Weight loss is the perennial albatross of the prosperous civilization, as sedentary lifestyles combined with caloric abundance to yield vanishing waistlines, tipping scales, and damaged self-images. Much of one’s weight loss regimen should consist of physical activity and general avoidance of endless sit-a-thons. However, there is also a massive dietary component to the weight loss calculation.
Alongside a lengthy list of foods which should be consumed by the diet conscious is its counterpart—the list of foods to avoid when trying to lose weight. Though not absolute (nor all-encompassing) in nature, the list nevertheless proves helpful in navigating an increasingly complex and tempting dietary landscape, as its guidance is of a general and overarching nature.
This is a dietary recommendation in line with our larger guiding principles, and should be regarded as such. Take from the list what you will and recognize the underlying guidance for what it is—an appeal for thoughtful and carefully considered management of one’s food intake.
Avoid These Foods if You’re Trying to Lose Weight
Buttered Popcorn
A fixture in the movie theater business, this deceptively light “snack” provides the body with a criminal combination of sodium and fat, both of which delivered via a food product which takes a moment or two to yield a full feeling. By the time said feeling has registered, the sodium/fat duo has made itself known within the organism. A pleasure, perhaps…but only of the guiltiest sort.
Sugary “Coffee” Beverages
Several premium coffeehouse chains have a made a cottage industry out of suspiciously dessert-like menu items. Ice blended beverages and syrup-rich lattes and mochas have convinced many a patron of their coffee credentials. Unfortunately, these sly items tend to be enormously profitable precisely because of their non-relation to actual coffee, itself a low-calorie alternative to sodas and sweetened juices. Despite their having been served up by a faux-sophisticated barista, the blended frappes and heavily flavored lattes are essentially the coffeehouse equivalent of ice cream and soda pop. Avoid.
Salted Snack Crackers
With their concentrated empty calories and negative impact upon blood sugar levels, many snack crackers are seemingly light on the stomach but tend to result in harmful spikes in hunger and miserable drops in energy levels. There are plenty of additional reasons to leave these items on the shelf, such as the presence of various colorings and preservatives. However, it is the effect on your body’s metabolic processes that renders them suitable for the list of foods to avoid when trying to lose weight.
Frozen Yogurt
Yes, there are purported benefits associated with consuming certain frozen yogurts, particularly when they are measured against their ice cream cousin. However, the unavoidable truth is that most frozen yogurts are flavorfully enhanced with copious quantities of refined sugar. Admittedly, this addition renders frozen yogurt nearly as enjoyable (if not more so) as ice cream, but at the expense of its “healthier alternative” selling point. Not to mention, many a patron proves unable or simply unwilling to waltz past the topping bar when visiting their local froyo establishment. If your own palate is susceptible to that very temptation, you may find the adulterated yogurt will conflict rather aggressively with your weight loss goals, however grand or modest those may be.
Heavy Cereals
This cautionary line item is largely directed at granolas and the like, many of which do offer a respectable range of vitamins, protein, and trace minerals. The “double-edged sword” aspect comes into play when one considers that most granola-style cereals are highly-dense sugar and carbohydrate delivery systems. Ideal for the enormously active amongst us, perhaps, but even then a regulated quantity is advisable. For that reason alone, heavy cereals are a welcome entry on the list of foods to avoid when trying to lose weight.
Avoiding a Few Foods is Just Part of the Process
Weight loss is a process, and one which should be undertaken with sustained health in mind. Rapid shedding of pounds at the expense of keeping the organism stocked with vitamins, protein, and trace minerals is arguably a losing proposition in the long-run.
Hold yourself accountable to a manageable physical activity regimen and eat responsibly each and every meal. And when the hunger sensation mounts its more aggressive campaigns against your willpower, do your best to abstain from anything featured on the list of foods to avoid when trying to lose weight. You will be better for it, in both body and mind.
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