Healthy, Uncommon Weight Loss Tips

There are all the much-suggested diet changes for losing weight, such as eating smaller portions, cutting fats and oils, and eating more often. While all of these changes are worthwhile and part of a healthy lifestyle, there are some less well-known diet changes that can make a large impact toward successful your weight loss and maintenance. These changes are often overlooked or simply unknown by average dietitians and food writers, but these tips can make a big difference in reaching your weight goals.

Switch to local, grass-fed, pastured meats, poultry, and dairy products. These meats have far fewer calories, much less cholesterol, and are lower in saturated fats than conventionally raised meats. This change alone can mean weight loss of 6 or more pounds a year for the average person, without any other change in habits.

Grass-fed beef has more benefits than lower calories. A steak can have from one half to one third the fat a conventionally raised steak contains. They also are more abundant in nutrients like CLA and Omega fatty acids. In fact, they can have up to 6 times the amount of those nutrients that found in similar products raised on corporate, feedlot style farms. High Omega 3 has been linked to a significantly reduced rate of heart attacks and cancer.

Not consuming convenience foods, including "diet" convenience foods. Some diet convenience foods are better than others, but none of them are great alternatives to cooking at home. Meals like Lean Cuisine seem like a dieter's perfect answer: easy, portion-controlled foods with low calories. Unfortunately, they are provide very little nutritional content for the calories, and often they have preservatives and high sodium. Your body will still crave the nutrients it's missing. You will also miss the opportunity to learn how to portion your own food, which can help with eating out.

The better option is to plan ahead, and cook at home. Make meals with leftovers enough for lunch, or meals that will make two or three dinners to help cut down on cooking time. There are many cookbooks and websites that specialize in healthy, home-cooked meals. Try Eatingwell.com and Foodfit.com, two of my favorites.

Cut High Fructose Corn Syrup out of your diet. Unlike other sugars, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) processes through the liver and is converted into into fat up to 3 times faster. New studies have also shown that eating HFCS causes your body to retain fats for the remainder of the day, packing the pounds on even when you are eating a healthy number of calories. HFCS also bypasses the pancreas, so there is no release of the chemicals that tell us we're full, which means we eat more. Top that off with the links to diabetes, sugar addiction, and other health problems, cutting HFCS out of your diet can make a large difference in your dieting success.

Unfortunately, HFCS is in a lot of foods, including ones that are supposed to be a dieter's friend, like many low-fat yogurts, crackers, and cereals. You will need to read labels carefully while shopping, and be prepared to do more of your meals from scratch. Buy plain yogurt and sweeten it at home with fresh fruit and honey, for example, or make your own granola.

Eat soup. Recent studies show that eating soup can keep you full and help you lose weight. Eating a healthy, broth-based soup can result in up to 20% less calories being eaten at that meal.

Snack on some grapes. Resveratrol is an antioxidant that inhibits the growth of fat precursor cells, and prevents new ones from developing. Including red table grapes in your diet in moderation can help you shed pounds in another way, too. The water content in fruits has been shown to help with weight loss because it keeps you sated longer. Grapes give you a double potent way to easily enhance your weight loss.

Get more fiber. According to the Mayo Clinic, fiber keeps you full, and helps regulate blood sugar. Up your fiber intake at every meal by including legumes, vegetables, and even sprinkling some unprocessed wheat bran into your food.

Weight loss and maintenance is most effective when it becomes a lifestyle, so developing a plan that you can stick with for the long haul is the most effective way to lose weight and keep it off. While not as widely known as much other diet advice, these less-talked-about weight loss tips can help you kick-start your diet plan or break that plateau. They are also healthy lifestyle choices to help you reach you long-term goal of being the best you can be.

Resources:

The Health Benefits of Grass Farming: Why Grassfed is the Best. Jo Johnson. AmericanGrassfedBeef.com

Eating Well: Healthy Recipes Collection. Eatingwell.com.

Food Fit: Best Healthy Recipes. Foodfit.com

Dangers of High Fructose Corn Syrup. Kevin Millard. July, 4 2007. Healthmad.com

The Double Danger of High Fructose Corn Syrup. By Bill Sanda, BS, MBA. Weston A. Price Foundation.

Dietary Fiber: An Essential Part of a Healthy Diet. Mayo Clinic Staff. Mayoclinic.com.

Tweak of the Week: Eat Soup, Lose Weight. Shawn McKee, Staff Writer. Thursday, November 20, 2008 HealtheNews.com