A healthy and balanced diet, associated with constant physical activity, is the best way to lose weight, keeping our body healthy. There are no miracle potions. However, nature provides some substances that help metabolism.
Summer is approaching and the dreaded costume test starts to make us tremble. Social media and televisions are filled with advertisements of miraculous products and gurus who promise to make us lose weight without the slightest effort. In some cases, these approaches can actually make us lose pounds which, however, we risk recovering in a short time and at huge costs for our health. A recent study by Columbia University in New York found that if it is true that extra pounds are bad for our heart, losing them quickly can be even worse, remembering how risky the “yo-yo” effect is.
The diet must always be “easy” and bearable, so as to become a lifestyle that can be followed for long times and without too much stress. The effective approach provides for a permanent change in eating habits, safely, appropriately and gradually modifying one’s dietary orientation, increasing the consumption of fruit, vegetables and complex carbohydrates. Physical activity plays an irreplaceable role in this process. Movement is not only used to increase energy expenditure, but also to maintain and develop muscle mass (which “feeds” even at rest). Doing sports reduces stress, improves mood and allows optimal management of blood sugar, decreasing the risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
If it is true that weight loss requires a little patience and our constant commitment, some natural substances can help us achieve our goal faster and with less effort. In this sense, some molecules act on various levels: they reduce the absorption of fats and sugars from the diet, decreasing the calorie intake; increase the mobilization of fat stocks from adipose tissue, boosting the amount of fat used by the body for energy purposes; they contribute to a greater sense of satiety during meals, making us feel full while taking less food; they accelerate our metabolism and therefore our energy consumption.
- Substances that contribute to normal energy metabolism: pantothenic acid, biotin, calcium, iron, phosphorus, iodine, manganese, niacin, copper, thiamine, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin C;
- Substances that contribute to the normal metabolism of macronutrients: biotin, chromium, zinc;
- Substances that contribute to normal lipid metabolism: choline;
- Substances that contribute to normal carbohydrate metabolism: zinc.
The term diet derives from the Greek “dìaita”, which means “lifestyle” (and not “deprivation”) and reaffirms that the treatment of overweight cannot be addressed with a few days of a drastic diet, but with a radical change in one’s way of live. A healthy and balanced diet, associated with constant physical activity, is the best way to lose weight, keeping our body healthy. There are no miracle potions but nature provides some substances that help increase metabolism.