Nutrition

If you’re trying to lose weight, it starts with a couple of changes to your lifestyle – and you’d be surprised at just how much of a difference the right diet combined with a customized exercise routine can make to how quickly you can drop weight and build muscle.

A lot of people think that it’s simply enough to follow a diet plan right off the shelf – but it often doesn’t, and that’s because diet plans are generalized; if you want to know what you can do to lose weight, you have to customise your diet to your own specifications and needs around the diet plan’s base. Following a diet as-is just isn’t good enough. But combine your own diet low in calories and high in energy and you’ve got the real recipe for weight loss.

Here are 25 low calories foods that can support your customized weight loss plan.

1. Potatoes: Plain and Boiled

Potatoes are a food that has gotten a pretty bad reputation when we’re talking about health and weight loss, and there have been plenty of reports that tell people losing weight they should cut potatoes or white starches and carbohydrates out of their diet completely.

But in more recent years, studies have come to light that support potatoes more in a dietary sense – and these studies have confirmed that it’s not the potato itself that’s bad for your diet, it’s what you do with it. Avoid oil-fried potatoes and instead swop these out for plain and boiled potatoes with some calorie-conscious dressing.

If you’re watching your health, you’ll want to pay special care to the dressing’s label if you’re buying something pre-packaged and ensure that it’s not hiding too many calories. Things like butter and many oils can also hide be hiding calories.

There are only 77 calories in your average 100g serving of boiled potatoes, so they’re an especially great option.

Folic acid is also called folate or vitamin B9. It is an important vitamin to make sure that you are getting enough of as it used for cell development, tissue growth, as well as healthy brain development. It is also vital for cell division that is necessary for producing DNA. There are several food sources that provide the body with folic acid. Some of these include dark leafy green vegetables such as broccoli and spinach, citrus fruits, legumes, tomato juice, bananas, melons, asparagus, mushrooms, poultry, shellfish, pork, fortified cereals as well as several other fruits and vegetables.

Making sure that you are eating a well balanced diet full of fruits and vegetables is one of the best ways to ensure that you are getting enough folic acid in order to remain healthy and strong. Here are some of the benefits folic acid has on women’s health.

1. Pregnancy

It is very important for pregnant women to make sure that they are getting enough folic acid in their diet. This can either come from the food that they eat or from a prenatal vitamin. Women who are struggling to conceive may benefit from increasing their intake of folic acid. In addition, Folic acid can help prevent certain types of birth defects and also enhance fetus development. An expectant mother should start taking folic acid supplements during their pregnancy. However, it is important to only take the dose that is recommended by your physician.

Taking a folic acid supplement during pregnancy helps to protect the baby from neural tube defects, cleft lip, cleft palate, low birth weight, poor growth, miscarriage, and premature birth. It is recommended that women trying to conceive and women in their first three months of pregnancy take 400 mcg per day. From the fourth through ninth month 600 mcg should be taken.

Getting an adequate amount of folic acid in your diet is important for many reason. One of the most important reasons is because folic acid is responsible for cellular growth and regeneration. Folic acid or vitamin B9 helps the body perform several other essential functions as well. This includes DNA repair, creation of red blood cells, anemia prevention, and nucleotide biosynthesis in the cells.

In addition, folic acid encourages the normal development of a fetus. In fact, when it comes to prenatal wellness, calcium, iron, and folic acid are three of the most important nutrients for a pregnant woman to make sure that she is getting enough of as a deficiency can cause negative effects on the brain development of an unborn baby. Since folic acid is so important, let’s take a closer look at some of the foods that can help to raise levels of folate in the body.

1. Fortified Cereals

When it comes to breakfast foods, one of the most turned to items on the menu is ready made cereal. This provides a quick meal at a time in the morning that most people are just trying to get out the door. Eating a bowl of cereal is fast and easy. The good news is that if you are purchasing cereal, chances are that it is fortified with folic acid.

These cereals will typically have anywhere from 100 to 400 mcg of folate for each serving. It is important to make sure that you check the nutrition levels of the cereal that you are purchasing. A fortified cereal should contain at least three grams of fiber. It should contain 10 grams or less of sugar. Other products that are fortified with folate include rice pasta, breads, rice, and instant oatmeal.

Collagen is the most abundant protein of the body. It can be found in many areas of the body including the digestive system, blood vessels, cartilage, tendons, organs, joints, teeth bones, nails, hair, and skin. There are sixteen types of collagen found in the body. The first type or type one accounts for approximately ninety percent of the collagen of the body and is what provides the skin with its firmness.

The second or type two collagen is found in the movable joints. The word collagen comes from kolla, which is Greek for glue. In many ways collagen is similar to glue as it is a fibrous protein that holds the body together. As you can imagine, collagen is an extremely important part of the body. In fact this protein has many amazing benefits. Here are 13 benefits of collagen that you may not have known about.

1. Digestive Aid

Do you often feel bloated after you eat? Perhaps you have frequent bouts of heartburn. You may just simply feel like the food that you eat does not ever really settle. These are all signs that you are lacking stomach acid. Taking a collagen supplement could help improve your digestion because of the glycine that it contains. Glycine is an amino acid that normalizes the production of stomach acid.

It has been found that supplementation of glycine cna help those who suffer from gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD. In addition, glycine supports bile production. Bile is necessary for the digestion of fat soluble vitamins and fats in general. Another way that collagen aids in digestion is that it remains hydrophilic when heated. Digestive juices and hydrophilic foods blend well together, which means that collagen can help you better digest food that is cooked. If you suffer from frequent bouts of bloating or heartburn, a collagen supplement may help.

 

Our digestive system contains trillions of live bacteria. These “biomes” play a significant role in our physical and mental health. Gut biomes assimilate nutrition from our food and distribute minerals and nutrients through the permeable intestinal wall and into the blood.

The food we eat determines the health of our digestive system. A diet high in processed food and sugar will greatly diminish biome health. These foods reduce biome efficiency, exposing the digestive system to microbial infection from pathogens such as salmonella and E. coli.

Fermented foods contain probiotic compounds that provide protection to the digestive system. The living microflora in fermented food products boost biome health. Over 70-percent of our immune system resides in our GI tract. Therefore, the probiotics in fermented foods increase immune health and efficiency.

Adding fermented foods to your diet can cure gastrointestinal disease and disorders by rebalancing the health of gut biomes. Improve your gut health and well-being by consuming these 10-foods.

1. Sauerkraut

Fermented brassicas may not be visually appealing. The limp, yellow-beige appearance of preserved cabbage makes one wonder why anyone would attempt eating it altogether. Opening a jar of sauerkraut may cause your nostrils to recoil in horror as the pungent aroma fills the air. However, this fermented food is popular in Poland and Germany, where the local people enjoy it as part of their regular diet.

Unpasteurized sauerkraut has a reputation for aiding digestion. Each jar of the fermented cabbage is swarming with the beneficial bacteria – Lactobacillus. This healthy microflora relieves constipation and cures an upset stomach while improving the digestive capacity of gut biomes. This traditional food also contains isothiocyanate compounds that protect the GI tract from cancer.

Traditional, organic sauerkraut recipes contain nothing but cabbage, salt, and water. Many food manufacturers add preservatives and sweeteners to improve taste and extend shelf life. Ensure that the label on your jar states has none of these additives, as they kill off the beneficial bacteria.