Losing weight for whatever reason, health, appearance, or emotional mindset, is consistently ranked as one of the most challenging activities a person can undertake. Diets just aren’t exciting, and a lot of people give up, or slip up, and never seem to lose the weight they want. Worse, they often complain their weight returns to pre-diet levels if they stop dieting.
Most diet experts will recommend diet and exercise, rather than one or the other, and definitely dieting without some exercise is likely to be less effective, but even so, diets are boring, you tend to eat the same foods all the time, obvious examples being the lettuce diet, or those that provide a supplement drink that becomes your main source of sustenance.
Unfortunately, people have taste buds, and we have incredible memories for tastes and smells, so restricting our diet to just one type of food isn’t normal and our mind and body will rebel, mostly by giving us cravings that cannot be satisfied under the diet plan.
The trick is to fool your mind into thinking that it is getting all of the bad stuff it wants, or into thinking that it enjoys diet foods. To do this you really need to adopt a measured balanced diet, and use exercise to burn additional calories and then drink water when you feel hungry or thirsty. Have you ever noticed that a glass of water makes you feel less hungry?
Eating a balanced diet allows you to add the occasional treat, perhaps a cookie or piece of chocolate without feeling guilty. In addition, a balanced diet avoids boredom, and these two feelings, guilt and boredom are the number one reason people fail to stick to their diets.
A balanced diet means eating all things in moderation, though probably fruits, vegetables, berries and unsalted tree nuts will comprise the bulk of your diet with some fish, chicken, or a small serving of red meat to give balance. Using herbs and spices to give extra flavor is a great way to make the same foods taste different.
Try to cook by steaming your foods, they retain more of their flavor and essential nutrients this way. Roasting or cooking in oil makes your food sweat, so many of the best attributes are lost into the pan and mixed with fats which contrary to traditional belief are no good for you.
Finally, whenever possible try to eat the freshest foods available. Frozen vegetables may be convenient but they just don’t retain the flavor that fresh vegetables have. Yes the nutrients may still be in them if they are snap frozen, but what use is food that is full of nutrients if the taste is lost?
