When you can nearly see your tummy expand as you take another bite of your salad while your friends voraciously consume their large oreo McFlurry and fries without seeming to gain an ounce, it’s hard to not think you’re doing something wrong. In situations like these, we often forget that our weight, in part, is controlled and maintained by genetics. Because of this, takes a different path for everybody, but eating healthy can ensure you are on the right side of the tracks.
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The average adult has 30-40 million fat cells, but some people can have up to 75 million. Once you have these fat cells, most being genetically predisposed by birth, it is incredibly hard to lose them. What you can do, though, is change how large or how small the size of the cell is by dieting. That being said, somebody with a smaller number of large fat cells may be less fat than a person with a large number of small fat cells. In addition, when a relatively heavier person does lose a significant amount of weight, their metabolism slows. This means they can only maintain that weight if they eat small amounts of food, and eating more than that will cause them to gain fat very quickly. You can only help what’s in your circle of control. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Being able to look like the skinniest model may not even be biologically possible for you.
No matter what your size, there are obvious tips for losing some weight and being more healthy. Gaining more sleep lowers levels of the hormone ghrelin, which generally makes you feel more hungry, and raises levels of the hormone leptin, which generally makes you feel satiated for longer. Getting enough exercise each day helps maintain your weight.
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What’s probably the most crucial thing when you want to stay healthy is eating right. There is no need to hold back on how much you consume, for not everybody is built with the same appetite. However, if you do feel you are overeating, hear out the unit bias heuristic: people eat more when they are offered more, or given a bigger bowl to fill, but would eat less when given less food, or a smaller bowl to fill. Limit your food intake by eating from a smaller plate. When you eat from a smaller plate, your brain is tricked into thinking you’re satisfied more quickly than if eating from a bigger plate.
Some healthy foods can surprisingly taste good. Here are some of my favorites:
Banana Scrambled Eggs
This recipe is a little more out there, and though it sounds crazy at first, give it a try! You might be impressed. Whisk 2 ripe bananas, 1-2 eggs (the more eggs, the more stable), as much cinnamon as you’d like, and honey (to taste) in a bowl. Pour over a pan over low heat with a small amount of oil. If you added one egg, you can make pretty decent scrambled banana eggs. With more than one egg, your batter should be stable enough to form omelets/ pancakes! If you enjoy it, welcome this recipe into your breakfast diet.
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Guacamole
As we all know, avocado has healthy fats, so there is little harm in eating them. Guacamole is a healthy dip that may satiate you and help you resist your urge to eat less healthy, fatty dips with your chips. One of the best things about avocados is how versatile they are. Once you take out the pit and mash it up, you can add pretty much anything and it would still taste good: lemon juice, salt, pepper, crushed chili flakes, chopped tomatoes and onions, pine nuts…. The list goes on and on. And when served with unsalted chips, you might even forget that you’re eating healthy.
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Frozen Yogurt (at home!)
Ice cream is overrated, anyway. Take your game to the next level by creating your own froyo at home with your freezer and blender. Chop up a banana and any other fruit you’d like in your yogurt (ex. strawberries, raspberries) and freeze overnight. The next day, put the frozen contents in your blender and blend until everything comes to a smooth consistency (this may take a while.) Use a spoon to put your dessert into a bowl, add toppings like coconut shreds, nuts, or more fruit, and marvel at how professional and delicious your homemade and extremely healthy frozen yogurt is.
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