Foods to Avoid When Trying to Lose Weight

    When it comes to weight loss, you can’t downplay the importance of making some changes in your diet, unless the weight is due to medical reasons.
    Changing your diet can be very difficult because our brains are used to the routine of eating certain foods and craving those that boost serotonin levels, even if they are unhealthy.

    The best thing to do in order to lose weight is to understand the foods that you need to avoid in order to gain a smaller waistline and to stay healthy overall. Here are some foods to avoid in order to lose weight.

    1. Sugary drinks
    Sweetened drinks like fruit juice and sodas are high in calories and contain a lot of sugar, but the brain does not recognize them the way it does solid foods. The liquid calories will not make you feel full. This means you might eat your food and easily wash it down with a Coke for example, but you will have taken more calories, almost double in a sitting.

    Weight gain through drinking plenty of sugary drinks will often affect people who have a genetic predisposition to obesity more. So if you are trying to lose weight, just opt for water or a lightly sweetened tea if a caffeine boost is what you need.↚

    2. French fries or potato chips
    They are very tasty which is why they are among the most craved for snacks but unfortunately, they are very high in calories and cause weight gain. According to a certain study, they contribute so much to weight gain serving for serving than other individual foods.

    Even worse, having them could also expose you to acrylamides which are carcinogenic chemicals that increase your chances of getting cancer.↚

    3. Alcohol
    A lot of people like to indulge when it comes to alcohol and often do not factor in that it is calorie heavy. For example, just twelve ounces of beer has close to 150 calories and five ounces of wine contains about 120 calories. If you were to sit and multiply all those calories by the number of drinks you take in an evening, you will see just how they contribute to weight gain.

    Excess alcohol could also end up turning into fat in the liver, thereby raising the amount of fat in your bloodstream. If you do not want to quit alcohol drinking, then stick to just a glass a day.↚

    4. White bread
    White bread has little or no nutritional value compared to whole grains because it is made of highly refined white flour. It also contains lots of added sugar. Eating white bread will spike your blood sugar levels and then crash it shortly leaving you feeling hungry again. This could lead to overeating.

    According to studies, just consuming two slices of white bread in a day could put you at more risk of gaining weight or of obesity by up to 40%. Instead of eating white bread, take whole grain bread with low added sugar.↚

    5. Pizza
    It may be delicious and very popular, but because of how it is commercially produced, it is very unhealthy. Think about it. It contains refined flour, plenty of cheese, highly processed meat, sugar-laden sauce and other ingredients that are not healthy.

    It is better to stay away from such pizzas. To reduce the fat content of pizza blot the surface grease before eating or go eat your pizza at restaurants that provide whole wheat crust, low-fat cheese as well as sauce with low sugar content. Alternatively, you can just make your pizza at home.↚

    6. Candy
    Candy is made up of a lot of added sugar, refined flour, and unhealthy oils. You certainly do not want to take them if you are trying to lose weight. Even those that contain nuts or raisins do not help much because they overwhelm the health benefits that could have been received from those ingredients and trigger weight gain.

    Despite containing lots of calories, candy does not get you full. It can instead make you overeat since it is devoid of nutrients. If you want to snack, a better option would be a fruit or a handful of nuts.↚

    7. Diet foods
    When diet foods were introduced, companies were quick to reduce the fat content in them but because they still needed it to taste good, they replaced it with added sugars. Sugar is very much tied to weight gain and obesity, even more than fat and eating this could hurt those on a weight loss journey.

    The best option for them is to focus on eating whole foods. If you are not so good at cooking, opt for some fruit, nuts, some raw or steamed vegetables and protein from white meat.↚

    8. Ice-cream
    A lot of people love eating ice-cream but unfortunately, it is very unhealthy. It contains a lot of sugar and is very high in calories. A small amount is okay to take once in a while but the problem is that it is easy to overindulge in just a single sitting.

    If you are trying to lose weight but still want to have some ice-cream, make your own using healthier ingredients such as fruit, full-fat yogurt, and less sugar. Also, watch your portions.
    Continue Reading on Next Page