The term “diet” generally has negative connotations and brings to mind images of someone eating celery and drinking water. However, a more exact definition of diet is the type of food a person regularly consumes. Your diet may consist of oatmeal for breakfast, an apple and peanut butter for a snack, a salad for lunch, and a form of meat, rice or potatoes, and vegetables for dinner. This may not cause you to lose weight; your diet should be about maintaining weight.
For most people, though, this daily form of eating is not typical. We tend to want something new or different every day. These new foods may be higher in calories than what we ate the day before, which makes our bodies work harder than they should. The experts at Svelte, a medical weight loss center in Orlando, would like to share the following information with you concerning which foods to eat and which to avoid to keep your weight under control – in other words, to maintain a healthy diet.
- Omega-6 fatty acids should be consumed in small quantities. These fatty acids are usually in the form of palm, rapeseed, soybean, and sunflower oil, and while we generally do not consume them directly, we saute, fry, and bake in these oils and add them as an ingredient in another cuisine. Omega-6 fatty acids increase the production of eicosanoids, a type of hormone that causes inflammation in your digestive system.
- Other oils, such as olive oil, palm oil, and animal lipids, contain palmitic acid. Palmitic acid stimulates the hypothalamus in the brain, which causes you to feel hungry. The hypothalamus also reacts with an influx of calories by increasing the hunger center after you eat products containing palmitic acid.
- Fermentable fiber, or plant roughage, decreases the likelihood of leaky gut syndrome. This is a condition in which the digestive system releases and takes in substances along its route that disturb the way it functions. Bacteria from the gut, for instance, invades the blood and cause metabolic endotoxemia (release of toxins into the blood). The overconsumption of fat increases endotoxemia.
- Polyphenols play a role in the diet as anti-oxidants. They also regulate the number and type of microbes present in the digestive tract.
- Omega-3 fatty acids are considered good fats. There are found in fish such as salmon, halibut, and tuna as well as nut oils and some plants. Omega-3 fatty acids increase digestive, brain, and blood function and reduce inflammation.
By following these easy food guidelines, it is possible to lose weight without changing your eating habits substantially. For a more structured diet plan, call 407-804-5200 to speak with the medical weight loss professionals in Orlando at Svelte.