It’s no accident that the fast rise in obesity coincided with the increased availability of highly processed meals.
Although highly processed meals are handy, they are heavy in calories, low in nutrients, and raise your risk of developing a variety of ailments.
Real meals, however, are incredibly nutritious and can help you lose weight.
What Are Real Foods?
Real foods are foods with a single component high in vitamins and minerals, free of chemical additions, and mainly unprocessed.
Here are a couple of such examples:
- Apples
- Bananas
- Chia seeds
- Broccoli
- Kale
- Berries
- Tomatoes
- Sweet potatoes
- Brown rice
- Salmon
- Whole eggs
- Unprocessed meat
Each food group has many actual items so that you may integrate a wide variety into your diet.
Here are 11 reasons why eating real foods might assist you in losing weight.
1. Real Foods Are Nutritious
Whole, unprocessed plant and animal meals are high in vitamins and minerals, which are beneficial to your health.
On the other hand, processed foods are deficient in micronutrients and may raise your risk of health issues (1, 2).
Processed meals can hinder weight reduction in a variety of ways.
A diet high in processed foods, for example, may impair your capacity to exercise since iron is essential to transport oxygen throughout your body. This would hinder your ability to burn calories through physical activity (3).
A nutrient-deficient diet may also keep you from losing weight by making you feel full after eating.
786-person research examined individuals’ sensations of fullness when on a low-micronutrient diet to a high-micronutrient diet.
Even though they consumed fewer calories on the high-micronutrient diet, over 80% of participants reported feeling fuller after meals (4).
When it comes to increasing your nutritional intake, eating whole foods is the way to go. They include plant components, vitamins, and minerals, which are challenging to locate in a single dose.
Whole-food nutrients also function better together and are more likely to survive digestion than pills (5).
2. They’re Packed With Protein
The most crucial nutrient for fat reduction is protein.
It boosts your metabolism, reduces hunger, and influences the production of hormones that help you lose weight (6, 7, 8).
Protein meal selections are equally as essential as protein intake. Because they are less processed, whole foods are a more significant source of protein.
Food preparation can make several essential amino acids more challenging to digest and less accessible to the body. Lysine, tryptophan, methionine, and cysteine are examples.
This is due to the ease with which proteins react with the carbohydrates and fats used in processing to generate a complex mixture (9).
Whole protein sources are often richer in protein and fewer calories, making them healthier for fat loss.
For example, 3.5 ounces (100 grams) of pork offers 21 grams of protein and 145 calories (10).
The exact quantity of processed bacon has 12 grams of protein and 458 calories (11).
Protein-rich foods include lean cuts of meat, eggs, lentils, and nuts. This page contains a comprehensive list of high-protein foods.
3. Real Foods Don’t Contain Refined Sugars
Natural sugars present in fruits and vegetables differ from processed sugars.
Fruits and vegetables have natural sugars, but they also provide fiber, vitamins, and water, all of which are essential components of a healthy diet.
In contrast, refined sugars are frequently added to processed meals. High-fructose corn syrup and table sugar are the two most frequent kinds of added sugars.
Foods with more refined sugars have more calories and have fewer health advantages. Ice cream, cakes, pastries, and sweets are a few examples.
Eating more of these items has been related to obesity, so if weight loss is your objective, restrict them (12, 13).
Refined sugars are also not very filling. According to research, consuming a lot of refined sugar increases the synthesis of the hunger hormone ghrelin and reduces the brain’s ability to make you feel full (13, 14).
Real foods are far better for weight loss since they do not include processed sugars.
4. They’re Higher in Soluble Fiber
One of the numerous health benefits of soluble fiber is that it aids with weight loss.
It combines with water in the gut to produce a thick gel, which may suppress appetite by delaying food transit through the heart (15).
Soluble fiber may also suppress appetite by influencing the synthesis of hormones involved in hunger management.
Soluble fiber has been shown in studies to reduce the generation of hunger hormones (16, 17).
Furthermore, it may boost the synthesis of hormones that keep you full, such as cholecystokinin, glucagon-like peptide-1, and peptide YY (18, 19).
Soluble fiber is often higher in whole meals than in processed diets. Soluble fiber is abundant in beans, flaxseeds, sweet potatoes, and oranges.
Ideally, seek to get enough fiber daily from whole meals, which also supply many other nutrients. People who struggle to get enough fiber may benefit from a supplement.
5. Real Foods Contain Polyphenols
Plant foods include polyphenols, which have antioxidant characteristics that aid in disease prevention and may also help in weight loss (20, 21).
Polyphenols are classified into several types: lignans, stilbenoids, and flavonoids.
Epigallocatechin gallate is one flavonoid that has been associated with weight loss (EGCG). It is present in green tea and contributes to several of its claimed advantages.
For example, by slowing the breakdown of fat-burning hormones like norepinephrine, EGCG may help prolong their effects (22).
According to research, drinking green tea may help you burn more calories. Most participants in these trials burn 3-4 percent more calories per day so that a 2,000-calorie-per-day person may burn 60-80 additional calories (23, 24, 25).
6. Real Foods Don’t Contain Artificial Trans Fats
If nutritionists agree on one thing, artificial trans fats are harmful to your health and waistline.
These fats are synthesized by injecting hydrogen molecules into vegetable oils, causing them to solidify.
This procedure was created to extend the shelf life of processed goods such as cookies, cakes, and doughnuts (26).
Many studies have indicated that eating artificial trans fats regularly harms your health and your waistline (26, 27, 28).
For example, one research discovered that monkeys that ate more artificial trans fat gained 7.2 percent more weight than monkeys who ate a diet high in monounsaturated fats like those found in olive oil.
Surprisingly, all the fat the monkeys acquired traveled straight to their stomachs, increasing the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and other health problems (28).
Fortunately, natural foods do not contain trans fats.
Natural trans fats may be found in foods such as beef, veal, and lamb. Unlike manufactured trans fats, natural trans fats have been shown in several studies to be safe (29, 30).
7. They’ll Help You Eat More Slowly
Taking your time and eating gently is weight loss advice that is sometimes disregarded.
Eating slowly, on the other hand, provides your brain more time to absorb your food intake and detect when you’re full (31).
Real foods can help slow your eating since they have a more complex, fibrous feel that requires more chewing. This simple move can help you lose weight by making you feel full on less food.
In one research of 30 males, those who chewed each meal 40 times ate roughly 12% less food than those who chewed 15 times.
The study also found that those who chewed each piece 40 times had lower levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin and higher levels of the fullness hormones glucagon-like peptide-1 and cholecystokinin after the meal (32).
8. Real Foods May Reduce Sugar Cravings
The most challenging aspect of losing weight is suppressing the desire for sugary meals.
This isn’t easy, especially if you consume a lot of sweets.
Berries and stone fruit can give a healthier sweet fix, helping to satisfy sweet cravings as you begin to reduce your sugar intake.
It’s also comforting to know that your taste preferences don’t endure forever and might shift when your diet changes. Eating more whole foods may help your taste receptors adjust, and your sugar cravings may reduce or even eliminate over time (33, 34).
9. You Can Eat More Food and Still Lose Weight
Real foods benefit from filling up more of a plate than processed foods while offering fewer calories.
This is because many genuine meals contain a significant amount of calorie-free air and water (35, 36).
For example, 226 grams (half a pound) of cooked pumpkin comprises around 45 calories and would occupy a larger area of your plate than a single slice of bread with 66 calories (37, 38).
Those with fewer calories and higher volume might satisfy you more than foods with lower calories. They stretch the stomach, and the stretch receptors in the stomach alert the brain to cease eating.
The brain responds by secreting chemicals that suppress hunger and boost sensations of fullness (39, 40).
Pumpkin, cucumbers, berries, and air-popped popcorn are examples of high-volume, low-calorie foods.
10. They’ll Reduce Your Consumption of Highly Processed Foods
Obesity is a significant public health issue worldwide, with over 1.9 billion individuals over 18 classed as overweight or obese (41).
Surprisingly, the fast growth in obesity coincided with the widespread availability of highly processed meals.
One research examining patterns in highly processed food intake and obesity in Sweden between 1960 and 2010 illustrates these shifts.
The survey discovered a 142% rise in highly processed food consumption, a 315 percent increase in soda consumption, and a 367 percent increase in the consumption of highly processed snacks like chips and candies.
In the same period, obesity rates more than doubled, rising from 5% in 1980 to over 11% in 2010. (42).
Eating more whole foods minimizes the consumption of highly processed foods, which supply few nutrients, are heavy in empty calories and raise the risk of various health-related disorders (43).
11. Real Foods Will Help You Make a Lifestyle Change
A crash diet might help you lose weight rapidly, but keeping it off is the most challenging obstacle.
Most crash diets work by limiting food categories or substantially cutting calories.
Unfortunately, losing weight might be difficult if their eating habit is something you can’t sustain long-term.
That’s where a diet high in whole foods might help you lose weight and keep the advantages long-term. It switches your attention to healthier dietary choices for your waistline and overall health.
Although this eating approach may take longer to lose weight, you’re more likely to keep it off because you’ve made a lifetime shift.
The Bottom Line
A diet high in whole foods is beneficial to your health and can aid in weight loss.
Real foods are more nutritious, lower in calories, and fill you up faster than most manufactured foods.
Simply substituting processed foods in your diet with more whole foods will help you live a better lifestyle.
Furthermore, rather than following a short-term diet, eating real foods will make it simpler to maintain long-term fat loss.
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