If you are planning to lose some weight, you’ll find yourself surrounded by all kinds of weight loss tips.
However, some of these tips and advice can be harmful for your health and overall well-being in the long run.
Expert dietitians suggest that there are certain weight loss tips that can age your body faster.
So instead of blindly following these guaranteed weight loss tips, it is time you take them with a pinch of salt and know how they can impact your overall health, and not just the numbers on the weighing scale.
1. Counting calories
While counting calories, most people believe that they can eat anything and everything, as long as they do not exceed the calorie limits. But this wouldn’t really help them, as they’ll be allowing a large portion of their diet to consist of foods that are packaged, processed, low in nutrients and not having enough omega-3 fatty acids, unsaturated fats, and fibrous foods.
Research has found that ultra-processed foods can speed up the aging of the cells. This is because these foods contain a high amount of hydrogenated oils, which are full of trans fats and can promote chronic inflammation in your body that increases the breakdown or aging of the cells.
2. Not paying enough attention to protein
Since many weight loss approaches focus on calorie intake, people forget to ensure that they’re consuming enough protein. Lack of protein intake while losing weight can promote unhealthy aging as well. Therefore, while creating a calorie deficit is important to lose weight, it is also equally important to pay attention to the composition of those calories.
Consuming higher levels of protein will help to preserve more lean body mass. Otherwise, you may lose muscle mass when dieting which can decrease your metabolism, strength, and can also potentially cause bone loss.
3. Meal replacement products
If you are including meal replacement products in your diet such as shakes or bars, make sure you consume them only occasionally. This is because many of these products are highly processed and contain added sugars. Too much sugar can contribute to chronic disease development and speed up the aging process.
4. Saying no to carbs
Many people on a weight loss diet start to believe that carbs are evil and cut all regularly consumed rice and rotis from their diet. The truth is, cutting out complex carbs such as fruits, starchy vegetables, and whole grains can even derail your weight loss efforts and contribute to premature aging. These foods are rich sources of fiber which is linked to satiety at meals, weight loss and reducing markers of aging.
5. Avoiding all fat
Healthy fats can actually be your friend when trying to lose weight as your body needs them to survive. Quit unhealthy, packaged fat foods for weight loss and your overall well-being. However, fats found in nuts, seeds, avocado, extra virgin olive oil, or salmon are necessary for a healthy heart and a healthy brain.
Food and aging
Research has found that food plays a very important role in longevity, perhaps even more so than genetics. Researchers have also found that people who ate plant-based diets were up to 50% less likely to develop chronic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, cancer, and heart disease; which usually present themselves during the aging process.
Apart from what to eat, people known for being longest-lived also have a tendency to enjoy their meals with family and friends, and express gratitude for having food on their plate, before eating it.
