4 Foods to avoid for losing weight

When you are looking to control your weight, or lose some excess kilograms, you need to be careful about what you eat. It's also important that you don't fret, or stress, too much over the things you eat because worry and frustration do more harm than any food you can possibly eat. 

1.  Refined sugar - This would have to be top of the list. Refined sugar is nothing but processed crystallized sugar extracted from natural sources like sugarcane. Refined sugar or white sugar contains nothing but "empty calories", no vitamins or minerals. Since refined sugar is a concentrated, and unnatural, form of fruit sugar, it has high calorie content that can cause you to gain weight quickly.

2.  Refined white flour - There has been wide spread awareness about the unhealthy tendencies of eating refined white flour. It's has been studied that white flour, which is manufactured by processing grains by bleaching them, is empty of the essential vitamins and minerals that are needed to digest this food effectively. Moreover, eating refined white flour is known to be highly calorie intensive, causing you to put on excess weight. Foods to avoid, that contain refined flour as the base, are the likes of breads, pizzas, buns and scones. 

3.  Saturated and trans fats - Many people end up skipping fat intake entirely to lose weight. This is a big mistake because our body needs good fats for balanced metabolism and functioning. What you need to do is make a distinction between good fats and bad fats.

The good fats are usually monounsaturated or polyunsaturated in nature, the key word is 'unsaturated'. These type of fats are usually found in oily fish (like salmon), walnuts, avocado, olive oil and peanuts.  The bad fats are usually 'saturated' or 'trans fats'. Food products like red meat, eggs, diary extracts (butter, whole fat cheese, lard, etc), contain high amounts of saturated fat that is detrimental when you are trying to lose weight. Many process foods like French-fries, potato chips, etc., are made from hydrogenated vegetable oils which contain trans fatty acids that are bad for your health and cause weight gain. Avoid foods that contain hydrogenated vegetable oils.

4.  Salted foods - People who eat a lot of salted foods, develop bloat very quickly because of high water retention in their body. Moreover, increased consumption of salted foods can lead to diseases like hypertension. Processed foods are usually high in salt content. Examples are frozen pizzas, potato and corn chips, salted crackers, canned soups and sauces. Be sure to choose wisely when you look for canned foods, and go for 'low sodium' ones.

These are some of the foods to avoid for losing weight. Also remember to eat a lot of natural foods to aid your quest for weight loss. Eat plenty of vegetables and fruits to satisfy your hunger instead of indulging in processed foods.

 

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