The Neverending Story and the Diet Cliché

As much as we hate to admit it, clichés often become cliché for a reason; it is common sense and useful.

Most nutritionists and weight loss coaches worldwide will agree on one thing; fruits and vegetables are good for losing some weight. I don't ignore diets like the Atkins diet where one should avoid carbs at all cost, but let's be honest, fruits and vegetables is the key to lose weight the healthy way.

Fruits or vegetables are both loved and hated. Some hate spinach, others don't like kiwis, we all have fruits or vegetables we dislike and cannot stand the sight of. I've tried to force myself in the past and eat the things I know I don't like, but this will never work. Although it may at times feel that way (at least to me), a goal of a diet is not to torture yourself.

Find healthy things you like and incorporate them into your diet. I experimented with different things for a while. Some of us grew up with healthy habits and know our fruits and vegetables very well and therefore also which ones we like or dislike. I on the other hand, started from scratch and found out what worked and what didn't.

I'm not huge on vegetables, but I decided to have some type of salad for lunch every day. However, I don't particularly enjoy snacking on vegetables as it just doesn't seem to hit the spot for me. I'm more into sugar than salt though, so if you like salty snacks vegetables might work better for you. I personally am now addicted to fruit and am able to replace my unhealthy sweets.

As you may already have read in my previous post, I also have food allergies that limit me in my choice. I wanted to eat as much raw food as possible, but I am allergic to many fruits in raw form. All the usual fruits such as apples, pears and plums (etc.) were not available to me as I would have to cook them before eating them. For a while I had mostly bananas and mandarins, sometimes switching it up with an orange or a melon, but it was very boring. That's when I got into more exotic fruits. Some I didn't even know how to eat, but you can ask a friend or search online. I now regularly eat mango, litchi and grapefruit. Normal grapefruit is a bit too bitter for me, but if you get the pink grapefruit it has a lovely sweet/sour/bitter taste which really peps you up.

Aside from being healthy, full of vitamins, and helping you to feel full, fruits are also perfect to replace those sweet snacks you take between meals. Bear in mind that even fruit contains calories, so don't overdo it. However, it's hard to eat the equivalent of the calorie content of a chocolate cookie in fruit; the quantity would be too big to be enjoyable.

Losing Weight Fast: The Big Secret - Stay Healthy

Here's my biggest secret to losing 5 kg in 4 weeks is really simple: go back to basics.

There's plenty of material out there about raw food diets. There are theories about processed and cooked food being unhealthy for us in a variety of ways. Cooking rarely improves the quality of food. Ok, I admit the taste is often better, but you lose a lot of vitamins when you cook your vegetables. Even with a pressure cooker, vitamins get lost in the process, even if it is less.

It makes sense to me to lose weight with raw food. Not only do you keep more vitamins, making it more healthy, but you will also keep more fiber, making you feel more full. Therefore, you eat less, get more vitamins, and feel more satisfied. The things you cannot eat raw usually have more calories (e.g. meat or even rice).

There are people who have made a lifestyle out of raw food. I personally am unable to go that far. I have to eat something cooked for dinner. I tried to eat raw even for dinner from time to time, but it was an exception rather than a rule. However, I tried to eat raw for all other meals of the day (note: trying is not always the same as achieving, but it's a good goal to strive towards).

A lot of people eat big, warm meals for lunch. I skipped this and went for cold, raw meals. I love salads, so most of the time I would eat some type of salad for lunch. Yes, I sometimes get hungry quickly, but I cannot resist snacking on something in the afternoon anyway, so I figured I might as well eat less and snack guilt-free in the afternoon. Obviously a healthy snack. Another advantage is that you no longer feel stuffed and tired after lunch.

I have as a general rule to eat as much raw food as possible. You'd be surprised how good that feels. A useful guideline to staying slim is to eat as much raw food as possible in order to lose more weight and gain more vitamins. For weight loss: when in doubt; go raw.