Exploring the Benefits of Diet to lose weight
Studies show that people who log everything they eat (using an app or a journal) are more likely to lose weight and keep it off for the long haul. Stocking the kitchen with diet-friendly foods and creating structured meal plans can also help prevent snacking on empty calories.
A healthy diet emphasizes nutrient-rich whole foods over processed junk food. This includes vegetables and fruits, lean meats, fish, low-fat dairy and healthy fats such as olive oil and nuts.
1. Increased Energy
As you diet to lose weight, your body has to work less hard to function. This can give you more energy for everyday activities, including exercise and physical activity.
The food you choose can also affect your energy level. A healthy diet consists of mostly whole foods, such as fruits, vegetables, lean protein, whole grains and healthy fats, and it is low in salt and sugar. It is a diet that includes all the essential nutrients your body needs.
One of the best ways to increase your energy is to eat more low-calorie, volume-based foods like soups and broths, non-starchy vegetables and fruit, and water. In addition to consuming fewer calories, eating smaller meals can help your body feel full and satisfied.
It is also important to eat regularly and avoid skipping meals. When you skip meals, your body believes it is in a state of starvation, which can cause you to overeat and sabotage your weight loss efforts.
Write down the reasons why you want to lose weight and keep them where you can see them – this will serve as a daily reminder of your commitment. It’s also a good idea to track everything you eat and drink for a few days in a food diary to get an understanding of your current habits and how you can improve them. Tracking your exercise, sleep and emotions can also help you understand what changes you need to make.
3. Reduced Risk of Cancer
Although many people don’t realize it, a healthy diet can significantly reduce your cancer risk. The American Cancer Society recommends limiting meat, high fat dairy and salt-rich foods, while increasing your intake of vegetables, whole grains, beans and fruits. This can help you lose weight and lower your overall cancer risk. While never gaining weight in the first place is best, studies have shown that even modest amounts of weight loss can improve your risk.
Researchers haven’t quite figured out why excess weight promotes cancer, but it may be due to inflammation. The accumulation of fat cells releases inflammatory proteins called cytokines, which can stimulate cancer cell growth. It’s also possible that the extra weight puts more stress on your body, which can trigger certain cancers.
Regardless of the reason, years of research show that as you lose weight, your risk for developing many different types of cancer goes down. However, it’s important to note that these studies rely on BMI alone, which can only give you a snapshot of your current health. In order to truly understand the impact of weight loss on cancer, we need longer-term, randomized clinical trials.
One such study, published in 2019, found that patients who had bariatric surgery had a 32% lower incidence of 13 obesity-associated cancers than a nonsurgical control group. In addition, the authors noted that the patients in the bariatric surgery group had a 48% lower rate of cancer-related death than those in the control group.
While more research is needed, this study adds to the growing body of evidence showing that an increased cancer risk can be reduced by losing weight and living a healthy lifestyle. It’s important to talk to members of your healthcare team – whether it’s a registered dietitian, exercise specialist or doctor – for more information about the benefits of eating well and exercising regularly.
4. Increased Self-Esteem
A major benefit of dieting to lose weight is the increase in your self-esteem. The confidence boost is even more pronounced when you choose a healthier diet that prioritizes nutritious whole foods and includes regular physical activity. Exercise stimulates feel-good chemicals in the brain that elevate your mood and promote a positive body image. A recent study found that participants in cognitive-behavioral programs for obesity experienced a significant improvement in self-esteem, regardless of whether or not they lost weight.
The study examined data from the Add Health national longitudinal survey in the United States. The participants were young adults, and the sample was racially/ethnically diverse. Findings showed that self-esteem was directly related to the decision to lose weight, but this relationship varied by sex and body weight status. African American females were more likely to report low self-esteem, but this was not a significant predictor of trying to lose weight, even when controlling for BMI.
Researchers used a path model to understand the relationships between variables. They found that mothers’ self-compassion was indirectly related to their eating behaviours and food choices through body esteem, but that it also directly impacted intuitive eating and emotional eating. These findings suggest that treating yourself with kindness and respect, instead of feeling shame or guilt for your eating habits, can improve the quality of your diet and help you to eat more intuitively and with less emotional eating.
Findings also revealed that body dissatisfaction was related to unhealthy eating habits. Women who were dissatisfied with their body image tended to eat more ultra-processed food and fewer unprocessed foods than those who were satisfied with their health bodies.
Conclusion
The current study has a number of limitations. The small sample size and cross-sectional design make it difficult to draw strong conclusions from the findings. Future research should explore the generalizability of the results to other groups (e.g., males, clinical samples) and examine the mediating mechanisms in more detail. However, the study provides important evidence that self-compassion can improve diet quality, intuitive eating and reduce emotional eating, and it may be an effective approach to reducing obesity in women.