Do Any Diet Foods Actually Work?

What Diet Foods Actually Help People Lose Weight in a Healthy Way?

Well, if you have been to the grocery store lately, you know that you can select from dozens of foods with labels that advertise them as “LITE”, “DIET”, “LOW CARB”, “LOW FAT”, or “LOW CALORIE”. But since we Americans have a weight problem, and since we buy a lot of these so-called diet foods, we have to ask if diet foods work!

Diet Foods That Do Work

Doctors are studying the types of diets that actually help people stay healthy, feel satisfied, and keep weight in control. They do have some ideas about these type of foods, but it seems like we are not hearing them.

• High Water Content Food – It may seem obvious that fruits and vegetables contain a lot of water. What may not be so obvious is that they can really satisfy us without adding a lot of calories. They also provide essential minerals and vitamins. What we need to do is concentrate on making these types of food the bulk of our diets, while eating other foods as side dishes. A proper meal should have vegetables as the main dish, while the protein and starch should be the side dishes.
• High Fiber Food – If you can replace some high fat dishes with high fiber dishes, you will be doing your diet a favor. Add some low fat beans to your taco meat. You will keep protein, reduce fat, and increase fiber. Of course, make sure those tacos have a liberal sprinkling of lettuce, tomatos and green peppers. You can still enjoy the same sized portion while reducing your calories.
• Fruit is Just Dessert – Think about how many sweet grapes or berries you can eat for the same calories as a candy bar or slice of cake. You will probably not even want to eat that many grapes because the serving would be so large. You will still satisfy your sweet tooth, take in minerals and vitamins, and do your diet another favor.
• Chocolate as Diet Food – Do you have chocolate cravings? Try replacing a candy bar with a tall glass of low fat chocolate milk or a big mug of hot cocoa. You will drink your chocolate, take in a lower amount of calories, and satisfy your food cravings. The milk also provides essential vitamins and minerals.

Enjoy Your Favorite Foods Too!

You should still enjoy your favorite foods, just try to think about it another way. If you like the pizza buffet, try to start off with a big salad. You will find that taking 10 minutes to enjoy a nice salad will probably reduce the amount of pizza you want later. A large salad and a couple of meduim sized slices of pizza is not a bad meal choice. Skipping the salad and having a while pizza may not be a prudent way to lose weight.

Lab studies have demonstrated tha people tend to eat food by weight every day. That is, no matter what sort of food people eat, they automatically tend to take portions by weight. But a portion of pasta that is covered with a meat and cheese sauce will weight the same as a portion that has been seeded with diced vegetables. People in the studies ate the same weight of food either way, but the people with the “vegie” sauce consumed less caloires.

The diet foods that work are usually the natural foods that your own mom told you to finish. It just seems like common sense to choose diet food, because that is actually what it is.

Some people find that negative calorie noodles help them too. These are made from Japanese konnyaku roots, and contain mostly fiber and water so they do not add calories to a diet.

Related posts:

1. Soup as Diet Food
2. The Diet Solution Program – Is Your Diet Making You Fat?
3. Painless Weight Loss Tips
4. Eat Chocolate (for Health Benefits)!
5. Drink More and Weigh Less

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.