Faster Weight Loss with Vegetables – 5 Reasons Eating More Helps You Lose!
Do you wish you had more control over how fast your body lost weight?
Fast weight loss has as much to do with what you add to your diet as what you cut out.
When it comes to vegetables, the wonderful truth is that the more you add to your daily diet, the more you lose.
Are you ready to put yourself in control of how efficiently your body drops pounds?
5 Ways Vegetables Speed Up Your Weight Loss:
- Control hunger, so you naturally eat less
- Cut cravings, so you gain control over late-night snacking
- Make you a better fat-burner than fat-maker
- Naturally control your calorie intake
- Grow your healthy gut bacteria (Is this a weight loss secret weapon?)
Faster Weight Loss with Vegetables [Video]
Regardless of whether your slow weight loss is due to nagging hunger, insufferable cravings, or a body that’s resistant to losing weight, vegetables can shift your fat loss into a higher gear.
Vegetables Put You in Control of Your Hunger, So You Effortlessly Eat Less
Does afternoon hunger interfere with your ability to focus and get stuff done?
It’s hard to be productive when your belly is rumbling with hunger, but you can quiet afternoon hunger pangs by upping your intake of stomach-filling vegetables at lunchtime.
When you eat a vegetable, it’s like eating an edible balloon of water.
When measured by weight, SFGate reports that…
- Cucumbers and lettuce are 96% water
- Zucchinis and celery are 95% water
- Tomatoes are 94% water
- Green cabbage is 93% water
- Cauliflower, peppers, and spinach are 92% water
- Broccoli is 91% water
Even the more starchy veggies, like peas and potatoes, contain about 80% water.
That high water content gives vegetables hunger-destroying volume.
When large quantities of vegetables are eaten, your stomach expands, which activates stretch receptors in the stomach’s lining. Those activated receptors send a signal to the brain to shut down hunger.
In other words, the stretched stomach lets your brain know it needs time to empty before you send it more food.
THE TAKEAWAY:
If afternoon hunger is your diet destroyer, then eat a large salad at lunchtime.
Fill a bowl with four cups of lettuce and toss in handfuls of broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes and onions. By the time you reach the bottom of the bowl, you’ll be comfortably full and remain that way for hours.
Vegetables Calm Cravings Saving You from the Late Night Binge
Is late-night snacking your downfall? You can take control of nighttime cravings by boosting your veggie intake at dinnertime.
The high fiber content of vegetables makes them natural craving suppressants.
A craving is a sensation that comes on when you experience a drop in blood sugar, so you could say that a craving is much like the low-fuel light in your car.
When your car is low on gas, a light comes on to remind you to drive to the gas station.
When your blood is low on sugar, a craving comes on that drives you to the kitchen.
High-fiber foods slow down digestion, allowing sugar and other nutrients to slowly drip into your bloodstream. This slow and steady drip stabilizes your blood sugar, preventing the dips that trigger cravings.
If your evening cravings are out-of-control, add two cups of cooked vegetables to your dinner plate and you’ll cut your cravings all night long.
Vegetables Keep Insulin Levels Under Control Making You a Better Fat-Burner
Is your body resistant to weight loss? Vegetables will help.
Insulin is an energy-storing hormone that acts like a janitor in your body. Its main janitorial duty is sweeping excessive sugar out of your blood.
- When sugar enters your blood at a slow and steady rate, insulin performs its duties flawlessly by sweeping extra sugar molecules into your muscles and liver where they are stored as a quick energy source.
- But, when your blood sugar level spikes (i.e. you just gobbled down a large chocolate muffin), insulin gets flustered and panics. Overwhelmed by the flood of sugar, insulin dumps the excess sugar into your fat cells where it gets converted to fat.
Worse yet, when insulin is filling your fat cells, your ability to burn fat is turned off.
THE TAKEAWAY:
If you are snacking, especially on the wrong foods, you may be keeping your insulin level elevated, which prevents fat burning.
That mid-morning muffin and afternoon pretzel might look harmless, but the refined carbs found in these quickly digested snacks will keep your body locked in a fat-storing mode.
You can turn your body into a better fat burner by eating better carbs and sticking to three meals a day.
Better Carbs for Better Fat Burning
All carbohydrates break down into sugar when you eat them, but not all carbs are created equal.
Vegetables digest slowly causing a slow and controlled rise in your blood sugar. This controlled rise gives insulin time to sweep the sugar into your muscle and liver cells.
Refined carbs, even those in “healthy snacks” like granola bars, crackers, and pretzels, digest quickly causing a spike in blood sugar and fat-storing insulin.
If you must have a snack, a serving of vegetables paired with a healthy fat or protein will be a good choice (i.e. celery sticks and a dozen raw almonds).
Avoid Snacking for Better Fat Burning
If your body is truly resistant to weight loss, avoid the need to snack by filling up on vegetables at mealtimes.
Going without food for reasonable periods throughout the day allows your insulin levels to drop. When insulin is low, your fat cells are encouraged to release fat for energy.
Vegetables Give You Natural Calorie Control
Years ago, the popular fitness slogan was…
“A calorie is just a calorie.”
This saying implied that it didn’t matter which foods you ate, as long as you kept your calories at a certain level, you’d lose weight.
That was before we fully understood the role hormones play in hunger control.
For instance…
- Eat a chocolate bar and you’ll quickly take in 200 calories. Those quick-digesting calories will leave your system in no time, and your hunger hormones will be screaming an hour later.
- Eat a big salad topped with red bell pepper, carrot, cucumber, onions, and a sensible dressing and you’ll barely reach 200 calories yet your hunger satiety hormones will be in control for hours.
THE TAKEAWAY:
If you’re a sugar addict, try this trick…
The next time you have a craving for sugar, feed yourself a salad and then take a 10-minute timeout. In other words, tell yourself that you will put off eating the sugary treat for ten minutes. When the minutes pass, ask yourself again if you still want the snack.
Chances are that the urge to snack will be greatly reduced, and you’ll feel in control. And, even if you decide to eat the treat, the fiber from the salad will keep your blood sugar from spiking.
Veggies Feed Your Healthy Gut Bacteria Giving You a Weight Loss Edge
Are you in a hurry to lose weight? If so, you’ll want to grow your healthy gut bacteria.
Back in 2011, a study found that lean people have an increased amount of healthy gut bacteria compared to obese people.
That study spawned a brand new avenue of research that linked a healthy gut with an individual’s ability to lose weight.
Having a variety of good bacteria in your intestinal tract aids weight loss in two significant ways:
- It improves insulin sensitivity, making you less susceptible to the elevated insulin levels that promote fat storage.
- It helps your body extract energy from food, so your body is a more efficient calorie-burning machine.
Think of your gut bacteria (i.e. gut flora) as a garden.
You wouldn’t intentionally cultivate weeds in your garden, yet if you eat a lot of processed foods and few vegetables that’s exactly what you’re doing.
The type of bacteria that grow in your gut is a direct product of what you eat.
A diet high in refined and processed foods destroys healthy gut bacteria allowing the weeds of poor health to grow.
In contrast, fermented and gut-friendly vegetables act like fertilizer, providing the nourishment that your healthy gut bacteria need to thrive.
THE TAKEAWAY:
If you want your gut to be an active participant in your weight loss, then feed it fermented vegetables, like sauerkraut and kimchi along with a daily dose of gut-friendly vegetables, which include onions, garlic, asparagus, artichokes.
Conclusion: Faster Weight Loss with Vegetables
For faster weight loss, you need to eat your vegetables. Raw, cooked, or fermented, these low-calorie foods keep hunger and cravings away for hours, keep your blood sugar and insulin levels steady, and give you the weight-loss advantage of a healthy gut.
How do you get more veggies into your daily diet? Follow my four daily habits for faster weight loss.
Whether your goal is to speed up weight loss or break through a weight loss plateau, these four habits will give you the jumpstart you’re looking for.
Click the link to Watch my Free Video Series Now: 4 Daily Habits that Give Your Body No Choice But To Lose Weight.
About the Author
Dr. Becky Gillaspy, DC graduated Summa Cum Laude with research honors from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1991.