Best Healthy Weight Loss Plan: Diet vs. Exercise
Everyone has an opinion as to whether diet or exercise works best when trying to lose weight. Which method will provide the best weight loss results, and more importantly, which will help in the prevention and treatment of heart disease, diabetes and cancer?
Both diet and exercise are important when considering a weight loss plan, and each regimen has important benefits when considering the war on obesity. More than 45 million Americans belong to a health club and yet obesity continues to rise at an alarming rate. How do you determine the best strategy to drop those excess pounds without disrupting your daily routine?
Important Benefits of Diet for Weight Loss and Health
Changing the quantity and type of food eaten is the single most important way to promote weight loss and improve overall health. To lose one pound of body fat, it’s necessary to burn an extra 3,500 calories, either through physical exertion or reduction in calories eaten.
This can be done by jogging for a total of seven hours over the course of a week or through substituting three sugary soft drinks each day with a no calorie alternative. The net effect will be the same, and most people find the dietary modification route much easier to tolerate. Diet trumps exercise as the quickest route to sustainable weight loss.
It’s important to look beyond weight loss, and consider the health implications of a reduced calorie diet. The food you eat has a direct impact on your risk of developing heart disease, cancer, diabetes and dementia. The nutrients in the foods we eat have either a positive or negative impact on our genes. Studies demonstrate that our genome is altered ever so slightly every time we eat, depending on our food choices at that meal.
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