Calorie Restriction For Weight Loss

I've recently finished reading a book called "The CR Way". The main focus of the book is on slowing down the aging process and improving your health through calorie restriction. Not suprisngly though calorie restriciton is a great way to lose weight. The book has some great tips about how to achieve weight loss through calorie restriction in a healthy way.

The main point to take home is to maximise nutritional value of the food you're consuming.This will allow a reduction of calories while keeping hunger at bay. If your body is getting the vitamins and minerals it needs the sensation of hunger is not nearly so strong. The book also has some great psychological tips about how to embrace feelings of mild hunger as a sign you're on the right track.

Glycemic index (GI) is also an important factor. Studies have shown that keeping the levels of glucose in the blood low is important to both longevity and weight loss. The best way to keep your blood glucose levels down is to consume foods that have a low glycemic index. Here's a general guide for moving towards a low GI diet:

• Avoid refined sugars
• Replace rice, white potatoes, pasta and bread with barley, quinoa and sweet potatoes.
• Eat vegetables more than fruit. Although fruit is a great source of vitamins so it's still good to have some but try to combine with other foods that have a lower GI.

At first when I read about the barley and quinoa I thought "sure that sounds great but where will I get those?" As it turns out many supermarkets and health food stores carry these items and they're quite tasty especially quinoa which you cook just like you would rice. Barley needs to be soaked before hand and takes longer to cook but it's really cheap and also rather tasty.

A word of caution though ... I'll repat the recommendation in the book to lose weight slowly and not to let your BMI (body mass index) get below 18.5.