Can adding good food to a bad diet help you lose weight?

November 1, 2016 Ashley 0 Comments

If you’re completely new to a weight loss path, the struggle is real.

You have to exercise… and give all the good tasting food the boot?

Two totally new things you’ve never done?

Well, not straight away, say some experts. For weight loss to remain in the long term, sometimes baby steps are the way to get your weight down. That’s why, one suggestion is to start small. Instead of suddenly subtracting all the bad stuff, it’s said that adding in advantageous aliments might be the perfect start. Enjoy a giant omelette in the mornings? Alright. Keep your seasonings and stuff – but just mix in some greens as well. Broccoli, peas, tomatoes, or maybe even kale. Not enough time to cook? Whip up a smoothie. That way, you can take advantage of the blended flavors and add in your flax, fruits, or other healthy things you’d normally never nibble on their own. Add a good fat like peanut butter to it (in reasonable amounts), and you can even mask the taste of the stuff you love less.

(“I’ll have one’ve each, thx…”)

And how’s this work exactly?

Well, one of the big reasons a crappy diet’s so bad for you is that it deprives you of the nutrients you need. When you’re lacking energy, you get lethargic. And when you get lethargic, the chances of you being spontaneously motivated to exercise are slim to none. (Making your body none-slim in the long run.) When you’re actually meeting the nutritional requirements that feed your body and brain, that willingness and inspiration are far more likely to find you. Then, once you do start getting in the headspace of building body-movin’ into your regular routine, you’ll start to see results. The scale. Those looser Lucky boot cuts that fit your booty better. Compliments from people who have zero idea you’ve been tweaking your eats or exercising. And that’s when that willingness gets a level up – and you’re more open to closing the cupboard door on bad foods to which you’ve been addicted for far too long. (Protip, once you do get to that place, there are plenty of fun shoo-ins or apps like Cravings911 for the stuff you’re not willing to relinquish without at least a ringer sitting on deck.)

(Protip yes-and: some’ve them are even easily sneak-able; you can whip ’em right into whatever you usually cook.)

Also, if you invite dietary goodness into your mornings (for examp, by adding fiber ‘n protein into your breakfast smoothie), something else happens. With your belly full of fiber and blood sugar good and regulated, you can incarcerate those mid-day insatiable hunger and cravings for crappy food. (The weight loss sabotaging twofer that’s usually causing you to eat cruddy in the first place.) With those two junk food thugs in jail, you’ve already made giant dietary strides in a single day. Make that a habit, and the scale numbers’ll start dropping like an Alaskan thermometer in the middle’ve impact winter.

Now, mind you, this tip isn’t a fix. And it’s definitely, absolutely, in no, way, shape, or amorphous form-you’ll-be-in-if-you-keep-doing-it-indefinitely a long term practice to keep. We don’t stop at adding goodness to badness. That badness has to go, eventually (or get reserved for occasional cheat days). Thus, this’s just a set of training wheels to get your kitchen car to the next healthy stop on its journey. And, for some who eat super poorly, it may not even be enough. Sticking with a sugary, refined carb-y, processed diet often accounts for all those blood sugar spikes and drops which also make you super draggy. And, once that happens, all the lettuce heads in the world can’t convince yours that a dose of cardio sounds like a good idea. That said, if you’re hopelessly devoted to healthless edibles, this could at least be a good start.

So, try these baby steps – but just until you’re willing to culinarily cut and run with legit kitchen fitness.