And so they come back: all the great diets and tips on how to lose weight the fastest. Low-Carb, High-Fat, Atkins, Ornish, Chocolate Diet or Fasting Therapy. Superfoods are a must , and you can't do without a smoothie . New, ever more expensive dietary supplements are coming onto the market. All organic of course.

And the best thing is: they all work. That is, at least for a while. It's interesting that we like to spend a lot of money on things that aren't actually necessary.

Christopher Gardner, a research professor at the Stanford University of Medicine, was one of the moderators. He spoke about the effectiveness of dieting.

Regardless of the diet, the important thing was that some type of calorie restriction occurs. When the diet led to energy restriction, the person lost weight. However, his observation came with a major caveat: the energy limitation had to be accidental or unconscious. If the observed person was told or formally told to eat fewer calories or follow a carefully outlined calorie restriction plan, then the diet wasn't working.

In other words, people who want to lose weight seem to need to be treated like five-year-olds

3 elements that all successful diets have in common

Christopher Gardner noted that all diets that worked, ie those that resulted in accidental/unconscious calorie restriction, had three things in common. So it doesn't matter which diet philosophy you follow to lose body fat - the main thing is that they have included the following 3 elements:

Successful diets contain lots of vegetables

Fresh vegetables are important not only because of the nutrients and vitamins. They serve an important purpose in dieting - they fill your stomach with low-calorie foods, making you less hungry. Eat as many vegetables as you want and treat yourself to a piece of meat for “dessert”. Stay away from ready-made vegetables with additives. Fresh seasonal vegetables are best!

Tip: Roughly chop the fresh vegetables and then fry them in a pan with a little oil and season them deliciously (herbs from Provence, curry, chili + salt, etc.). Optionally, you can also steam the vegetables – it works almost by itself and only takes 10 minutes!

Successful diets do without sugar and white flour

You know where sugar or white flour is found. Both have a similar effect on the body: they drastically increase blood sugar and thus the insulin level. Then comes the slump because the calories act like a flash in the pan. They bring you nothing for the energy balance but are reflected in the calorie balance. So avoiding both sugar and grains also leads to unconscious calorie restriction.

Tip: Avoid everything that is advertised!

Successful diets avoid cravings.

Diets that cause calorie restriction will lead to fat loss. The big problem with this is the associated feeling of hunger. Being full feels good. not hungry. This is the main reason why people break diets. The nagging hunger lowers the inhibition threshold and one returns to the original eating habits. It was good then!

How do you stay full while on a diet?

If you want to lose weight but can't get rid of the feeling of hunger, then you should eat something to keep going. The trick is to "stay full". If you get hungry, grab a spoonful of one of these three things between meals:

  • Psyllium Husks: Mix 1 teaspoon with water

  • Flaxseed Oil: 1-2 tablespoons

  • Mixed nuts: small handful

Psyllium husk is a soluble fiber from a species of plantain. Mix a teaspoon with water and drink. Flea seed husks are low in calories and slow down digestion.

Optionally, you can also consume flaxseed oil. This also helps you to get valuable fatty acids.

A nut mix is ​​the third alternative. Eat a small handful of your favorite nuts. They also have more entertainment value than the other two methods. Flaxseed oil and nuts are very good because people generally do not consume enough omega-3 fatty acids. This will give you a better grip on the ratio of omega 3 to omega 6. This has an extremely positive effect on the protein metabolism and thus on the regeneration of the muscle cell.