When it comes to diet foods, I consider two things essential:
1. Do they cover your nutritional needs?
2. How filling are they?
During a diet, it is crucial to consume foods that will curb your hunger for an extended period of time.
Here are my most effective diet foods:
1. Chicken Breast: A lean protein that can be prepared in a variety of ways, and it is easy to eat in an office setting or on the go. Tilapia is a good alternate if you need it.
2. Flank Steak: Red meat is often shunned during a diet but it has its benefits. Iron, Zinc, and Creatine will enable you to make it through your workouts with greater intensity, leading to greater fat loss. The fats in red meat are also critical since they are the building blocks for hormones such as testosterone and estrogen that play a crucial role in maintaining a high metabolic rate.
3. Eggs: I highly recommend eating eggs during your diet. They are a complete protein with stearic acid and many vitamins (D, E). If you calorie count doesn’t allow for many whole eggs, mix them with egg white at a 1:2 ratio. In general, all proteins are a great hunger suppressants so it is advisable to consume them during a diet at every meal.
4. Oats: A very filling complex carb that is easy to prepare! A true gift to those on the go (just add water)!
5. Brown Rice: A good alternative to oatmeal. It complements most meats and will keep insulin levels stable. Stable insulin levels mean no hunger pangs!
6. Nuts: It is critical to take in the right fats such as mono- and polyunsaturated fats. Nuts are an excellent way to achieve this. They also provide a certain amount of protein, which makes them an interesting choice for vegetarians. As for caloric content, sure it is a bit high, but there is a loss of about 30% in the calories in nuts, which cannot be fully explained (the best available explanation is that their thermic expense is rather high during digestion).
7. Avocado: Another source of good fats and a delicious addition to salads, omelets, etc.!
8. Broccoli, Lettuce, Spinach, Cauliflower: I label these free foods. Due to their low caloric content, they can be consumed in unlimited quantities and provides vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Plus, most of them are alkaline and will balance out the typical western diet, which tends to lean acidic.
9. Asparagus: Hardly any calories, very filling, and a mild diuretic! The initial water loss can be very motivating for people to stay on the diet since they already lost a couple pounds.
10. Grapefruit (whole fruit, not juice): There is some evidence that grapefruit itself is promoting fat loss but the evidence is questionable. However, grapefruits contain Nargenin, which is a substance that blocks the metabolization of caffeine in the liver. Caffeine has fat burning properties, which is why it is one of the main ingredients in many commercial fat burners. If consumed with grapefruit, one extends the active life of these products by 2-3 hours, which over time sums up to greater fat loss.
This all being said, the best diet is one that you can stick to. If you cannot stand chicken, find another lean protein. And yes, calories matter most, as there are no magic foods.
So keep cooking and training,
Maik Wiedenbach