What the food industry does not tell you about weight loss

What the food industry does not tell you about weight loss

At one point, more than half of US residents are trying to lose weight. With increased body weight in general, as well as higher correlated illness rates, many people think that diet is their only option for good health. Unfortunately, anyone who wants to reduce does not do it in a healthy way. Weight loss is an industry worth over $ 60 billion in the United States, and much of this industry is dedicated to the sale of products instead of preserving people's health. Here is an overview of what you may not know about weight loss.

Types of weight loss techniques

There are many methods to try to lose weight. Restrictive diets are among the best advertised. These include caloric restriction, in order to consume less energy than you spend, as well as diets restricting types of foods, such as diets low in fats, carbohydrates and sugars.

In addition to following a restrictive diet, some people are also trying to significantly increase their activity. This has an effect similar to that of a diet that limits calories, but increases the amount of energy spent instead of decreasing what is spent there. Increasing physical activity usually requires greater changes in schedule and lifestyle than simply changing your eating habits, but with additional benefits such as increased strength and better cardiovascular health .

Finally, devices, supplements and other products intended to produce weight loss are potentially more profitable for the weight loss industry. These include diet pills, natural supplements for weight loss containing acai, African mango and various other substances, in addition to belts and other devices. It has been proven that the basic premise of some of these products helps with reduction when combined with other conventional methods, but most diet pills and other products do not do much to help. They can even harm your health.

Effectiveness of weight loss

With more than 50% of the weight-conscious population, weight is expected to decrease. However, most people know little or no change in weight. Some people even find that their weight increases after trying to reduce. According to the study, statistics show that between 30% and 60% of dieters not only recover all the weight they lose during a diet, they actually become heavier than they were. before starting the diet. These models are valid in a wide range of techniques to lose weight. Only about 10% of dieters can maintain their loss after several years, regardless of the weight lost during the dieting period.

Among those who lose weight effectively, the most viable goal is to lose about 10% of their highest weight. This is the number recommended by the National Institutes of Health for obese or overweight people. Losing more than that can be difficult and is rarely effective.

Many people attribute this lack of effectiveness to a lack of willingness on the part of the dieter, but recent research has shown that the problem is more complex than that. A 2011 study in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that weight loss changes the way the body produces the hormones associated with metabolism. This means that people trying to reduce are more hungry and have a greater appetite than before the loss. This lasts at least a year after weight loss, making it much more difficult to maintain a weight lower than dieting compared to a person who has never had a weight loss program. weightloss.

Food hazards

Not only the low efficiency rates make weight loss a complicated problem. Trying to get rid of fat can also be dangerous. This problem is more serious with extreme diets that promise to lose a lot of weight very quickly. These diets can promote muscle loss instead of fat. They also increase the risk of heart disease, slowing metabolism and other health problems. Liquid diets, extreme calorie deprivation and fad diets that eliminate whole categories of foods are the most dangerous; But any type of diet can be dangerous to your health if you lose weight and gain weight several times, or "yo-yo".

Diet pills can also cause serious health problems. These weight loss supplements are usually designed to be taken alone for a short time and often contain large amounts of caffeine and other stimulants. This type of diet pill can increase anxiety and irritability, cause insomnia and other problems of falling asleep, or even cause cardiovascular problems in people with weak heart. Fat blockers can cause bowel discomfort and other digestive problems. They can also cause malnutrition by blocking the body's ability to absorb important vitamins and minerals. Appetite suppressing diet pills can increase your heart rate and blood pressure. Even herbal weight loss supplements can have unpleasant side effects, especially in people allergic to some of their ingredients.

Weight is not everything

These questions about health and efficiency often meet the claim that fat is fundamentally unhealthy, so everyone should try to lose weight. In fact, although there are several diseases and conditions associated with greater weight, they are not necessarily the direct result. While fat people are much more likely to suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure and other metabolic problems, the correlation is significantly reduced if these fat people are active and have a good diet. Thin and sedentary people are actually at a higher risk than fat people but in good physical condition. It can be fat and unhealthy, but its weight is not the most important factor. However, this does not mean that losing weight is not effective.

Who should reduce?

Studies show that if you have diabetes, prediabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol, your condition will probably improve if you lose about 10% of your body weight. Losing more weight than it does not seem to offer an added benefit, although it may help you to wear smaller clothes. If you have any of these conditions, it is important to pay attention to how to lose weight and do it alone, in combination with proper diet and regular exercise. These seem to be the most important elements for staying healthy, regardless of your weight.

The healthiest option

What the diet industry does not want you to know is that most diet pills, weight loss supplements and diet programs do not work very well and can even affect your health more than the fat. If you really want to be healthy, your best option for weight loss is to observe your activity level and the nutritional content of your diet. Work on preparing fresh vegetables with at least half of your diet and exercise moderately for about half an hour a day. This is what the US government recommends for optimal health.

If you decide to reduce your caloric intake, follow a balanced diet that eliminates no large group of foods and seeks weight loss of no more than one to two pounds per week. This rate is more likely to produce a permanent loss without serious health side effects because it is so slow that your body has the ability to adapt more effectively. You may not be able to reduce the size of a dress in a month, but you will feel better and stay healthier in the long run.