'Leave Dinner to Your Enemy'... It's Not Just About Diet and Exercise
METHODS FOR LOSING WEIGHT
- Diet therapy
- Behavioral therapy
- Exercise
- Medication
- Surgical treatment
THE ROLE OF DIET IN OBESITY
Diet forms the first step in the treatment of obesity. Skipping the diet step and moving straight to other treatment methods leads to failure in the treatment of obesity. The word "diet" can carry an uncomfortable connotation for people. In fact, what diet really means is putting a person on a healthy eating program.
The goal of diet therapy for obesity is to bring the patient down to their ideal weight, and then, after achieving this, to maintain that ideal or near-ideal weight for a lifetime through healthy eating habits. This is only possible if the person makes a healthy and lasting change to their lifestyle. If only the overweight member of a family is made to follow this program, or is pressured to comply, the benefit will be limited and temporary. For this reason, the practice should remove this dilemma by ensuring that all family members follow the program together. The first requirement for this is making changes in the kitchen – in other words, a kitchen reform. The kitchen should be transformed from something that stimulates appetite and promotes weight gain into one that provides the quality and variety of calories needed to maintain an ideal weight. In other words, foods that are high in nutritional value but low in calories should be consumed. The food we take in daily should be healthy and balanced, containing sufficient protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and fiber. This is because an unbalanced, uncontrolled and uninformed diet creates a greater sense of hunger, which after a while leads to weight gain.
The Chinese have said for 3,000 years, “leave your dinner to your enemy.” For this reason, "anti-aging" specialists remove dinner from their patients' diets altogether. However, this deprives people of the enjoyment and pleasure of dinner. From this standpoint, it would be more appropriate to eat only small amounts of low-calorie food after 5:00 p.m.
Overweight people often cannot sleep comfortably at night because their kidneys, lungs, bladder and digestive organs are compressed while lying down. Eating a large meal in the evening can lead to problems such as snoring, drooling, nightmares, and waking up in the morning feeling unrested.
Care should be taken to include certain elements and vitamins in the diet. Among these, vitamin C triggers the burning of fat. Vitamin B6, magnesium, iodine, chromium and selenium also have an important place in a diet-focused kitchen. Very little of these valuable substances is found in our food. For this reason, it may be necessary to take these substances both through food and as supplements.
One of the problems is that people, on one hand, lounge on the couch eating chocolate and candy, while on the other hand, they want to lose weight quickly by swallowing miracle pills. Despite all the advertising promises, there is no such thing as a miracle pill, and even in gene laboratories, only speculation has emerged so far.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Aim for a weight appropriate to your height. If you already have a healthy weight, avoid gaining more.
- If you are overweight or obese, first prevent further weight gain, then aim to lose weight to protect your health.
- Develop healthy eating habits by consuming low-fat vegetables, lean white meat, dried legumes, low-fat milk and yogurt, fruit, and whole grains.
- Stick to the portion sizes recommended by your dietitian for healthy eating.
- Engage in regular physical activity.
- Balance the energy you take in with the energy you expend.
- Set an example for children through healthy eating habits and regular physical activity.
- Eat at least three regular meals a day; don't skip meals – skipping a meal leads to eating more at the next one, which means taking in more energy overall. Try to avoid high-energy pastries, sweets and fatty snacks at meals.
- Pay attention to the amount of oil and salt you use.
- Drink plenty of water.
- Remember that your behavior plays a key role in maintaining your body weight.
- Seek behavioral therapy support from specialists when needed.