Trying to lose weight, but are one of those busy people who just don’t have the time to get in a lot of exercise? No matter how busy you are, there are ways to get more physical movement into your day. It just takes some creative planning and making this a priority. Take the stairs, walk in place in your office while making phone calls, take a short walk during part of your lunch break, or set a timer to remind yourself to get up and move or do some jumping jacks once an hour. Exercise is necessary to burn off calories and that leads to weight loss. The other side of the weight loss coin is to watch what types of foods you eat and lower your calorie intake. This doesn’t mean skipping meals though or starving yourself. Those don’t really work in the long run for losing weight.
Weight Loss Foods
Instead start adding nutrient dense foods that are low on calories and high on nutrition. That way you are still giving your body the nutrition it needs to stay healthy and produce energy without the weight gain. You can also stock up on foods that boost metabolism and support digestion so that your body is burning calories efficiently and using what you eat to fuel itself rather than storing it as fat. In this part 1 of looking at weight loss for busy people we present mushrooms and sprouts as two foods to introduce into your weight loss plan.
Mushrooms
Research has discovered a multitude of health benefits from various mushrooms including boosting the immune system. The Department of Nutrition Science at the University of Buffalo reports that Portobello mushrooms are not only full of phytonutrients, but also the antioxidant ergothioneine that is especially good for blood sugar regulation and increased stamina which can help in weight loss and the energy to exercise more. These mushrooms are also a great source of fiber that helps with weight loss by helping you feel fuller longer, helps lower cholesterol, keeps fat from being absorbed, makes the body work harder to break down, and boosts metabolism. Crimini mushrooms are a mini-Portobello that are also high in fiber and that are easy to add to a variety of meat dishes to reduce fat. Just grind up these tasty mushrooms and mix with meats to make anything from tacos to hamburgers to meat loaf.
Sprouts
Sprouted foods are another way to get lots of nutrition for less calories. They are full of vitamins, protein, antioxidants, minerals and fiber. Sprouts are germinated vegetable and legume seeds that can be eaten raw or cooked and popular ones include clover, alfalfa, radish, moong beans, chickpea and soya beans. They give a real boost to a salad, sandwich or soup. Besides being low calorie, sprouts also help with lowering blood cholesterol levels, are a heart healthy food, give a boost to our hydrolytic enzymes, support good digestion, and clear out toxins and impurities in the body and bloodstream. If you make your own sprouts by soaking in water for a minimum of 6 hours, be sure you learn how to do so properly with appropriate sanitary conditions. You may also want to check with your healthcare professional to make sure the sprouts you want to add to your diet are safe for you and limit the amount you eat each day as too many can create problems.
Wild Foods the Easy Way
While wild foods like mushrooms, sprouts and bluegreen algae are all loaded with nutrition and low calorie, busy people don’t have the time to forage the mushroom forests or sprout their own seeds. You can still get the great wild foods nutrition of all these in this wild algae based program. You get not only the basic nutrition of AFA bluegreen algae, probiotics and digestive enzymes, but also kale sprouts, red clover sprouts, wheat sprouts, concentrated wheat sprouts, and Dunaliella salina algae, dulse, kelp, fucoidan, Ecklonia cava, bladderwrack, spirulina, chlorella, and reishi, maitake, cordyceps, wild black trumpet, and Poria cocos mushrooms. Whew! That’s a lot of wild food nutrition already conveniently measured out into capsules that are Organic, Kosher, Halal, Vegan, Dairy Free, and GMO Free.
Stay tuned for part 2 of this article series you’ll find later this week on our blog. To make sure you don’t miss it, go ahead and subscribe and you’ll get it and lots of other great health tips each week delivered right to your email.
Sources:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/22/mushrooms-are-magic-for-women-trying-to-lose-weight.html
http://www.doctoroz.com/article/top-secret-weight-loss-food-mushrooms
http://www.thefitindian.com/benefits-of-eating-sprouts-in-our-daily-diet/