You’ve decided you want to lose some unwanted weight and your plan is to cut out sugar, flour, and anything fried. You make some initial progress, but ultimately hit a wall when weight loss stalls and cravings continue to plague you.

Have you considered that maybe it is not what you are eliminating that’s the problem, but what you aren’t including in your diet that is slowing your metabolism while increasing cravings and appetite?

Evolutionarily we are mismatched for the modern world of food abundance and sedentary lifestyle. It was extremely recent in human history that we haven’t had to survive regular periods of starvation as well as endure challenging environments. As a result of evolutionary adaptation, your body is built to protect you from starvation. Slowing down your metabolism when resources are scarce has ensured human survival. To your frustration, this process occurs even when it may appear that we have plenty of stored energy (fat) to spare. These protective systems prevent you from cashing in your personal bank of stored energy, fat, except as a last resort in an emergency.

How can we then override this carefully controlled system to release fat and extra weight?

We need to engage in a bit of trickier that allows the body to feel secure that it is getting its needs met and safely release extra stored energy (fat). This is why focusing on eliminating specific foods to lose weight while failing to include certain critical nutrients is destined to fail in the long run.

What are the KEY essential elements needed to keep your metabolism fired up?

1. Omega-3’s: Omega-3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fats and are considered essential fats. This means you must consume them either from food or supplements, because your body is unable to manufacture them. This is critical in our modern world where we have had a major shift in the past century from naturally occurring Omega-3s have been replaced with Omega-6 fatty acids.

Omega-3’s play a critical role in fat loss and building muscle! These fats become part of the cell membrane which make them respond more favorably to hormones such as insulin. Omega-3 is known to lower inflammation while increasing your metabolism!

The best sources of Omega-3 are wild caught fatty fish such as sockeye salmon, sardines or mackeral. Vegetarian sources include Chia seeds, walnuts or flax. Although, the body is not efficient at converting this form of omega-3 into a usable form, so consider supplementation a suitable option.

• Protein: Protein is the most satiating of all macronutrients. This means better control over your appetite and less likely to overeat. In addition, due to the high thermic effect of protein it can make you burn more calories, even while you are sleeping. Roughly 20 to 30 percent of protein calories are used to digest and metabolize it.

Best Sources of Protein are meat, fish, eggs, dairy, legumes, nuts and seeds. Not all protein sources are created equal, be sure to consider quality and quantity and bioavailability. Peanut butter may contain protein, but you may need consume many more calories to achieve the same amount of amino acids profile contained in an animal source.

• Micronutrients: Focusing on nutrient dense food can help you feel full and satisfied while consuming less calories. In addition to seeking calories, humans are also driven to eat because of the nutrients contained in those calories. Consuming the most nutrients per calorie is an effective strategy to keep your metabolism fired up. When essential nutrients are not consumed in adequate amounts to meet the needs of the body, the metabolism will slow down to conserve supplies.

Best sources of nutrient dense foods: Seaweed, liver, dark leafy greens, grass-fed beef, mussels, egg yolks, mushrooms, seeds, wild rice, black beans to name a few!

Final takeaway: if weight loss is your ultimate goal, then your best plan is to focus on what you need to include in your diet rather than the foods you are trying to eliminate!

If you want to know how a personalized plan could be the missing link in achieving your goals, please call now 941-685-8074 or click here to schedule a free 15 minute discovery call.