There are almost 8 billion people on this planet. 45% of them went on a diet last year alone.
The primary reason people were dieting was to lose weight. But what if there were other, healthier, and less painful ways to lose weight? And no, I’m not talking about exercising!
Dieting usually revolves around restrictive eating and eliminating food groups from your diet. But you can eat in a healthy way and still lose weight!
Interested? Then read on to learn 5 healthy ways to lose weight.
But before we start, are you part of my community? Join my newsletter to get the latest action steps on how to eat a healthy plant-based diet, de-stress, manage your time better, prioritize yourself, and anything in between so that you INCREASE your energy, SAVE time and INVEST well in your wellness!
1. Mindful Eating
Mindful eating is not a new concept, however, it’s gaining in popularity. I am sure that if you look at the way your grandmother ate, you will see what mindful eating is all about.
Mindful eating has a few components, but the main one is to pay attention to what you eat. It is the art of appreciating your food, exploring the many flavours of food, and enjoying the moment of eating.
Unfortunately, most of us inhale food. We don’t notice what we eat, and we don’t savour every bite. Most of us are so stressed and hungry when we get home from work that we don’t register what is on our plate.
But when you are grateful for your food, you can’t feel stressed. And when you don’t feel stressed, your cortisol levels go down.
Cortisol is closely linked to your weight fluctuation because cortisol tells your body to store fat. This means you are gaining weight when you stress eat.
When you eat mindfully, you chew your food. When you eat quickly, you eat big chunks of food, making it that much harder for your digestive system to work. After all, the first section of your digestive system is your mouth and your teeth.
But mindful eating also means that you will take longer to eat your food. Your gut sends a signal to your brain to stop eating when you feel full. So, as a result, you will eat less.
Eating mindfully is about connection. Not only with the food you eat, but with the people you eat with. Rather than watching TV, you can engage in a real, meaningful conversation with your loved ones.
And that feeling of wholeness and wellness will create a safe space for your body to relax, digest the food, and decrease your weight.
2. Eat More Green Vegetables
Eating more vegetables will always be the best way to lose weight. Why? Because vegetables contain most of the nutrients and minerals your body needs to perform well.
But vegetables contain also complex carbohydrates and fats (like avocado) which can make you feel fuller. Some of the green vegetables, such as lettuce and cucumber, are 90% water which means that you can stay hydrated and help your body with mineral absorption.
Eating green vegetables has the added bonus of reducing your sugar cravings. Green vegetables are bitter in taste, meaning that after a while your taste buds will change, and you become more sensitive to sweet things.
And when you find yourself not being able to eat that much sugar, you will reduce the sugar intake and ultimately reduce your weight.
3. Eat Regularly
You might have come across this healthy eating tip when you went on a diet before. Eating regular meals can help with your weight loss because you train your digestive system to work in a more sustainable way.
Eating more regularly will also mean that you eat less, meaning you may stop overeating. Or eating processed food or food high in refined sugars. When you eat on a schedule, you can avoid food cravings because you won’t feel hungry as often.
But eating more regularly also means that you can plan ahead and when you get peckish you have a healthy snack to choose from. Your energy levels will be more even, meaning you won’t have big blood sugar drops. You will also be less moody and be able to manage your emotions better.
When we talk about eating regularly, it is important to plan your dinner not too late. The best would be if you could eat possibly three hours before you go to sleep. You need to give your body enough time to digest the food, and possibly exercise, so your body won’t store any excess fat tissue.
4. Reduce Portion Sizes
Have you noticed how our serving plates got bigger? Any fancy restaurant will put a few potatoes, a small piece of protein, and a smudge of pea puree on a massive plate. It looks beautiful and very luxurious.
No wonder you want to have big plates at home to recreate the experience. However big plates mean more food on your plate. And the majority of us don’t need to eat that much.
Eating everything off your plate comes from your childhood programming. As a kid, your parents told you to eat everything off your plate before you got dessert. So, you did.
Now, as an adult, you don’t even realise that the same programming is making you overeat. Therefore, reducing portion sizes is a vital step to reducing your weight.
Choose foods that are full of nutrients and will fill you up quicker. Remove all the fillers (aka empty calories) that you don’t need to eat.
And the ultimate way to reduce your portion size is to reduce your plate size! You can serve dinner on a smaller, serving plate and still eat enough for your body to have the energy.
5. Drink Less Water
This hack may turn your head around, especially since you hear everywhere how dehydrated we are as a nation. And that is right, you need to drink between 2 litres (women) to 2.6 litres (men) of water a day to stay hydrated.
And I’m not against that. I want you to drink water throughout the day, but not thirty minutes before and after your meals. Actually, don’t drink any liquids with your meals for that matter.
You want to prepare your stomach to digest the food you have just eaten. When you drink water (or any other liquid) you dilute the ph of your stomach. The stomach’s ph needs to be acidic enough to break down the food and prepare it for further digestion.
When your stomach’s ph is not acidic enough, most of your food is undigested and can cause problems down the line. When your food is properly digested, your body can absorb the vital nutrients and minerals and evacuate waste.
And when your digestive system works properly you feel light in your body.
Healthy Eating Is for Everyone
If you are struggling to lose weight and you can’t bare going on yet another diet, you need to eat differently. But eating healthy is not only if you want to lose weight, it is a great way to increase your energy levels, spend meaningful time with your loved ones, and build wellbeing.
You don’t have to have more time or adjust your daily schedule to eat mindfully or add more green vegetables to your diet or reduce the serving portions.
But before we start, are you part of my community? Join my newsletter to get the latest action steps on how to eat a healthy plant-based diet, de-stress, manage your time better, prioritize yourself, and anything in between so that you INCREASE your energy, SAVE time and INVEST well in your wellness!