So you want to lose weight, but you don’t want to exercise. All you want to do is adjust your diet and see results. Is that even possible? Yes, it is! Well, it may take longer than it would have if you combine dieting with exercise, but it is still doable.
The problem is not losing weight just by dieting per se, the problem is finding the right dieting plan that is suitable for you. You don’t want to change your entire eating habit only to end up with little or no results at all. There are enormous amounts of conflicting information online about what diet is best for you, and that can be confusing.
However, when a particular diet plan gets so much attention and positive reviews, it’s possible there’s something right about it. Here are the top 3 of such diet plans that’ll help you lose weight.
1. The ketogenic diet
This has been the rage for a very long time, and it seems to be the most popular of them all. The ketogenic diet is simply a very low-carb diet that can help you burn a lot of calories, lose weight effectively, and improve your health performance.
The science of the ketogenic diet is that it deprives the body of excess sugar (glucose), as much as is possibly healthy by eating very low-carb foods. This allows the body to produce small fuel molecules called “Ketones”, thus the name “ketogenic”. These ketones are produced by the liver from fats, and they serve as a fuel source throughout the body, especially the brain.
Some of the foods you can eat while on a keto diet include healthy fats, oils, and non-starchy vegetables like
- Avocado
- Nuts
- Full fat dairy
- Seeds
- Olive oil
- Spinach
- Cucumber
- Dark leafy greens
- Asparagus, etc.
So far, there has been great reviews about ketogenic diet plans. It has helped many people to lose weight and improve their health conditions; even people with chronic health conditions. Some of the benefits of keto diet are as follows.
- Unlike many other diet plans, keto diet, when done correctly, can reduce your appetite.
- As much as this diet plan is good for the body generally, you may want to know that a greater proportion of fat loss comes from your abdominal cavity, which is responsible for belly fat.
- Keto also increases the level of good HDL cholesterol in your body.
Many people attested to feeling/seeing great results with keto in as little as two weeks into it.
2. Whole30 diet plan
This nutrition strategy is designed to change the way you eat in 30 days. Basically, you’re expected to keep to some rules; no beverages nor inflammatory foods, no baked food, no junks, no legumes, no processed foods, no added sugar, no sweeteners, no alcohols, etc. All you have to do is eat clean three-square meals a day made with foodstuff approved by Whole30.
According to the Whole30 founder, clean eating is not a diet, it is a way of life that should be adopted by anyone who wants to control their body weight and stay in charge of their health. The idea is to cultivate a habit of eating clean in 30 days, after which you’ll see dramatic results that’ll make you develop a new found respect for your body and what you put in it.
Some of the Whole30 approved foods are
- Vegetables
- Fruits
- Unprocessed meats
- Eggs
- Seafood
- Nuts and seeds
- Healthy oils
- Coffee, etc.
Finally, Whole30 has a golden rule that you must keep in mind; check the labels of everything you buy to make sure they do not have added sugars, additives, or any other food that’s not approved by Whole30.
3. The ancestor diet
Civilization is great, no doubts, but it brought with it a lot of downsides. In the days of old, there were no modern foods like spray butter, milkshakes, ketchup, and so on. Our ancestors had to hustle for their foods in the hunter-like fashion. “Ancenstral eating”, like it’s popularly called, is eating unrefined, unprocessed, whole food.
The deal with ancestral eating is to eat natural and locally made food products in order to promote good health, including body weight control.
Some examples of the ancestral diet include
- The meat of grass-fed wild animals
- The meat of grass-fed dairy animals
- Pastured chickens and eggs
- Healthy traditional fats like olive oil, avocado oil, butter, etc.
- Wild seafood
- Organic fruits and vegetables
- Fermented food, etc.
This diet plan has received good reviews, but a lot of people seem to have problems finding natural locally made foods to eat. According to experts, it is best to take it gradually and eat the best you can in our modern-day world surrounded by fad diets, processed foods, and quick fixes.
Here are few tips to help you transition to an ancestral diet –
- Visit your local farmers’ market. It’s a good place to get healthy unprocessed foodstuff. If there is no local farmers’ market in your area, or if you’re not sure there is one, you can use the internet to find out where you can get fresh farm produced foods in your area.
- You can start a farm or a backyard garden where you can grow some crops and live chickens.
- Buying clubs are also helpful. They can set you up with organic farmers who you can buy local sustainable foods from.
All these will help you stay as close as possible to organic foods. Try to eat them as fresh as possible, and do not counter your efforts by eating unnatural foods and drink. So this requires a lot of discipline.
Finally, you need to know that diet programs work best if you make it a healthy lifestyle habit. You may see results from dieting as soon as 3 weeks or so, but if you don’t continue your diet plans, you may lose those results in less than half the time it took you to achieve them. The point here is, dieting is great, but if you want lasting results, you should consider making it a lifestyle habit. Not only will it help you to be in total control of your weight, but it will also help you live a healthier, happier, and more confident life.
