grams of sugar.

The sugar in the soda is classified as added sugar (sugar that is added to a food). Added sugar is very unhealthy. The sugar that is found in fruit is classified as intrinsic sugar (sugar that is naturally found in food). Intrinsic sugar is not nearly as fattening or unhealthy as added sugar.

Fruit is mostly made up of water. An apple is about 86% water. The fiber in fruit slows down digestion and stops sugar from being released as fast as added sugar.

Spice it up: Add some flavor to your meal without decreasing its health value

It is best to use as little sodium as possible when making the grilled chicken or fish.

Instead, opt to use garlic, chilies, pepper or lemon juice to make it more enjoyable. All of those ingredients have super health benefits of their own.

Black pepper extract, for example, is commonly used in weight loss supplements because it encourages the body to burn calories when it is in the gut. You can also add a sprinkle of turmeric to the eggs. Turmeric is great for gut health.

Healthy foods give you long term benefits.

Healthy dinner for weight loss

Tuna salad

There is a common stigma that salads are unsatisfactory and bland. This does not have to be the case. A salad is technically any combination of foods that have a large portion of plant-based ingredients.

This tuna salad includes beans and a low-calorie (yet surprisingly delicious) sauce. Go on: You deserve it.

Add a tablespoon of salt and 350 grams (or 12 ounces) of cut green beans to boiling water. Cook until the beans start to soften. This will take three to four minutes. 

Make your own dressing

Puree one shallot, a cup of basil, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of vinegar, half a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper in a blender.

Mix half of this dressing with the cooked green beans, 4 cups of chopped lettuce, 500 grams (15 ounces) of canned white beans and two 28 grams (5 ounce) cans of tuna.

Use the rest of the dressing as a sauce.

Spice it up: Mix and match different ingredients

Once you’ve got the recipe down, you can mix it up by adding different ingredients.

Why not try using chicken or another kind of fish instead of tuna?

Try using spinach instead of lettuce. Add a pinch of garlic or mint to the blend. Use a different kind of bean.

Salads are easy to make, low in calories and surprisingly satisfying. 

Make it tasty.

Add fresh fruit, vegetables, legumes and spices to every meal that you can. This will improve the flavor, give you a sense of variety and nourish your body with ever-important micro nutrients. Stay Strong!

Foods to avoid when dieting and exercising

Use food to enhance your goals.

This article is written by Rob Maxwell, M.A. Exercise Physiology, CSCS and ACSM CPT from www.fittothemax.net. Follow him on Twitter.

Are there forbidden foods that you should avoid when dieting and trying to lose weight? 

If you are asking this question, you’re probably hoping there is a simple yes or no answer.

As with almost everything in life, it’s not that simple. There are a lot of grey areas here.

The answer is yes and no.

There are no forbidden foods to lose weight physiologically (physically).

There might, however, be forbidden foods to lose weight psychologically (mentally).

Foods to avoid when trying to lose weight

Before I get into this exact question, I need to clear up some misconceptions about 'bad food' and 'good food'.

Fad diets

We’ve all heard about fad diets.

A fad diet drastically limits or cuts out one of the macro nutrients completely.

Macro nutrients are carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and water.

Fad diets tend to be the diets that we can’t stick with for prolonged periods of time because our health starts to decline as a result of the diet.

They should be avoided. They are not the way to go about long-term fat loss and maintenance.

Let’s take the ever-popular low carb diet. I hate to break it to you, but a low carbohydrate diet is a fad diet.

Should you monitor and limit your carbs? Yes. Should you avoid them altogether? No!

You need carbohydrates.

How to lose weight with food

Energy consumed must be less than energy used if you want to lose weight. It's as simple as that.

Energy in food is measured as calories.

You need to eat fewer calories than your body needs to lose weight.

It’s that simple; yet it is that hard at the same time.

It’s simple because the concept is simple. The science is simple.

It is hard because we really have to be disciplined to eat less than what we want, and often what we think, we need.

Discipline is a very hard muscle to flex at times.

Self-control is important.

No foods are forbidden for weight loss

There are no 'bad foods' (although there are foods that are better for you than others).

Carbohydrates give you energy. They give you energy for your whole body, including your muscles and your organs.

Your brain relies on carbohydrates exclusively for energy.

Your brain needs carbohydrates for energy

Have you ever had a brain fog on a low carb diet?

The reason for that is because your brain was running low on glucose. Glucose is a simple carbohydrate.

When you cut carbs back too much, your body will take glucose from the glycogen in the muscles and break down your muscle tissue.

This is called gluconeogenesis. This is one of the primary ways that people lose muscle when they diet.

Losing muscle is counterproductive to long-term weight maintenance. The more muscle tissue you have, the higher your metabolism will be. Muscles consume more calories.

Our diet should be around 45-65% carbohydrates. Those carbohydrates should be complex carbohydrates.

Stay healthy.

The importance of fat for health

Fat gives you energy for low intensity activities like walking. It assists in hormone production among other things. You need fat.

Saturated fat (fat from animal products) has been shown to increase the risk for heart disease and diabetes when it is over consumed in the diet.

Not all fat is bad. Unsaturated fats (from plants) have not shown to have the same effect on heart health.

As they say, everything in moderation. We don’t need to eliminate fats. Our diet should be around 20-35% fat.

Eat enough fat.

Eat enough protein for good health

You need protein for growth and repair.

Protein is generally the most over-consumed macro nutrient in an average American’s diet - even in the fitness world.

Our diet should be around 10-20% protein.

Many health and fitness trainees (and trainers) over consume protein. They think that it will make them 'grow'.

In truth, if you are deficient in protein, you won’t 'grow'. You also don’t need nearly as much protein as you think that you do.

Balanced food and calories cause muscles to grow.

If you eat too much protein, just like any other macro nutrient; you will store it as fat.

Too much protein is very hard on the kidneys.

Don't eat too much protein.

There is no such thing as a bad macro nutrient

There aren't 'bad' foods.

There aren’t bad macro nutrients, either.

Get enough of the nutrients that you need. Cut back appropriately on calories.

Those are true statements from a physiological (physical) standpoint.

We are not just physical beings. We are psychological and emotional beings as well.

The easy answer is this: Eat any food that you want in moderation!

Moderation wins the game.

Some foods are more beneficial than others

Having said that, are there foods that are more or less beneficial to you when you are trying to lose weight and/or begin a health and fitness program? Yes.

I believe that the psychological aspect of a diet is the toughest part for people to master.

When you consider that there are psychological responses to food, there are certain foods that you should avoid when you want to lose weight.

This isn’t true for everyone. For some people, food is just food. They do not get a lot of pleasure from it. They don’t the overeat foods that they like.

Whether you should avoid certain foods while dieting depends on what happens to you emotionally once you taste a 'trigger' food.

Avoid your soft spots.

Everybody is different when it comes to food

Everybody is different, but most people can be divided into two main categories when it comes to this food.

Can you eat a small serving of chocolate ice-cream and stop at just a small serving?

If you answer no, you should avoid trigger foods.

For someone else, they may have zero issues having a small treat like that every day while they are dieting and it never causes them to overeat.

Find a strategy that works for your personality

One method might work very well for somebody. That doesn't mean that it will work for you.

Only you know what is more likely to be your best strategy. I use ice cream as an example, but it could be something else. We tend to over eat carbohydrates.

It is not because carbohydrates are evil. It’s because they taste good and are easy to over eat. They are very cheap as well.

Would you rather over eat tasty rolls, or hamburger meat?

Carbohydrates set off a blood sugar rise. This creates more of an insulin spike and has the potential to increase cravings.

That doesn’t mean that carbohydrates are bad. It just means that you must be aware of how you respond to certain ones.

Simply choose carbohydrates to eat that don’t cause triggers.

As I have already said, we all need carbohydrates. Let me give you an example.

A sweet potato is a great source for complex carbohydrates. If you eat a baked sweet potato, it comes in a nice little package that makes it harder to overeat.

Rice, which is also a great source of carbohydrates, can be more of a challenge to control because it’s harder to control the serving size. How big is your serving spoon? How many scoops of rice do you put on your plate? How much rice are they serving you at a restaurant?

Do you see my point? They are almost equal in calories and nutrients (serving size to serving size), but one is harder to control the actual serving size.

Choose according to your own strategy.

Choose foods according to nutrient density

Another thing to understand is the distinction between nutrient dense and calorie dense food.

If you want to lose weight, choose as much nutrient dense foods as possible. You will get more out of every meal nutritionally - with fewer calories.

Nutrient dense foods are high in nutrients like vitamins and minerals and low in calories.

Broccoli is a nutrient dense food. Calorie dense foods are high in calories, yet low in micro nutrients. Peanut butter is an example of this.

You would have to eat a 3-pound bag of broccoli to get the same number of calories that are in one tablespoon of peanut butter.

When we eat more calorie dense foods, we tend to eat more than we need.

Can you eat a lot of calorie dense foods like peanut butter? Of course you can. But can you control how much of this you’re eating?

Only you know if you can.

Choose food that nourishes you.

Final word of advice

Be careful of 'experts' that push absolutes.

I like to think things all the way through. You should do that too. Don't avoid healthy things like fruit and vegetables because a stranger told you to.

Be wary of someone who tells you to never eat bread. Think about it. Does that make sense to you? Can one piece of bread put pounds on you? Of course it won't.

If you ate the entire loaf along with other foods throughout the day, you will put on weight - obviously.

Many 'forbidden' foods are simply easier to eat in abundance and harder to control. It’s a lot easier to binge on jellybeans than spinach.

Ask yourself if you can control yourself once you start eating a certain food. Be honest with yourself. If you can eat jellybeans in a small quantity for dessert after every lunch and you stay on course with the rest of your eating, go for it!

If you can’t do it because you can’t eat a small amount of it, that’s okay too.

Know your personality and know what works for you. Self-awareness is the key to any success when it comes to health and fitness - and probably life in general.

Don’t make food your enemy. Learn what foods do to your personality. Discover how you react to food and learn what works best for you.

Find your personal solution.

This article is written by Rob Maxwell, M.A. Exercise Physiology, CSCS and ACSM CPT from www.fittothemax.net. Follow him on Twitter.