Are you hungry all the time and frustrated with your weight?
Given the most common food sources, your hunger is really no surprise.
Can't Get No Satisfaction
Fast food, restaurant food and even many of the foods in the supermarket can leave you feeling unsatisfied and overweight at the same time.
The high sugar and fat meals even program your body to crave more sugar and fat. It's a vicious cycle.
Learn more about the pitfalls of sugar and other highly refined carbs: Heart Disease In Women Linked To High Glycemic Index Foods
The problem is that the typical, modern foods are so high in calories and low in nutrition that if you eat enough to satisfy your appetite, you get more calories than you can burn off in a day.
Breaking the Vicious Cycle
What if there were a way to eat more healthy food, and lose weight?
Spring is the perfect time to celebrate the health benefits of food brimming with the power of phytonutrients.
The Key to Weight Loss
Salads are an excellent example of high nutrient density meals that help you lose weight: The vegetables in garden salad have a high ratio of nutrition to calories. In other words, you get lots of nutrition for very few calories.
High nutrient density meals such as salad allow you to eat more, satisfy your appetite and stick to a healthy weight loss plan.
And salads are a wonderful way to get more vegetables -- a lot more -- into your day. This is important because optimum nutrition requires nine or 10 servings of fruit and vegetables per day, which is the target amount in the meal plans of my book "The Fat Resistance Diet." (Please see link below for free recipes.) Having salad is a delicious way to move toward getting nine or 10 per day.
The latest research shows us the amazing health benefits of lettuce, arugula and endive, and motivates our family to eat a big salad every day.
Benefit from Antioxidants
These are items you can find in your supermarket that can add important nutritional elements to your meals. For example, romaine and red leaf lettuce, spinach and arugula are all excellent sources of anti-inflammatory, antioxidant nutrients, such as carotenoids and phenolics.
Eating more carotenoids could even make you better looking, according to the latest nutrition research. Learn how: Want to Look More Attractive? Eat Carrots
Instant Nutrition Boost
The positive effects on your body start right away. For several hours after you a eat large bowl of fresh romaine lettuce, there is a significant increase in your blood of:
Mangia Italian Style
Arugula is a trendy green leaf found on Italian restaurant menus. Arugula is not only an excellent source of bioflavonoids, but it also contains calcium. Arugula has Vitamin A, which helps build immunity and potassium that is important for muscles.
Endive, which is widely used in northern Europe (especially Belgium and Holland), is a source of Vitamin K for strong bones, as well as Vitamin A.
Skip Fat-Free Dressing
Fat is essential for carotenoid absorption. For maximum benefit, eat your salad with a little extra virgin olive oil or walnut oil.
Discover research on how olive oil can reduce pain and inflammation: Olive Oil or Advil
Easy Salad Tips
When shopping for salad, freshness is key. You want to get vegetables that are vibrant, brightly colored, firm and crisp. A farmstand in the countryside or a farmer's market in the city is a great place to shop for farm fresh vegetables.
For romaine lettuce and arugula, look for deep green leaves that look freshly picked. Skip anything that is wilted or waterlogged
At home, all vegetables should be washed carefully, whether packaged or not.
For endive, look for something that is very firm, with white leaves touched by green. Avoid any that has become brown or softened. They should be firm to the touch when you buy them.
For romaine lettuce, pull off the outer leaves and cut the bottom stalk. Tearing the leaves is an easy way to prep romaine for a salad. For arugula, cut off the bottom stems, then tear the leaves
into bite-sized pieces.
For romaine lettuce and arugula, soak the leaves briefly in lukewarm water to remove any sand or dirt, then rinse well in cool water. Repeat soaking and rinsing until clean, then dry in a salad spinner.
For endive, remove outer leaves, cut the bottom stalk and chop the leaves.
Get free recipes and a one-day meal plan at my website fatresistancediet.com
Now I'd like to hear from you:
Do you eat salad, and how often?
What do you put in your salad?
How do you feel after eating salad?
Please let me know your thoughts by posting a comment below.
Best Health,
Leo Galland, M.D.
Important: Share the Health with your friends and family by forwarding this article to them, and sharing on Facebook.
Leo Galland, M.D. is a board-certified internist, author and internationally recognized leader in integrated medicine. Dr. Galland is the founder of Pill Advised, a web application for learning about medications, supplements and food. Sign up for FREE to discover how your medications and vitamins interact. Watch his videos on YouTube and join the Pill Advised Facebook page.
References and Further Reading:
Full Text: "Diet and Inflammation" Leo Galland, MD, Nutr Clin Pract December 7, 2010 vol. 25 no. 6 634-640
Power Healing: Use the New Integrated Medicine to Cure Yourself. Leo Galland, 384 pages, Random House, (June 1, 1998)
The Fat Resistance Diet: Unlock the Secret of the Hormone Leptin to: Eliminate Cravings, Supercharge Your Metabolism, Fight Inflammation, Lose Weight & Reprogram Your Body to Stay Thin Leo Galland, M.D., Broadway Books (2005)
Superimmunity for Kids : What to Feed Your Children to Keep Them Healthy Now, and Prevent Disease in Their Future, Leo Galland with Dian Dincin Buchman, Dell (August 1, 1989)
This information is provided for general educational purposes only and is not intended to constitute (i) medical advice or counseling, (ii) the practice of medicine or the provision of health care diagnosis or treatment, (iii) or the creation of a physician--patient relationship. If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem, contact your doctor promptly.
Follow Leo Galland, M.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Pilladvised/
Helene Lerner: The Hardest Part of Losing Weight? Keeping It Off
Hillary Mickell: The PhD of Feeding Your Family
David Katz, M.D.: Introducing the National Exchange for Weight Loss Resistance
I also make homemade once a week by taking low sodium vegetable stock, white beans, onions, garlic, kale and swiss chard let it simmer for 25 minutes, adding the kale and chard at the end. This soup is super filling and has tons of protein, calcium and fiber. Having soup before going to a dinner party or holiday festivity, curbs my hunger and takes away that 'panic' of being surrounded by all the yummy foods lol.
What do you put in your salad? Whatever greens come in the box - often romaine or red leaf, a fruit, a nut or fish, other veggies that come in the box - like cucumbers, carrots, etc. Sometimes I caramelize some onion. I make a dressing with an oil (avocado, walnut, pumpkin seed, etc.), an acid (vinegar, lemon or lime juice, cranberry or pomegranate juice), sea salt, and a spice (mustard, clove, cumin, curry or pepper)
How do you feel after eating salad? satisfied and full, but not stuffed. I often feel decadent because the combination of flavors is so amazing. Decadent without guilt - can't get any better than that! And... how to say this... the next day I feel like the roughage did its job :)
Weight loss is more than just adding salads and antioxidants.
When people are trying to loose weight, most of the time they cut down on their calories. In the beginning, this approach works and you will start seeing results, but then you hit plateau in weight loss. This is where people get stuck and frustrated. It happens because you are not using the right approach to Fat Loss, when you just cut down on calories you begin to loose muscle mass more than you loose fat. With that you are also completely killing your Basal Metabolic Rate ( number of calories burned over 24 hours while laying down, but not sleeping ). People with high BMR burn calories even after they stopped exercising, people with low BMR burn a lot less.
http://www.lovingfit.com/nutrition/my-complete-guide-to-nutrition/
And my skin tone is smoother.
Butter lettuce mixed 1/2
http://www.lovingfit.com
I also assume you are talking about good ol' fashioned fat and saturated fat, not the horrendous Omega-6 filled cooking oils we seem to buy with regularity (some polyunsaturated fat is needed but not at the levels we ingest in the US).
A steak is healthier than a doughnut. They may both have the same amount of fat and calories but the steak has no sugar, keeping insulin levels in check for many of us. In many people, those sugars will lead to fat storage regardless of their bodies energy requirement. The sugar from the doughnut will also more than likely lead to inflammation, requiring more antioxidants and your body producing cholesterol to help repair inflamed arteries and possible cell damage. A steak has not been shown to lead to inflammation.
On top of that our heart seems to like saturated fat as long as you are not taking in inflammatory agents from smoking, high-pollution areas, and foods high in simple-carbohydrates (sugar, refined grains, etc). Eat both (high-fat and sugar), like that doughnut, and all bets are off.
http://wp.me/p1t5Xg-2y
Eating Your Way to Happiness
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2390472/eating_your_way_to_happiness.html?cat=5
My ideal salad: romaine, spinach, chard, basil, mint, mushrooms, and cucumbers.
Here is my very basic, watered down a bit, rule:
If the labels says partially hydrogenated, high fructose corn syrup or the grains do not say "whole" in front of them, put it back on the shelf.
My body really response well to a high protein(200+ grams per day) low carb, moderate healthy fat diet. My salad is generally ORGANIC mixed greens(during summer local romaine, leaf)(my salad spinner stays in the fridge), cauliflower, cucumber, red bell pepper, avocado, balsamic, EVOO and a protein. Its not uncommon for me to grill meat or canned salmon and as a egg to that, whole or whites. I have salad 3-4times a day. I will make coleslaw in a giant bowl, red cabbage, onions, a bit of dijon, a bit of sugar, celery seed, oil and eat that around the clock as well. Not uncommon for me to eat 10 servings of veggies a day.
Most of my carbs are generally fruits of a lower glycemic start...sometimes those end up in the salad bowl as well, with walnuts...actually add grapefruit to some salads...
Safe to say, I easily get 5 to usually closer to 10 servings of fruits and veggies a day...often busy roasting cauliflower, brussel sprouts, saute swiss chard kale and more...once you have gone this far I guess there is never going back...
Keep varying the contents of the salad so it doesn't get boring;
Make themed salads - add corn and chillis for Southwestern style or make slaws (try Brocolli instead of cabbage sometime);
Keep them colorful - include beets, orange slices, corn (frozen works fine if you give it time to thaw), peppers;
Add texture - crumbled blue cheese, chopped eggs, crispy dried onions, croutons;
choose dressings appropriate to the content and context of your salad - don't serve it with ranch dressing every day!
Make it creative - make it colorful - make it fun.