Food groups beat kilojoule counting for weight loss
Counting kilojoules is not the best way to lose weight for better health. Professor Manny Noakes says following a well-balanced diet that includes all food groups is more effective.
Australian’s need to start focusing more on eating the right combination of food rather than just counting kilojoules if they want to lose weight for better health.
Following a well-balanced diet that includes foods from all food groups, such as low GI wholegrain breads and cereals, fruits and vegetables, dairy food or a calcium-rich alternative, meat and meat products, and healthy fats and oils, can help people achieve optimal nutrition as well as weight loss.
Here are five key ways in which food groups beat kilojoule counting when it comes to making healthy eating more achievable and enjoyable.
1. A focus on nutrition, not numbers
Eating fewer kilojoules is important for weight control. But just how you achieve that can have a big impact on your long-term success.
All kilojoules are not created equal, and eating a controlled number of them doesn’t necessarily guarantee you a nutritious diet.
Eating a wide variety of healthy foods found in the food groups will not only make a diet more interesting and enjoyable, it increases the chance of obtaining all the vitamins, minerals, fibre and antioxidants your body needs.
Each of the food groups contains specific nutrients to help your body to function at its best.
2. Freedom from hunger
A singular focus on kilojoules doesn’t offer any guidance in terms of how much protein, fat and carbohydrates your diet contains. Yet the mix of these nutrients can have a significant impact on hunger and food cravings.
The food group approach helps to ensure you get the right balance of nutrients while at the same time helping to minimise hunger and reducing your kilojoule intake.
3. Energy and vitality
Counting out your kilojoules might mean you lose sight of nutritious foods that can make a big difference to your energy levels and vitality.
Feeling energised helps people to stay motivated, stick to a healthy eating plan, and be active. In fact, following the food group approach in combination with regular, moderate exercise forms the perfect partnership for health and weight management.
4. Fat loss, not just weight loss
Kilojoule controlled diets can help you lose weight, but it may not necessarily be fat that you’re losing. That’s because the kilojoules from certain foods affect the body in different ways.
For example, protein foods such as chicken, fish and lean red meats increase our metabolism during digestion compared to carbohydrates or fats. They also protect lean muscle tissue from breaking down when reducing your kilojoule intake.
It’s important for energy and health to minimise the loss of muscle while maximising the loss of fat. In other words, it’s important to focus on fat loss, not just weight loss.
5. A positive and sustainable approach
The positive focus on food groups may help to explain why over half a million Australians have successfully lost weight following healthy eating programs such as the Total Wellbeing Diet. It makes food selection easy through its unique food group system which is designed to assist Australians with weight loss and healthy weight management, while also reducing disease risks and encourage sustainable eating behaviours.
When you focus on what you can eat rather than what you can’t, you will feel more positive about the way you consume food. In the end, kilojoules do count for weight loss, but you don’t need to literally count them to get good results.
Professor Manny Noakes, BSc, Dip Nut&Diet, PhD is currently the Research Director of the Nutrition and Health program in the CSIRO Food and Nutrition Flagship. She is considered a key opinion leader and trusted advisor in nutrition and health both nationally and internationally, particularly in the area of higher protein dietary patterns and weight management. Whilst she has a well-credentialed scientific track record having published 197 papers (145 since 2004), cited 6403 times with an ‘H’ index of 44, her translation of much of this work into highly successful consumer publications has been notable. She was instrumental in the development and release of five editions of the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet (TWD) (launched in 2004) which has now been translated into 17 languages, sold over one million copies in Australia and continues to have high awareness. In 2007, she published an externally conducted impact assessment of the TWD in a nationally representative sample of 5000 people, which revealed a projected 500,000+ individuals had lost an average of 6kg on the program and experienced a number of associated health benefits. The TWD has also won several awards including the World Food Media Award for best health publication for 2007. Professor Noakes is an executive member of the Federal Government Food and Health Dialogue, which influences nutrition reformulation targets for manufactured foods in order to improve the nutritional quality of the Australian Food supply. She is also a member of the Heart Foundation Food and Nutrition Advisory Committee, the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) Health Claims Advisory Committee, and the Woolworths Healthier Australia Taskforce amongst other industry bodies. She is the recipient of three CSIRO Medals, is a Distinguished Alumni of Flinders University, holds a research excellence award from the University of Adelaide and is a recipient of the Zonta Club Woman of International Achievement award.
mysite123
July 15, 2015 at 9:29 pm
counting for weight loss in my Point of View
I think you all know that we can not eat more than we want. But we can control all the things that will harm health. We can just say not to those foods that contain more fats and oils.
ButterflyUS
July 20, 2015 at 9:25 am
Healthiest foods to lose weight
Not all calories are created equal. Different foods go through different metabolic pathways in the body. They can have vastly different effects on hunger, hormones and how many calories we burn. Here are the 9 most weight loss friendly foods on earth, that are supported by science. http://goo.gl/ZA7nUZ