One of the biggest misconceptions about dieting is that you need to deprive yourself of food. Far too many people eliminate important food groups from their diets because they believe that’s the perfect way for them to lose weight. What this does, however, is make you binge more on food the moment you lose a grip of your “diet program.” That’s why it pays to find a diet program that doesn’t deprive you of food that you want to eat.
The logic is simple. If you like carbs, then go on a diet that still allows you to eat carbs. If you are more of a seafood person, then go on a pescatarian diet. The point is for you to find a diet program that fits your body’s needs, cravings, and requirements.
Ketogenic Diet
Keto diet is one of the most popular diets right now. In fact, you can find many restaurants, chefs, and home cooks selling keto diet products. Keto is a low-carb, high-protein diet. It eliminates carbohydrates and sugar from your diet. Popular foods for a ketogenic diet are seafood, low-carb vegetables (no starch), cheese, avocados, eggs, meat, poultry, coconut oil, and plain Greek yogurt.
Pescatarian Diet
This diet program is similar to a vegetarian diet, except that the pescatarian diet does not deprive your body of important nutrients. The pescatarian diet is focused on fish and shellfish. However, when following this program, stay away from fish with high levels of mercury. With a pescatarian diet, you can eat vegetables, fruits, legumes, beans, potatoes, nuts, and rice. Compared to vegans, they also eat dairy such as eggs, yogurt, milk, and cheese.
Flexitarian Diet
Health experts consider the flexitarian diet as one of the healthiest and most nutritious diet programs out there. People who follow this diet eat mostly fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains. From time to time, they incorporate meat and animal products in their diet. They eat only the most natural form of food and they limit their intake of sugar and sweets. Basically, a flexitarian diet is a vegetarian diet but with meat.
Mayo Clinic Diet
This diet program can help you make lose weight from six to 10 pounds during the first two weeks of the program. After the first two weeks, you can lose one to two pounds each week until you reach your ideal goal. The program aims to make healthy eating a lifelong habit. Experts praised it for being nutritious and safe. The Mayo Clinic diet sets realistic goals and encourages eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, unsaturated fats such as olive oil and nuts, and sweets.
DASH Diet
DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. It helps control diabetes and hypertension. Health experts have been praising this diet for its nutritional completeness and health safety. What can people who follow the DASH diet eat? This program emphasizes eating moderate amounts of whole grains, nuts, fish, and poultry, as well as vegetables, fruits, and low-dairy foods.
Mediterranean Diet
If you don’t like depriving yourself of food, you can try the Mediterranean diet. It isn’t so much on red meat, but it espouses eating fish, seafood, poultry, cheese, eggs, yogurt, and even red wine. You can even take unleavened flatbread. Occasionally, you can eat rice and light sauces that this diet is known for. This diet is reasonable because you are not required to take out salt or sugar from your food, although you should take it moderately.
Weight Watchers Diet
This diet program watches your calorie intake. You can personalize it based on your age, sex, height, and weight to help you lose weight. There is an app that will track your calorie intake every day. The plan includes eating foods such as skinless chicken, tofu, eggs, shellfish, and non-fat yogurt. You can also eat non-starchy vegetables such as peppers, cauliflower, asparagus, broccoli, and other green leafy vegetables.
Do Not Deprive Yourself
Health experts have always warned against depriving yourself of food. The key to achieving your ideal weight is to eat healthily. Depriving yourself of food may push you to crave, overeat, and binge-eat. You may also have problems eating healthy and nutritious food in the future.
Losing weight does not mean you should stop eating the food that you want. It means that you should focus on healthier substitutes and you should try managing your food intake. Eating moderately—whether it’s ice cream, chocolates, oily and fatty food, and sugary pastries—is the key to healthy eating. Depriving yourself is never the answer to losing weight.
