Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Nutrition Health With Your Weight Loss Diet



Nutrition Health With Your Weight Loss Diet

If you are overweight and are prone to overeat through a constant feeling of hunger, it may be that you are not hungry for just food, but your body may actually be hungry for essential nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, oils, protein and other nutrients that are important for proper and healthy body function.

What's worse, if you are already deficient in certain nutrients and you attempt to diet by decreasing the amount of food you eat, you can end up with even more deficiencies leaving your body no choice but to demand you to eat more food by giving you a powerful appetite that is unstoppable.

You need to understand that you don't just eat to get calories for energy. The modern American diet is filled with processed and nutritionally void foods which means you have to eat much more to get the nutrients that you body needs.

One reason why you feel the need for a second and third serving of food is that your body is trying desperately to get those little amounts of vitamins and minerals scattered throughout your food and it won't give up until it gets what it wants and needs.

If you start adding more nutrient-dense foods to your diet and maybe add some form of supplementation, you will start to meet the nutritional requirements of your body and it will feel less hungry and you will more likely eat only what your body needs in terms of calorie requirements so that your body weight can return to a "normal" level.

Eating better quality foods will help you to avoid "stress hunger" that give us those cravings to overeat and overindulge.

So just how nutrient deficient are Americans? Researchers for the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion stated that only a dismal 10% of the entire US population had an adequate diet while 16% were rated as having a poor diet which increased the risk for major health problems. Also, unfortunately, 74% were found to have an inadequate nutrient intake.

Want to know what the top 10 nutrient deficiencies are? They are Fiber, Omega 3 Essential Fatty Acids (EFA's), Vitamin D, Magnesium, Calcium, B-group Vitamins, Selenium, Zinc and Chromium.

We should also point out that many people are deficient in certain amino acids (proteins). Although most people eat enough protein, it is usually cooked or processed which means certain amino acids have been damaged or destroyed leaving only "partial" protein.

It would be a good idea to look up and research the nutrient content of the foods that you eat during the week and see if there is a potential for any deficiency. If there is, you can then start to add foods to your diet that are high in a particular nutrient or look for a form of supplement from your local health food store.

With fruit and vegetables themselves lower in nutrients than they were several decades ago from over-harvesting, it is always wise to take a vitamin and mineral supplement as a precaution.

By: Robert Kokoska

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