Smart dieting to help you avoid irritability & hunger

Dieting can be hell - most people soon find themselves feeling cranky, hungry, and miserable. As a result they end up quitting within a few days. But is there a better way? Is it possible to lose weight without feeling lousy the whole time? The answer is yes - but you have to go about it the right way.

The problem with most diets is that while they cut calories, they do so by restricting not just calories, but also the types of foods you eat. Treating the process as simply one of calories in calories out is too simplistic and ignores the fact that everything you put in your body is a drug of one kind or another - as such, the foods you eat have a dramatic effect on your mood.

A smarter way to go about this is to understand the ways in which certain foods affect your brain chemistry, and take that into account. Let's look at some smart ways to lose weight without feeling lousy.

• Eat "good" carbohydrates: Good carbs come from fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and increase levels of serotonin, a hormone that improves your mood. By contrast, "bad" carbs (from sugar, white flour, white rice) cause your energy levels and mood to drop rapidly.
• Lose weight slowly: Rapid weight loss is ineffective, and leaves you feeling tired and miserable. Aim to lose about one or two pounds per week.
• Eat a variety of food: Avoid restrictive diets - your body is designed to eat a range of different foods, and you need a good variety of different foods to maintain proper chemical balances within the body. This means that each meal should include each of the major groups - proteins, carbohydrates and fats. However, you should be getting your fats from healthy sources such as salmon, nuts, avocado, and olive oil.
• Ditch the junk: As mentioned earlier, foods and drinks that are high in sugar provide a short burst of energy followed by a rapid fall in blood sugar levels. When your blood sugar drops rapidly, you feel cranky and have difficulty focusing. The typical response is to grab more quick sugars to alleviate the symptoms, leading to a vicious cycle of bad moods and weight gain.
• Eat little and often: When you go for long periods without food, your blood sugar levels will plummet, and your body will go into a starvation mode, hoarding body fat rather than releasing it. If you eat small portions every two to three hours, your mood will improve and your body will release body fat.
• Eat plenty of fiber: Fiber-rich foods help to fill you up, keep you feeling full longer, and because they slow the absorption of sugar into the bloodstream, they can help prevent mood swings. Fruits, vegetables and whole-grain cereals are packed with fiber.
  
  

By eating this way, you will be manipulating your body's chemistry to help yourself feel better, and improving your chances of losing weight. What more could you want?