There are some famous diet plans out there that base their premise on being low carb, low fat or high fat. When you read about these plans, they seem to make a lot of sense because they’re based on scientific principles and some people have a lot of success with them. The truth is, the science is based on eliminating the refined and unhealthy forms of carbohydrates and fats that everyone would do well avoiding, but they don’t give credit to quality carbohydrates and fats.
Everyone needs a certain ratio of carbohydrates, fats and protein. It may be slightly different for each individual, but cutting out one of them entirely will cause problems long-term – problems that include your body being unable to burn any more fat. Choosing the right kinds, and the right quality, of these foods is the key that will help you burn fat and lose weight.
Glycemic Index
The glycemic index, or GI, is a way of comparing different foods based on their effects on blood sugar levels. It’s a measure of how much a given food increases blood sugar levels over a two-hour period. The higher the GI of a food, the more it will cause your blood sugar level to spike and then drop.
Limitations of Glycemic Index
The Glycemic Index is a useful guide, but is very one-dimensional. It only takes into account the absorption of the carbohydrates in foods, with no measure of the other aspects of the food. For instance, peanut butter has a low GI but isn’t a good choice in large quantities because it’s high in fat.
A can of Coke has a lower GI than a cup of watermelon. The watermelon has 9.5g of sugar and 46 calories, 7% of which are from protein, gives you 21% of your daily vitamin C intake and 18% of your vitamin A, and it adds some fiber and lots of water to your diet. Coke, on the other hand, has 110 calories in a can, 30.4g of sugar and no protein. It has no vitamins, just sodium, and does contain water but also caffeine, which actually drains water from your system. Watermelon is the clear winner, although the GI wouldn’t tell you that.
Glycemic Load
If you combine foods that are high GI with foods that are low GI, you change the overall GI of your meal. This is called Glycemic Load, and is more useful than looking at the GI of single foods unless you eat them on their own. For instance, eating a banana with peanut butter on a whole wheat pita is not only delicious, but the fat and protein of the peanuts and pita slow down the sugar being released from the banana.
If you feel weak, dizzy, or craving sugar about an hour after meals or snacks, try lowering the overall glycemic load of your meals. It can make a big difference.
Low Fat? High Fat?
Since weight loss is generally about reducing your level of body fat, it makes sense that a lot of weight loss programs focus on the amount of fat you eat. There was a long time when avoiding fat was the name of the game. Now, the trend is changing as people realize that eating fat is essential.
Diet plans like Atkins or ketogenic encourage eating nearly as much fat as you can, which in my view, is not a healthy long-term plan. Fat is certainly not pure evil, but some types of fat, especially refined oils, are very unhealthy.
Also, fat packs more than twice as many calories per gram as protein and carbohydrates. That makes it really high in calorie density, so you’re able to eat a lot of calories without your stomach swelling too much.
The key here is to get enough healthy fats from whole foods like avocados, nuts, seeds, grains and beans to be healthy. Just don’t overdo them.
Protein
There’s a theory out there that if protein makes up a higher proportion of your daily calories, that weight loss will be easier. That might be true for some people based on their individual metabolism, but research hasn’t shown that to be true in general.
What an increased percentage of protein can do is help to maintain muscle mass during weight loss. That has an indirect effect on weight loss because muscle mass keeps your metabolism slightly higher than fat mass.
Remember, though, that this is still within your weight loss calorie deficit. For example, if your target is 1400 calories, it would mean a difference between 10 and 15% of those calories as protein. There would have to be a corresponding decrease in carbohydrate and/or fat calories to keep you at 1400.
If you’re struggling to increase the percentage of protein while keeping calories down on a vegan diet plan, try eating more dark green vegetables and/or adding some pea, brown rice or hemp protein powder.
Metabolic Balance
You need enough calories from carbohydrates for energy, and from fat and protein for vital functions in your body. As your body breaks down these three types of nutrients, your metabolic cycle depends on a certain ratio between them. If you eat too much or too little of any of them, that balance will be off and you will see less than optimal health.
The bottom line here? Fresh vegetables and fruit are still where it’s at. Get lots of them, then grains and beans, then nuts and seeds.
Glandular Imbalances
For some people, diet and exercise will never be successful until they get support for a gland that’s become imbalanced. Most people think of the thyroid gland, but your adrenal and pituitary glands are just as important to the balance of your metabolism.
Stress, sugars and caffeine all take a huge toll on your glandular system. With so much of all those things in society today, it’s no wonder that gland imbalances are getting to be more and more common.
If you have an imbalance in your glands, you need to follow an individualized nutrition plan along with supplements to get yourself back in balance. At that point, you should find your weight loss attempts a lot more successful.