The weight loss vocabulary we all need to learn
December 24, 2017 Ashley 0 Comments
Macros. Whole foods. Clean eating.
Anytime health nuts discuss diet, it comes with a bunch’ve words we can’t understand.
(This esoteric lexicon’s just making me me wanna stress snack…)
It’s hard enough work to change your diet.
But needing a whole grocery thesaurus to figure out what that new diet is? Preposterous. Alright, alright. Fair enough. So let’s attack it one term at a time. Now, while everyone might define a “healthy” diet differently from eachother, most of the health experts seem to agree on at least four components when it comes to the right kinda diet for weight loss. There’s a focus on whole foods. We’ve gotta balance macros. Too much sugar’s our midsection’s enemy. And, those plates better be full of foliage.
But right there’s an example of one term that might have you doing the confused Cocker Spaniel head cock: “whole foods”. What do we mean by that? Going to that one overpriced grocery store and forking over your whole paycheck for an orange? Nay, sir. A whole food just means enjoying your meal in it’s whole, unfettered form. In other words, it’s not processed. It hasn’t been fried. And it’s not suffering sucrose adulteration in a can in your cupboard. (Think of those sickening syrup lathered canned peaches versus fresh ones – or sugar infused dried fruit versus eating it freshly plucked.)
Because that’s another component a waistline loving diet’s gonna exclude: too much refined sugar or salt. Sure, some salt’s great. We need it. But, we seem to reside in a society that overdoes it ’til our chests’ blood pumpers pop. And this kinda ties into the previous point. The more produce you prepare fresh, the more control you get to have over how much salt, sugar, or whatever else ends up on it. And the nice thing? If you’re eating enough fresh fruit, you’ll get your sugary fill without having to add the diabetes inducing stuff. Sure, knocking down that Domino sugar bag’s not gonna be easy. So, maybe don’t do it completely. Moderate. And just know that the more you smite the white devil from your diet, the better you’ll feel – and less you’ll weigh.
And that fresh flora prep element leads to the next point: the more fruit, legumes, ‘n veggies you enjoy, the better. I get it. Not everyone’s into giving up their vices prized from creatures – be it meat, milk, or whatever else. And I’m not here to hate on you or try to convert you. (Pressuring peeps rarely works anyway.) What is needed, however, is at least two things. The first? Make sure the bovine body fluids or flesh you’re ingesting’s legit. So many farms just wanna get that product mass produced, which means they pump your cow full’ve antibiotics (to produce it more quickly – or make them bigger). The disgusting result? It ends up on your plate or in your cup. So, buy right. And when you do, avoid adding extra cals by frying it up overly salting it (which we already went over). The second thing? People who are far smarter than I am will tell you to eat up your greenery if you wanna send that adipose layer packing. Make more of your diet plant based than not, and that’s already a start toward weight loss.
And when you do, you still wanna make sure you’re balancing those macros.
Ugh, I know. Another word you hear again and again that seemingly means nothing
(“Does this can of mouth trash have macros in it?”)
No worries. Here’s the big definition: “macro” is just short for “macronutrient” – which can either be protein, carbs, or fats. Each are a slice of that macro pie. That said, we don’t eat them in even amounts. So, just how much should you eat of each, each day? Well, darlin’, that depends on what you’re going for. If you’re training for a marathon, you might go harder on the carbs. If you’re looking to lean out, you might wean ’em down. (But click here for a great example of how to balance ’em just right for what you want.)
And that, ladies ‘n gents is what we mean when we say:
“Eat a clean, plant based, whole food, macro balanced diet.”
Wait – now that we can comprehend it, what’ll be our new excuse for avoiding the simplest way to lose weight?