Over one third of Americans are overweight and obese. Thisa fact has a profound impact in the rise of cancer, diabetes and heart disease we see today.
Simply by losing a few extra pounds can go a long way toward proper blood sugar control.
Of course losing weight isn’t as easy to do for many people. We gain weight as we get older which makes it harder to get rid of excess weight and a bigger struggle to keep it off. Fad diets and many of the weight loss products and programs being marketed simply don’t work. We may lose pounds only to get it back and more!
Eating less of what you like isn’t the answer to losing weight. The main reason why you’re not losing weight stems from the food you are currently eating. It’s the kind of food yo eat that contributes to weight gain and the kind of food you eat is often loaded with fat, sugar, chemicals and other unwholesome ingredients. A diet of cnvenient food transforms quickly into glucose. A low fiber, highly processed meal leads to sugar spikes that eventually damage body organs. It’s not how much we consume that’s important but what we consume!
You can start to lose weight by switching to a high-fiber diet and avoid the highly processed food you’ve been eating for years. High fiber foods take longer to digest and lead to a slower rise in blood sugar which the body can cope with. Our diets of fast foods, meat and potatoes seldom include fresh fruit and vegetables.
Take a look at this list of foods: Garlic; Spinach, Oats; Barley; Broccoli, Flax seed, Fish. Chances are you are NOT eating any of these foods, yet they are among the healthiest foods you can consume. Fruits and vegetables are not high on the list of foods for children and adults alike. With our highly stressed lifestyle, we tend to eat what’s convenient and eat too much of it.
While a proper diet helps, you need to know that there are other factors that play a part on how you gain weight. Family history, a sedentary lifestyle, smoking and drinking habits, age and the type of drugs you take need to be considered.
You should concentrate on what you should eat rather than what you should eat less of. Our diets consist of empty calories that provide little in the way of nutrition. Hamburgers and Coke only aid in weight gain. So will that chocolate bar and that bag of chips you consume for a snack. What you need to do is replace your typical junk diet with wholesome high-fiber, low processed food along with the right kind of fat from omega 3 oils found in fish and flax seed. Substitute your chips with a fresh fruit such as an apple, orange or berry.
Lack of exerciswe with a sedentary lifestyle just adds to weight gain. Vigorous exercise such as a brisk walk, cycling, swimming, gardening and other activity that keeps you moving will go a long way toward controlling your blood sugar and add to your weight loss program.
While your doctor may insist you lose weight, you should keep in mind that many standard medications that you take can and do lead to weight gain. Except for metformin, all drugs used to treat diabetes will help you gain weight. And if you take insulin and are overweight, insulin can lead to weight gain.
To be sure the best way to shed pounds is by taking an aggressive approach; switch your eating habits to include wholesome high fiber foods and get on a daily exercise regimen. Changing what you eat will help to make you healthier and lose that weight you’ve been trying so hard to get rid of.