Excercise is key to lose weight

Reducing Portion Size and engaging in Physical Exercise Key to Weight Loss according to Quirónsalud Specialists

Following the recommendations of nutrition specialists is the best way to lose weight, especially in summer, in a healthy way. But we all know that this requires significant sacrifice and dedication, though the most important thing is to maintain a healthy diet that will let you shed the extra kilogrammes. If you want to lose weight, pay close attention to the following foods, that are not recommended for your daily consumption.

Dietitian and Nutrition Specialist with the Obesity and Nutrition Unit at Quirónsalud Valencia, Rocío Práxedes, recommends that, “in a healthy diet, there are no forbidden foods, but it is necessary to control the frequency with which we consume and the portions of foods.”

According to Doctor, regarding fried foods, the recommended daily portion of olive oil is 3- 6 tablespoons, and using 3 or 6 should mainly depend on the physical activity we perform and our age. “If we eat fried fish once a week, that day we use more oil than what we indicated above; however, if we use extra virgin olive oil, cook in a pan, and avoid recycling the “liquid gold,” we will be promoting the consumption of quality fats and fish at home, and if we accompany it with a salad, we will level the caloric contribution of the meal.”

As for sweets, we need to find strategies to help us control their consumption without forbidding it. For example, don’t keep any at home, and choose one afternoon a week to buy one and have it as part of your dinner, without hiding or feeling guilty about it. ´

Are restrictive diets dangerous? Why?

Specialist Mari Carmen Díaz, and expert in Diet and Nutrition at Quirónsalud Alicante, states that, “if a restrictive diet is maintained over time, it can be truly dangerous.” These are diets that eliminate some nutrients from our nutrition in order for us to lose weight. And this can lead to a loss in muscle mass, but this does not improve our quality of life, or help us look thinner; on the contrary, we end up losing strength and feeling more tired. They can also cause a loss of essential nutrients, with the consequent appearance of deficiencies and symptoms that worsen our quality of life.

According to Doctor Díaz, “the best thing is to choose a varied diet. The radical message is not healthy or sustainable. Would you stop eating ice cream forever? The resulting weight loss will not be maintained when you abandon the restrictive diet.” Eating well does not mean only eating vegetables, or eating very little. Restrictions may cause the appearance or continuation of an eating behaviour disorder.

What type of diets should we be wary of?

Doctor Carolina Pérez, Nutrition

Specialist at Quirónsalud Murcia and Torrevieja, explains that, “miracle or express diets are not balanced, they may cause signs or symptoms due to essential nutrient deficiencies or due to the excess of others. But they all usually to bring about weakness, lack of energy, flaccidity, drier, wrinkled skin, brittle nails, hair loss, bad breath and body odour, general listlessness, drowsiness, apathy, headache, dizziness or blurred vision.” And all of these have an effect called “bounce back” or “yo- yo,” meaning that when we abandon the method, we quickly start to gain back the weight we lost, and even more, causing the accumulation of fat in areas of the body where we did not have so much, or it was not deposited before. Therefore, these are not recommendable at all. These diets, when maintained several times a year, may cause diabetes and thyroid problems.

Doctor Rocío Práxedes, from Quirónsalud Valencia, recommends avoiding, “diets that forbid foods or exclude a basic food group. For example, those that forbid foods that are a source of carbohydrates such as pasta, potatoes, bread of rice. If we think about it, all cultures have included some cereal or root vegetable in their diet, enabling their survival in times of famine. Nowadays, our life is more sedentary, which means that we have to adjust portions, and that wholemeal options are more convenient; these foods, however, due to their nutritional content, must still be part of our daily nutrition. Choose simple cooking techniques, and use mainly vegetables and leafy greens to cook them.”

Tips to consider when assessing or starting a diet

According to the WHO, health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, and not simply the absence of impairments or illnesses. So, a diet is trustworthy if it “feeds” all these aspects: it includes all food groups, it provides energy to face the day, it contributes to our medical analyses showing health and, of course, it allows us to have a healthy relationship with food. Follow the 3S diet:

1. Sustainable at home and when going out.

2. Sustainable over time.

3. Sustainable with the environment.

Additionally, we need to set clear, realistic goals for ourselves, distribute our ingestion over several meals throughout the day, learn to choose which foods to eat in larger amounts and which to eat less of, include physical exercise in our daily routine, plan our meals, prioritise drinking water over other types of beverages, learn to say “No”, learn to be consistent and persevere towards the goal we set, and above everything else, make sure the change to a healthier diet was your own choice.

According to Doctor Díaz, specialist at Quirónsalud Alicante, it is important to add that a diet must be complete, providing all the nutrients the organism needs: carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals and water; balanced, sufficient, the amount of food must be adequate to maintain your weight within the normal ranges and, for children, to achieve a proportional development and growth; adapted, to age, gender, height, the physical activity you perform, your work and your state of health; and varied.

Doctor Pérez, from Quirónsalud Murcia, explains, “carbohydrates are the most efficient energy source for our organism; they must represent 55% of the calories we ingest, with 30% fats and leaving the remaining 15% for proteins.”

The specialists at Quirónsalud are clear: in order to lose weight and maintain it in the long term, the only key is to maintain a varied, balanced diet, accompanied by some physical exercise.