Best diet tips ever

culled from:tescohealthandwellbeing.com

Let's face it most of us actually know the basic ingredients for great weight loss. Eat less calories and exercise more, this all sounds pretty straight forward, but with the demands of modern living it can be anything but! What if there were a few key diet tips that could make losing weight a little bit easier and give you that extra boost when you need it most? My top 10 diet tips won’t turn your life upside down, but they can mean the difference between dieting failure and success.

Keep a food diary

Keeping a food diary and doing nothing else already means you are twice as likely to successfully lose weight than someone who doesn't. The simple act of scribbling down what you eat encourages you to consume fewer calories.

Add foods to your diet

Think about what you can add to your diet, not what you should take away. Make a conscious effort to include new healthy foods that you haven’t tried before. Experimenting with new ingredients and recipes will increase the enjoyment you get from food and reduce the temptation to keep munching on processed junk. Use the web to search for new healthy recipes.

Eat in before you dine out

Eating out is a sociable experience that you can enjoy whether or not you are on a diet. However, feed your brain before you go out to ensure your decision-making isn’t clouded by hunger. A light salad an hour before eating out is the perfect choice.

Choose the right stuff, not the white stuff

White, usually means processed, with all the calories and none of the fibre. White bread just gathers in a ball in the pit of your stomach, so swap for digestive-friendly wholegrain bread. The worst processed food of all is sugar - it's designed to be addictive, so like any addictive substance KEEP AWAY.

Spice it up

Spicy foods like chilli pepper and cayenne pepper help to speed up your metabolism. These foods cause your metabolism to rev up, so choose spicy sauces over creamy ones – your waistline will thank you for it.

Eat several mini meals every day

When you eat frequent small meals, there's always another meal around the corner. Eating regularly means your metabolism is constantly ticking over and you burn more calories.

Choose lower sugar desserts

Pledge to skip desserts today and by tomorrow you won’t be able to get desserts out of your mind. If you enjoy an after dinner treat, have it, but try to choose a healthier alternative. Apple pie with ice cream can be swapped for stewed apples with low fat natural yoghurt. If you prefer savoury, have a bag of popcorn or snack-a-jacks instead of crisps.

Muscle up breakfast

Eat a protein-rich breakfast to reduce cravings and keep you feeling full until lunch. A higher protein breakfast, for example beans on toast or nuts and yoghurt have a higher satiety (fullness) level compared to a high carbohydrate breakfast like cornflakes.

Swap sugary drinks for water or tea

Recent studies have finally proven that ditching sugary drinks for diet versions or water leads to weight loss. Participants who switched to calorie-free drinks and water were twice as likely to lose 5 percent or more of their body weight than people who were just educated on making healthier choices.

Burn calories with muscle

Muscle burns more calories than fat. This is largely due to the fact that muscle is "metabolically" more active than fat, causing an increase in calories burned on any given day. The only way to gain muscle is through exercise. Aim to do strengthening exercises like weights at least twice per week to slowly build up your muscle.