From The Most Effective Way to Lose Weight to Mindful Eating: VLCC Founder Vandana Luthra Answers Questions about Weight Management - JPKee.com

Wrong eating habits, lack of physical activities, stress and changing lifestyle can lead to weight gain. Increased weight can cause an increase in the risk of several diseases like cancer, depression, heart diseases, stroke and diabetes. It is a challenge to lose weight and many people struggle to lose weight even after following different types of diet. In many cases, dieting results in low energy.  You need a more holistic approach to lose weight and stay healthy. We asked some of the frequently asked questions about weight management to Vandana Luthra, Founder of VLCC Group, and here are the answers. (ALSO SEE Natural drinks to melt belly fat)

What is the most effective way of losing weight?

The most effective way of losing weight is to follow a holistic approach which helps you to achieve meaningful, long-term weight loss. As no single aspect of your health exists in a vacuum, they all are interlinked. Holistic approach helps you to have a better understating of comprehensive causes of weight loss and weight gain and also helps to establish a healthier mind-body relationship. There are 3 main components to successful weight loss: Nutrition, Physical activity and Behavior management.

To lose weight permanently, you must make a commitment to gradually adopt a healthier way of life, which may include healthy eating options, drinking more water, monitoring portion control, getting enough sleep, managing stress and regular exercise.

Can you please share daily recommended amount of nutrition without consuming too many calories?

Raw vegetables

From a nutrition perspective, a whole food diet should be implemented. Whole foods include whole grain, legumes, fresh colorful fruits and vegetables, seeds, nuts, healthy oils etc. These foods are nutrient dense as opposed to being calories dense. Nutrient dense foods are rich in various essential nutrients that foster wellness, while calories dense foods are usually processed and depleted of nutrient content and majorly contain empty calories. These calories dense food are the major culprit for unhealthy weight gain due to fat deposition. It makes sense to reduce or totally cut out empty calories. (ALSO READ These Are the Only 5 Exercises You Will Ever Need to Stay Fit).

Limit sugar intake: Table sugar found in cakes, cookies, sweetened drinks and other processed or junk foods and not the sugar naturally present in fruits.

Choose your crabs wisely: Go for whole grains, which contain good crabs, to maintain healthy blood sugar and have satiety. Opt for amaranth, oats, wheat flakes, barley, buckwheat, quinoa, brown rice and whole wheat flour Bran.

Choose healthy protein options: Vegetarians opt for soya products like flour, granules, soya milk, ready to eat roasted soya grains, tofu, pulses and beans, low-fat milk and products. Nonvegetarians should opt for lean white meat like fish and chicken. Egg whites are also a good option. Completely avoid red and processed meat.

Touch base with nature: Add natural, unprocessed foods in the daily diet. Processed foods are high in sodium (salt), unnatural preservative and artificial sweeteners acting as toxins that hamper weight loss strategies. Focus on fruits and vegetables.

Choose healthy fat: Completely avoid trans fats found in bakery items and processed food. Opt for canola, olive (extra virgin-for shallow cooking) rice bran oil, soy oil. It is good to alternate oils or use blended oils. Restrict full cream Milk and its product like desi ghee or clarified butter and butter.  (ALSO READ 
Healthy breakfast: 7 foods you should eat for breakfast for a healthy start).

What can you do when you are on a diet and feel hungry throughout the day? How to control the craving?

Mindful eating helps to control binge eating and handle cravings. Mindful eating involves paying full attention to the experience of eating. It helps us learn to hear what our body is telling us about hunger and satiety. And if you consistently practice mindfulness around food, your eating habits will improve and perhaps you will eat less in more controlled and less random fashion.

Here are few tips to modify your behavior to become more mindful and meditative about eating:

Eat in a relaxed environment and focus on eating. If you eat on the run or when you are stressed, your body is simply unable to digest.

Embrace silence: Giving your food your full attention can literally change your whole experience with eating. Turn off the television and phone so you can fully focus on the food you are eating and the act of eating. This gives early satiety and you tend to eat less. Each of these benefits lead to better digestion.

Drink a full glass of water when you sit down, before you begin to eat. Drink more water while you eat. This helps you feel fuller without adding excess food to your plate.

Eat slowly and put your fork down between every bite. Consciously chew every bit of food. The more slowly you eat, the more likely you are to eat only a reasonable amount of food and to recognize when you are full and can stop eating.

Take healthy snacks like roasted channa, nuts and salads in-between meals. Fresh fruit is a good option for a sweet craving

What is the best way to burn the stored fat?

Exercise

Weight loss can be achieved by balancing the calories intake and output or in other words, through negative calories balance. Negative calories balance is achieved through ensuring the energy intake is less than energy expenditure. Thus eating fewer calories or by burning more calories with physical activity or preferably both. A word of cautious, eating very low calories can leave you feeling deprived and can increase the temptation to binge. Very low-calorie diet makes you lose muscle instead of fat further lowering your metabolism. (ALSO SEE Top 5 drinks that do wonders for your health)

An exercise program comprised of strength training and aerobics is essential in a weight-loss program. The strength training component is necessary to increase muscle mass. There is a simple rule, the more muscle tissue, the more calories burned at rest. Increasing muscle mass will increase resting metabolic rate over time. The aerobic component will help burn calories, tone the cardiovascular system, enhance respiration and support well-being

Does losing excessive weight lead to sagging of skin and stretch marks?

The issue of loose skin begins long before any weight loss occurs.Instead, it starts when a large amount of weight is gained. When you gain weight, skin surface expands to accommodate new fat tissue, resulting in stretch marks. While fat cells shrink when weight is lost, but surface area is still retained. The new void under large surface area creates layers of skin that may hang as there is less tissue underneath taking up space. This is known as sagging/loose skin.

Maintaining or increasing muscle tissue is the key to minimizing loose skin. There are a few ways to retaining or even increasing your muscle tissue.

Lose weight at a reasonable pace by creating justifiable calories deficit. While a more aggressive deficit will result in faster weight loss, there’s a higher risk that this weight loss will come from muscle tissue.

Incorporate strength training in your day’s regime, which helps to maintain more muscle mass.

Ensure adequate protein intake to prevent loss of lean body mass.

Muscle toning exercises along with the weight loss program can help in healthy weight loss.

How can you prevent gaining back all those kilos you lost?

Losing weight is only half the battle; the biggest challenge is keeping the weight off over the long term.

Few tips to prevent gaining back the lost weight:

Try adhering to a weight loss program close to your home eating pattern for long-term compliance.

Try a lot of new, healthy foods so that you can find low-calorie foods that you think taste as good as the high-calorie foods you used to eat.

Eat mindfully, meaning that you savor each bite so that you feel satisfied without consuming too much.

Eat a few of your favorite high-calorie foods but in moderation.

Start working on increasing daily exercise while you’re on a diet, so that you are prepared for high amounts of activity by the time you need to maintain weight loss.

Get enough sleep: Sleep-deprived people may crave the reward of unhealthy foods

Does cutting out carbs help in weight loss?

Healthy diet

Cutting the carbs is one of the strategies that may help you to eat less. It isn’t a good idea to completely eliminate all the carbs as some types of carbs are beneficial in weight loss and they also have potential health benefits.

Carbohydrates include starches, sugars and fiber. Low-carb diets usually limit starches and sugars, but not fiber. Fiber is important for good health and helps prevent constipation. Aim to get 25 to 38 grams of fiber each day. Good sources of fiber include vegetables with skins on, whole grains like whole wheat products, oats, barley and pulses (beans and lentils).

It’s best to limit foods with added sugars such as soda, candy, baked goods and many processed foods — because they’re high in calories and carbs with few beneficial nutrients.

Eventually, it is the total calories that matter.

If you eat dinner at 7 pm, you may sometimes get hungry by 10 pm. What can you eat if you are hungry later in the day or should you sleep without eating anything? Does eating late at night make you gain weight?

Maybe you ate dinner early or you stayed up late and now you’re hungry again. It is important to understand the reason for late night snacking.

You may be really hungry as you may have missed lunch or dinner

We are may be tired and may be looking for a ‘reward’ after having a tough or long day.

We can also turn to food to deal with stress and negative feelings

Not eating enough throughout the day or skipping macronutrients at main meals can also result in overeating later in the day.

Now you know why we overeat later in the day, here are few ways to help prevent it from occurring.

Surround yourself with healthy food like fruits, nuts, smoothies etc.

Stay hydrated: Drinking enough water prevents overeating, at times thirst is also misread as hunger signal. Take lots of detox / infused water, coconut water in case if plain water does not tempt you more.

Eat regular meals throughout the day, skipping a meal tempt to overeat later.

Eat more slowly and mindfully – and give your body time in between dinner and dessert to register fullness.

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Author - Vikash Kumar