Follow This Diet Plan Beyond Calories Designed By Expert Nutritionists & Dietitians
Often, when we think of diet for weight reduction, ‘how to reduce our calorie intake’ cross our mind. While most of us limit our efforts and planning to minimize calorie consumption, we often overlook the significance of nutrition and sustainable weight loss benefits. A healthy, well-designed diet plan for weight loss should focus not only on limiting calorie consumption and losing weight but also on eating nutritious foods, boosting immunity, and achieving sustainable weight loss benefits. It needs to work beyond calories for improving overall health while achieving desired weight loss results. The precious guidance of expert nutritionists and dieticians can work wonders in achieving desired weight loss which won’t be limited to ‘calorie in and calorie out’ but also acts on improving the overall health and well-being of the individual. So, you might be wondering what exactly beyond calories weight loss diet signifies and how it helps, aren’t you? Read this blog to get a clear idea of all about it.
What are Calories and What Happens When Sole Focus is on ‘Food as A Fuel’?
When learning about the beyond-calories diet, let’s first get to know about calories. What we mention calories are kilocalories, which is the unit of energy. Our body receives calories from nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, in our food. Our body cells convert these macronutrients into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP releases energy for the smooth working of all our body functions. This process is known as metabolism, which we are required to be maintained well.
When it comes to losing weight, we generally focus on the intake of fewer calories. Most of us, count calories to achieve weight loss. However, when you limit or reduce the intake of food drastically, you only end up feeling hungry and your increased appetite won’t help in sustainable weight loss. As a result, you lose weight only to regain it soon after you are done with the diet plan. This happens because we focus solely on calories when getting in shape and end up forgoing snacks and balanced meals, which keep us full for a long span and nourish our bodies with essential nutrients. Thus, with a sole focus on calorie reduction, we end up hampering our -intake of nutrients, appetite, and health adversely.
If we perceive beyond ‘food to fuel our body’ and understand the nutritious and overall significance of the food that addresses our brain health, gut health, hormonal balance, blood sugar, and other elements of our body functions, it will help improve our overall health, eliminate nutritional deficiencies, boost immunity, establish hormonal balance, and promote smooth body functions while we achieve desired weight loss. Consulting certified nutritionists for weight loss can help you with such a holistic approach to improving health while getting in shape.
How is Diet Plan Beyond Calories Focussing on ‘Food as Medicine’ Beneficial?
When we shift our focus beyond calories, we can perceive food as medicine and it is a more powerful healing tool when losing weight. Eating the right nutritious foods in the right quantities while following a healthy diet chart influences our health positively and addresses the underlying health issues, thereby promoting healing from within.
With this perspective, you eat nutritious weight loss foods that not only promote the burning of calories but also improve your focus, increase your energy, establish blood sugar balance, and boost your immunity.
A diet plan beyond calories focuses on eating real food i.e whole, unprocessed food in its natural form. Eating balanced meals comprising mostly plant-based foods, such as vegetables, fruits, seeds, legumes, and whole grain nuts, deliver you a wide variety of essential nutrients, such as phytonutrients, fibre, vitamins, and minerals, that promote good health.
The beyond-calories diet plan considers below crucial aspects of our health.
A. How Food Affects the Mood and Blood Sugar?
One of the significant health factors to consider while losing weight is psychological health, which is related to blood sugar balance. If we consume processed foods or foods low in fiber but high in calories, our blood sugar will spike quickly. And, when the sugar level falls, we may turn anxious and irritable. Certain foods can also cause inflammation in our bodies. Inflammation is linked to mood disorders and depression. Processed foods are high in sugar, and refined foods are responsible for increasing inflammation in the body. So, when framing a diet plan beyond calories, it’s crucial to inculcate whole foods providing our body with anti-inflammatory essential fats, crucial nutrients, and phytonutrients, and avoid processed and refined foods.
B. How Food Affects the Brain?
When we view food as a medicine, it is also beneficial in improving our brain health. Diet beyond calories comprising foods rich in antioxidants helps safeguard brain cells, while foods rich in healthy fats help build brain structure. Protein food sources are other crucial ingredients of a healthy diet chart that supply amino acids that our body converts into neurotransmitters for healthy neurological health.
C. How Food Influences Hormones?
Foods also have an impact on our hormones. Adding certain healthy weight loss foods and eliminating unhealthy foods from our weight loss foods list can help achieve hormonal balance. So, include broccoli, kale, collards, flaxseeds, and chia seeds which promote estrogen balance and detoxification. Eating pumpkin seeds and Brazil nuts helps boost your thyroid health.
5 Keys of Beyond Calories Diet Plan?
Beyond-calories diet focuses on losing weight while improving your health. It’s based on the dietary measures listed below.
Add High Satiety Foods
The prominent principle of a beyond-calorie plan is incorporating high-satiety foods into your diet. These foods make you feel full for longer and prevent you from snacking now and then. People eating low-satiety foods happen to eat often and turn overweight. So, replacing low-satiety foods in your diet with high-satiety foods that are rich in nutrients is a key to achieving weight loss without compromising your health.
Incorporating Low GI and High-Fibre Foods
Including high-fibre and low-GI foods is another effective weight loss tip when designing a diet beyond calories. Our diet influences glucose output in our bloodstream. When we include low-GI foods that are rich in fibre, they break down slowly and do not cause a spike in our blood sugar levels. As their glucose output is the lowest, they help keep sugar levels and diabetes in check and also aid in fat burning and losing weight. So, add green vegetables, lentils, raw carrots, most fruits, and kidney beans to your weight loss diet plan beyond calories.
Opting for a Unique Food Combination
Adding unique nutritious foods to a diet plan beyond calories helps to achieve sustainable weight loss healthily. For instance, you may have a heavy, satiating fruit like a banana with a low-calorie green vegetable like spinach as a post-meal snack. The banana supplies you with nutrients and energy, while spinach will promote fat burning. Another healthy combination is protein-abundant eggs and vitamin C-abundant capsicum. While eggs may boost your metabolism, capsicum helps in melting the extra fats in your body.
Eat Small Meals More Often
Instead of eating three large meals daily, prefer consuming small meals more often. You may have four to six small meals a day, as it helps maximize weight loss healthily. Your body burns calories on a per-meal basis. Eating small meals helps keep your blood sugar in check and prevents fluctuations in blood glucose levels. Also, frequent small meals help boost your metabolism which helps in achieving the desired weight loss smoothly. So, cut down the size of your meals and consume them more often daily.
Make Simple Yet Healthy Food Choices for Meals
While opting for a diet beyond calories, you don’t need to cook special menus to lose weight. You simply need to make healthy food choices. So, when you are focusing on sustainable weight loss with improved health, you may opt for nuts, fruits, healthy fish, green vegetables, and other easily available nutritious food options. The precious guidance of a certified nutritionist for weight loss can help you in making healthy food choices to have a diet plan for weight loss beyond calories.
Thus, a diet plan beyond calories focuses on the nutritional significance of the food and helps you achieve a perfect balance of protein, fiber, vitamins, fats, carbohydrates, and minerals. This helps in nourishing your body while your get in shape.
So, if you are browsing the web for an expert dietitian near me for weight loss, get in touch with us at Health Total. Our certified nutritionists and dietitians will help you receive a customized weight loss diet plan that helps you trim your waistlines naturally while nourishing you with all essential nutrients. Our weight loss diet not only helps you shed those extra kilos but also manages your blood sugar levels, boosts your immunity, eliminates nutritional deficiencies, and improves your overall health. So, waste no time, reach out to us at Health Total, and put your best foot forward to get in shape with our personalized diet plan for weight loss.
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