Why do you need to know calorie content?
Calorie content is the energy indicator of a product. The higher it is, the more energy the body will receive. If a person is low in activity and lacks physical activity, it is not recommended to consume foods high in calories . Substances are not converted into energy, but are sent under the skin, turning into a fatty layer.
Low-calorie foods do not lead to weight gain. A small amount of calories is much easier to convert into energy and fully realize it. Knowing the calorie content of foods, a person will determine for himself how much energy he needs, thereby preventing him from gaining extra pounds.
It is important to remember that such products contain useful substances, vitamins, macro- and microelements. Despite the small number of calories, they are beneficial for the body.
The benefits and harms of low-calorie foods
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Low-calorie and low-fat products have filled the shelves of all supermarkets. We are offered to buy lean sausage, low-fat sausages, skim milk, low-calorie mayonnaise, dietary dressings, and even cookies, cake and ice cream that will not harm our figure. Let's imagine for a moment that we are in a store and really want to eat. Our gaze stops at the incredibly delicious chocolate bar with filling. On another shelf we see a low-calorie bar that looks just as delicious. What will the hand reach for? Of course, the thought will flash through our heads that since the bar is low-fat, it means it is much healthier and will not add extra pounds to us. This is exactly what we will buy, and then we will eat it entirely with great pleasure and a sense of self-satisfaction. Did we do the right thing? Maybe this is just another marketing invention? Why is it that as the number of low-calorie foods increases, more and more people become overweight? Let's figure it out so that in the pursuit of slimness we do not harm our health.
The benefits of low-calorie foods
Of course, low-calorie foods have many benefits. They are effective in maintaining and reducing weight, helping to prevent diabetes and effectively combat obesity. Plus, this food is quite tasty. People eat low-fat foods for many reasons. Some include them in their diet. Others simply make them part of a healthy lifestyle.
We all know that the key to losing weight is to burn more calories than we consume. There are two ways to do this: increase physical activity or eat less fatty foods. It is low-calorie foods that can help reduce the energy value of the daily diet. Such products provide us with a huge variety of tastes and numerous choices of food and drink. One low-calorie serving contains 60% less fat and 15% fewer calories than their higher-fat counterparts. While low-fat foods can play a key role in successful weight loss, you shouldn't rely on them alone.
The harm of low-calorie foods
Eating low-calorie foods does not nourish our body properly. We get practically nothing but empty calories that the body cannot successfully process. In addition, we often feel hungry and we eat even more. Essentially, fat helps us feel full faster and sends a signal to the brain that we have eaten enough.
The sweetener aspartame is added to some low-fat foods. It can cause metabolic disorders, immune system dysfunction and neurological diseases. Low fat foods do not have a good natural texture. Therefore, manufacturers are forced to add methylcellulose, a synthetic laxative and soy protein isolate to them.
Low-fat diet foods are almost completely devoid of nutritional value. They are attractive to look at, but can only satisfy us for a short time. Therefore, a constant feeling of hunger is guaranteed. After all, in fact, we do not receive any energy charge. And after a short period of time, the brain will give a signal that you need to eat something again. In addition, there is a feeling of fatigue, loss of energy, and mood swings. All of this can slow down, complicate, or completely stop weight loss.
Low-calorie food or its fatty counterpart – what to choose?
The most correct answer is that there is no need to go to extremes. A high-fat product may not be much better than a low-fat version. It will still contain a lot of sugar, saturated fat and all sorts of additives. Learn to read labels and analyze the composition of the food you eat. If you're really hungry, choose healthy foods and snack on vegetables and fruits. Nuts, olives, avocados, olive oil, although high in calories, have invaluable benefits for the body. In addition, if you add them to your diet in doses, the functioning of the digestive system will improve and your figure will not suffer. Along with proteins and carbohydrates, fat is an important source of calories. We need essential fatty acids, linoleic acid, Omega-6 and Omega-3 for the body to function properly.
Forgetting about diet and low-calorie eating is a real way to lose weight. Minimize your consumption of low-fat foods. Replace them with vegetables, greens, fruits, berries, whole grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, meat and fish. The healthier we eat, the better our body functions, increasing our metabolism, reducing the risk of chronic inflammation and stabilizing our immune system.
However, not all low-calorie and low-fat foods should be excluded from the diet. A good example is dairy products. For example, whole milk, which is high in saturated fat, increases cholesterol levels and promotes inflammation. It is better to switch to 1% milk, natural yogurt and low-fat cheese.
Dietary recommendations:
- 25% of calories in the diet should come from healthy fats;
- avoid saturated animal fats and oils;
- fried foods with added fats are harmful to health;
- Add unsaturated fats to your diet.
You need to approach everything wisely, and even more so the quality of your nutrition. Read labels, study food composition, analyze. Then the problem of excess weight will never affect you.
List of dietary products
List of low-calorie foods for weight loss:
- Cabbage.
- Grapefruit.
- Ginger.
- Celery.
- Parsley.
- Low-fat cottage cheese, kefir.
- Chicken, turkey, veal.
- Red fish: trout, salmon, pink salmon.
- All vegetables except potatoes.
- All fruits except banana and grapes.
- Cereals: rice. rolled oats, buckwheat.
- Berries.
For weight loss, it is important not only to consume dietary foods, but also to know how to prepare them correctly . During the diet, it is not recommended to use vegetable oil, as it will make every dish high in calories, even if the original products contain few calories. It is recommended to season salads with lemon juice or natural yogurt, as they contain fewer calories than oil.
Vegetables and meat are prepared by steaming, baking or boiling. It is forbidden to fry them, as this not only increases the number of calories, but also the food loses nutrients.
Low-calorie foods - another myth or reality
The problem of excess weight has become the scourge of our time. Therefore, eyes are turned to low-calorie products, in which people see a real opportunity to quickly lose extra pounds. It’s interesting, but at the end of the last century, few people were interested in the energy value of food, except nutritionists; today, they are not the only ones who count calories.
I’m sure every woman already knows the list of low-calorie foods. These include vegetables: cabbage, asparagus, celery, tomatoes, radishes, eggplant, carrots, cucumbers, pumpkin, peppers, beets, onions and garlic. Fruits are citrus fruits, apples, melon, peach, pineapple, apricot, plums. Among berries, watermelon takes first place, followed by currants, blueberries, strawberries and cranberries.
Why are the above-mentioned fruits and vegetables preferable for dietary consumption? It's all about the fiber content, which, when it enters the stomach, swells, which gives a feeling of fullness with less food consumed. Fiber is not absorbed by the body and leaves it after a while, leaving behind nothing unnecessary.
It turns out that if there are such magical low-calorie foods, then you can have dinner before bed, eat without restrictions, forget about exercise in the morning and still remain slim? Is it that simple? Alas, these products, when leaving the body, will not take with them the “strategically important” reserves deposited on the sides and waist. Therefore, the problem of excess weight will not go away just through nutrition; you need to reconsider your attitude to your lifestyle, not forgetting about physical activity.
All products have energy value. Each of them contains proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Only some have less, others have more. It is important that more energy is required to digest food than is supplied with food. When converting consumed food into vital energy, complex chemical reactions called metabolism occur in the body.
There are a number of products that speed up metabolism due to the content of certain active components. For example, without water, not a single metabolic process occurs in the body. You can read about the importance of drinking it in the article “Why you should drink water.”
Protein-rich foods - fish, meat, legumes - stimulate metabolism. To digest such food, the body will need much more energy than is spent on fats and carbohydrates. The advantage of protein food is that it relieves hunger for a long time. No wonder there is a diet not based on it.
Spices such as ginger, cinnamon, pepper, etc. are great at speeding up metabolism. But you shouldn’t get carried away with spices. Spicy foods increase thirst and appetite. Additional energy consumption will be provided by 3-4 cups of green tea per day.
Proponents of a raw food diet may not agree with me, but it has been scientifically proven that if a person eats only low-calorie foods, the body will begin to feel a lack of important nutrients. Yes, you can lose excess weight on such a diet, but a lack of vitamins and microelements can affect you in the form of stomach problems, anemia and flabby muscles.
You should not go to extremes in your diet. Nutrition should be complete, combining sources of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. And if the energy value of food is of some importance to you, you can keep daily records and calculations (if you have nothing else to do!).
