Best Diet Advice From a Registered Dietician | 7 Recommendations

. But losing weight isn’t always about cutting things out; in fact, it might be about adding more foods into your lineup, says Stefani Sassos, a registered dietitian in the Good Housekeeping Institute.

The best diets on our list may not be as trendy as the worst diets on this list, but Sassos says they’ll set you up for success when it comes to maintaining healthy weight loss over a longer period of time and possibly, for good!. Regardless of which diet you choose to try this year, you need to practice the following advice in order to truly reap all the benefits that sustained weight loss can offer:

• • Hydrate:
    “It’s the very first thing you can do for your body, and believe it or not, being dehydrated could tie into why you’re having issues on a diet in the first place,” Sassos says. “Hydration might be the key because it keeps you full, expands in your stomach, and helps you feel full.” Much in line with current recommendations, Sassos says you’ll need to work your way through at least six to eight cups of water each day, and you may need more depending on how active you are.
• Eliminate added sugar: Per the American Heart Association, women shouldn’t consume more than 25 grams of sugar each day (it’s 35grams for men), but Sassos says the average American eats around 77grams of sugar each day. That’s quite a lot by any measure. So, keep sugar levels in check by focusing on your coffee order. Cut out the cream and sugar. Pay more attention to the things you eat for breakfast. Sugary cereals of any kind are just bad choices. Additionally  Stop drinking soda and other sugary or caffeinated Monster drinks. Start choosing healthier desserts that include more fruits and nuts and less cake or other baked goods. 

• • Double down on veggies:   The benefits of eating more cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, and carrots are too numerous to list, but Sassos says focusing on eating more vegetables will help you up your fiber intake, keeping you full longer. Plus, you’ll reap the benefits of antioxidants galore.
  • Hit the gym: Supercharging your diet to run on the leanest sources of fuel like fewer empty calories is only half the battle. “I like to tell my patients to break a sweat every day: Whether it’s walking or running or simply using the stairs all day, make your version of a workout efficient and keep it moving, ” Sassos says. Aim for at least 30 minutes of heart-pumping activity each day.

Eat mindfully: Unlike many of the fad diets that we call out on this list, Sassos says it’s important to eat when you truly feel hungry. “It’s about listening to your body. Ask yourself, ‘Is this a hunger cue … or is this a habit that I’ve created, and I should stop?’ If you eat cookies everyday at 3 p.m., that might be a habit, but if you’re hungry before bedtime, it may be time to reach for a protein-rich snack because you didn’t eat well that day.”

• For a healthy diet, sugars should represent less than 10% of your total energy intake. Reducing even further to under 5% has additional health benefits.

The best diet advice comes from the World Health Organization that advise as follows:

Best Diet Advice Suggestion 1: Breastfeed babies and Toddlers:

• A healthy diet starts early in life – breastfeeding fosters healthy growth, and may have longer-term health benefits, like reducing the risk of becoming overweight or obese and developing noncommunicable diseases later in life.
• Feeding babies exclusively with breast milk from birth to 6 months of life is important for a healthy diet and to strengthen the baby’s immune system. It is also important to introduce a variety of safe and nutritious complementary foods at 6 months of age, while continuing to breastfeed until your child is two years old and beyond.
• From birth to 6 months of age, feed babies exclusively with breast milk. Give them no other food or drink and feed them on demand (like as often as they want, day and night).
• At 6 months of age, introduce a variety of safe and nutritious foods to complement breastfeeding, and continue to breastfeed until babies are 2 years of age or beyond.
• Do not add salt or sugars to foods for babies and young children.

Best Diet Advice Suggestion 2: Eat plenty of vegetables and fruit:

• They are important sources of vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, plant protein and antioxidants.
• People with diets rich in vegetables and fruit have a significantly lower risk of obesity, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and certain types of cancer.
• For snacks, choose raw vegetables and fresh fruit, rather than foods that are high in sugars, fats or salt.
• Avoid overcooking vegetables and fruit as this can lead to the loss of important vitamins. When using canned or dried vegetables and fruit, choose varieties without added salt and sugars.
• Vegetables and fruit are important sources of vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, plant protein and antioxidants. People whose diets are rich in vegetables and fruit have a significantly lower risk of obesity, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and certain types of cancer.

Best Diet Advice Suggestion 3: Eat less fat:

• Fats and oils are concentrated sources of energy. Eating too much, particularly the wrong kinds of fat, like saturated and industrially-produced trans-fat, can increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.
• Use unsaturated vegetable oils (like virgin olive oil, soy oil, sunflower oil or corn oil) rather than animal fats or oils high in saturated fats
• To avoid unhealthy weight gain, consumption of total fat should not exceed 30% of a person’s overall energy intake.
• Oils high in saturated fats are butter, ghee, lard, coconut and palm oil. Avoid them if possible.
• When possible, choose white meat in poultry (instead of dark meat) and white colored fish, which are generally low in fats, rather than red or pink fish. Eat only limited amounts of processed meats because these are high in fat and salt.
• Opt for low-fat or reduced-fat versions of milk and dairy products. Avoid processed, baked and fried foods that contain industrially produced trans-fat. Eat less fat.

Best Diet Advice Suggestion 4: Limit intake of sugars:

• For a healthy diet, sugars should represent less than 10% of your total energy intake. Reducing even further to under 5% has additional health benefits.
• Choosing fresh fruits instead of sweet snacks such as cookies, cakes and chocolate helps reduce consumption of sugars.
• Limiting or eliminating soft drinks, soda and other drinks high in sugars or caffeine ( like fruit juices, flavored milks and yogurt drinks) also helps reduce intake of sugars.

Best Diet Advice Suggestion 5: Reduce Salt Intake:

• • • Keeping your salt intake way way down helps prevent hypertension and reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke in  adults. Limiting the amount of salt and high-sodium condiments ( like soy sauce and fish sauce) when cooking and preparing foods helps reduce salt intake.

Best Diet Advice Suggestion 6:  Get Your Fill With Fiber:

• • • Fiber is found in cruciferous vegetables (such as cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, and kale). It’s also found in Fruits, beans ( or legumes like bean sprouts, black beans, brown beans, red beans, white beans) and it’s found in whole grain cereals ( like oats, etc).
    • Eat Oatmeal for Breakfast, Salads with beansprouts or kidney beans and vinaigrette dressing for Lunch, and snack on nuts and seeds like sunflower seeds 

                             Best Diet Advice Suggestion 7: Eat at a Dinner Table – Not at Your Computer:

• • • Don’t eat at your computer, on your couch, in your bedroom, or in front of your TV because you’ll lose focus on the amount of sugars and fats you consume as you’re being entertained. Doing so will cause you to gain a lot of weight over time. Stay disciplined. Eat only at a dinner table where your sole focus is on the food you’re eating.

The following is a link to some related diet advice you might benefit from:

• • • Foods that Cause Inflammation
    • 15 Excellent Nutrition Tips For Everyone
    • 10 Powerful Medicinal Herbs Chronically-ill People Can Benefit From