Posted on January 10, 2014 by Jenny Cromack

Almost everyone in today’s society wants to lose weight, everyone also knows that if you can stick to your new found new years eating regime for an impressive 6 weeks you will lose some weight (not necessarily fat but I’ll get onto that later), then after this period is up you’ll revert back to your old eating habits and pack it all back on, plus maybe a little more for good measure! However, if you decide to make a lifestyle change in your eating, for the long term, you will always be lean and considerably healthier. This blog looks at diets which work for rapid but long lasting weight loss.

Forget about all those New Year diets, fruit shakes and ridiculous eating regimes and opt for a healthy diet, it is that simple. Begin by changing your daily habits and you will see permanent weight loss. All you need to do is start with these simple things to see results:

• Remove all drinks that aren’t water (sounds simple but the average Brit consumes around 300 calories a day in liquids)
• Eat high quality protein at every meal (remove any processed meats from your diet, these are a fast track diet to a whole variety of health issues)
• Remove any processed carbohydrates (bread, pasta, potato products etc)

I know this sounds so simple and therefore it cannot work, but simply following those three key points above will do more over the period of a year for your health that any fad diet out there. Who wants to lose weight and then put it all (and possibly more) back on once we revert back to ‘normal’ eating….make some easy changes to see long lasting weight loss results.

Below I have listed the top 5 foods you must include in your diet regularly in 2014 and why you should be consuming them.

1. Cold Water Fish (salmon, whitefish and sardines) – Cold water fish are high in the omega-3 fats that improve insulin sensitivity and decrease inflammation. The amazing benefit of getting most of your dietry fats from omega 3 is fat loss and imporved body composition.
2. Nuts – Walnuts, cashews and almonds. Nuts are packed with antioxidants, protein, fibre and amazing healthy fats. The research supporting the link between nut intake and improved body composition is very clear cut. Not only that but individual’s who consume nuts regularly have been shown to have elevated leptin responses to food improving their satiety after meals.
3. Avocados – The research around this amazing fruit is only just scratching the surface of this superfood’s potential in improving all aspects of body composition and health. Avocado has tremendous antioxidant capacity, and has been shown to completely eradicate chronic inflammation related to high body fat.
4. Cruciferous Vegetables – these vegetable shelp the body clear excess estrogen, both naturally occurring and chemical estrogens. Excess estrogens in no way help body composition or health for that matter. Examples are cabbage, cauliflower, pak choi, broccoli.
5. Eggs –  Eggs are an amazing protein source, they also provide a good dose of choline, which protects the liver from accumulating fat. This amazing healthy food which are  incorrectly feared due to their cholesterol conten BUT eggs haven’t been found to elevate serum cholesterol!!!

So, no fad diets needed, no surving on shakes and soups…..just simple clean eating with some of the above foods thrown into your meals throughout the day and you will see the body fat drop off….permanently!