Obesity is a growing problem in this country, and the world. However, bar making it easier for people to have a gastric sleeve procedure, it seems that authorities are powerless against this growing problem. Trusted health experts have released a wealth of nutritional guidelines. So much so, in fact, the people now find themselves confused.
Guidelines for Proper Nutrition
There are a lot of guidelines that make a lot of sense, such as having to eat at least five portions of different fruits and vegetables per day. These are filled with nutrients, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, which we all need. But there are also a number of misleading guidelines out there. For instance, in the United Kingdom, experts were asked to determine what safe limits of alcohol consumption are. Nobody had an answer, so arbitrary figures were created. When anti-alcohol organizations started to lobby government, those arbitrary figures were lowered further, again without any real evidence.
What About Fructose?
Everybody knows that drinking too much alcohol is bad for you, even if we don’t know how much really is too much. But what about fructose? It is a known fact that fructose damages the liver, more so actually than alcohol, but there are no guidelines out there, not even arbitrary ones. A lot of people who eat a lot of processed food, which is most of us, have some degree of liver damage due to the high levels of fructose contained in processed foods. You may feel that this is nonsensical, but when you consider figures of liver damage are rising, when alcohol consumption is decreasing, it suddenly starts to make sense.
Proper Nutritional Guidelines
So how can we stop ourselves from becoming more obese? Follow these sensible guidelines to make a real difference. Applying these guidelines early enough can help avoid you becoming obese and needing surgery. If you are past that point, then these guidelines will be of tremendous benefit to you after your surgery.
- Avoid carbohydrates that are non-fibrous. There are some really good carbohydrates out there, like broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and so on. Those are filled with essential vitamins and minerals, as well as dietary fiber. The latter is necessary for the body to burn fat. Avoid potatoes as much as possible, because while they do have good mineral content and vitamin C, they are also full of starch, with raises your blood pressure. You can, however, turn this into resistant starch by cooking them and then chilling them, which will stop your blood sugar levels from rising.
- Avoid fructose as much as possible. You can do this by simply reading the labels on the foods you buy. Consume no more than 25 grams of fructose per day, and you should be find. Too much fructose leads to insulin resistance, which in turn can lead to obesity, but also to type 2 diabetes.
- Get rid of unsaturated fats and stick to saturated fats instead. You find these in avocados, pastured eggs, raw nuts, grass-fed cow dairy products, olive oil, and so on. Saturated fats give your body the energy it needs, when it needs it.
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