Whenever the new year comes around, a lot of people begin to focus on their health, especially weight loss. Unfortunately, not a lot of people stay the course, but some do. For those that are staying the course, but are having trouble with weight loss, here are five foods that might be the culprit.
Root Vegetables
Root vegetables like beets, carrots, radish, yams, onions, rutabagas, turnips, are all tasty in their own right. The problem is that root vegetables are starch-dense by their nature. Some people can tolerate root vegetables, but a lot of people who are already over weight can be very sensitive. Weight loss can slow down or come to a stop when the abundant starch enters the body, converts to glucose(energy) and the excess stored for later.
A good bit of advice is to limit starchy root vegetables in the beginning, at least until you hit your maintenance weight. After you get to a comfortable weight, you can begin adding more starchy vegetables back into your diet and find your own tolerance level. If your weight starts to go up slightly, that might be your tolerance threshold.Keep an eye on how much you’re eating and try shaving away at the portion size until your weight stabilizes.
Fruit
Fruit is nature’s candy and should be treated that way. A lot of people can eat a small amount of fruit and be fine with it, but the problem is most people reading this are those who are concerned with weight loss. That means, like myself, there are a lot of people that have to watch how much fruit they eat a day because they are sensitive to them.
Half a grapefruit or a handful of berries a day is fine, but apples, bananas, oranges and watermelon are loaded with simple sugars and fructose. Fruit isn’t the devil, but it’s nutrient density is average at best and can be problematic for those with weight issues. I would say avoid it overall, but if you must have it, go for a hand full of berries or half a kewifruit a day.
Too much Protein
Protein is generally a good thing, but too much might slow down your weight loss. I’m still surprised that in 2017, despite the boat load of research debunking it, people still have fat phobia. So when people decide to reduce their sugar and simple carbohydrate intake, a lot of them also end up restricting fat. That means our body is missing two sources of energy. If our body is low on carbohydrates, it begins to use fat as energy. However, if we’re low on both and just loading up on lean protein, then our body has to be resourceful about it.
There’s a process called gluconeogenesis where our body converts protein into glucose. That process over a long period of time might effect weight loss because all that extra protein is now turning into sugar. Our body won’t be using all of it so it’s going to end up storing some. Do yourselves a favor and don’t neglect fat. When cutting out simple carbohydrates and refined sugars, make sure you increase both your fat and protein intake. Your body will thank you for it.
Milk
Dairy is generally okay unless you have a specific intolerance to one of its proteins or to lactose. Cheese, sour cream, yogurt, and cream are all fantastic foods, full of fat and protein. Milk, however is a whole different story.
Milk has the highest concentration of sugar compared to any other dairy product. That’s because it has lactose in it. Cheese and yogurt are fermented and aged so the bacteria in them consume the lactose leaving only small traces. Butter and cream have traces too, but are all fat. There’s about 12 grams of sugar in an 8oz glass of milk. Lactose is similar to fructose meaning it’ll go straight to the liver and halt any weight loss temporarily until the body uses it up. While that’s happening, fat isn’t being burned.
Enjoy your cheese, cream and yogurt, but stay away from milk! I recommend using half & half or heavy cream with coffee or just plain unsweetened coconut milk.
Sauces & Dressings
This one is probably the most obvious, but a lot more people than expected brush it off. Just because it isn’t solid and is in small quantities doesn’t mean it should be overlooked. Ketchup, Italian dressing, BBQ sauce and even ranch can hinder your weight loss. These sauces either have a lot of sugars in them or unexpected, hidden sugars. Weight loss can easily slow down or even halt if we consume a larger amount of simple sugars than we expect.
My advice is to avoid sauces in general, even if they seem relatively safe.
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