Dieting often involves cutting down the consumption of a particular kind of food or just overall consumption. This may close some of the avenues of essential nutrients that our body needs. This is why dietary supplements become even more important, because when your body lacks in nutrients, it may fooled into thinking its famine time and starts storing fat as a precaution. Therefore, supplements of the right kind can actually make losing weight much easier and faster. Not only do supplements keep your body healthy, they also help you lose weight faster, naturally.

The Types of Food We Eat

Research has shown that people who are overweight and those who are not can often eat about the same number of calories. The difference lies in the types of food they are eating. A popular theory is that too many fats will make you fat. This is true in principle as saturated fats are not very healthy. However, you should remember that some fats are crucial to your body, hence the name essential fatty acids.

Following the same theory, some people go on low fat or no fat diets without considering that food that is low in fat or has no fat tends to be higher in sugar and salt in order to make it more palatable. This is what will make fat, as sugar and other fast releasing foods invariably encourage weight gain.

This is how it works. The speed at which such foods release blood sugar determines whether or not you will gain weight, because every time you eat, your body has a choice to either burn that food as energy or store it as fat. Higher insulin levels cause your body to change.

Types of Diet Plans Most diets that are designed to help you lose weight provide 1,000 to 1,500 calories per day. However, the number of calories that is right for you depends on your weight and the level of activity you engage in. When a diet plan allows this level of calorie intake in a day it is called a low calorie diet and the weight loss is achieved by calorie counting and therefore limiting the number of calories you consume.

Low Calorie Diet Ideally the calorie level of your diet should allow for no more than a one kg per week weight loss. Results are more visible after the first week or two because of the initial water loss. It is important to remember that the recommended calorie level for each individual will vary depending on your age and weight, so you may need to eat more or fewer calories dependent on your own life style and circumstances. To remain healthy and not feel sluggish while doing a low calorie diet, it may be a good idea to take supplements that will help to keep you energized and full of vitality throughout the whole day.

Fixed Menu Diets A fixed-menu diet provides you with a list of all the foods that you can eat in an effort to lose weight. The advantage of this type of diet is that it is easy to follow because the foods you can or cannot eat have already been selected for you. This helps end the confusion of 'can I eat this or not? However, the drawback of this type of diet is that food choices are very limited and this may therefore make the diet boring and hard to follow if, for example, you are away from home and do not have all the ingredients you may need.

In addition to this drawback, fixed-menu diets do not really teach you the food selection skills necessary for keeping weight off, and such skills are crucial when you have worked so hard at losing weight. Ideally therefore, if you start with a fixed-menu diet there should come a time when you switch to a plan that helps you learn to make meal choices independently.

Such a limited diet also poses the risk of limiting your unnecessary nutritional intake. In this scenario, nutritional intake refers to the essential vitamins, minerals and micronutrients that everyone needs in order to enjoy continued good health. A lack of essential nutrients can therefore mean that your weight loss efforts will be slowed down, rather than accelerated.

When you cut out certain foods, it is inevitable that you will reduce the amount of some nutrients in your diet as well. Food supplements could be the quickest and simplest solution to helping you maintain your diet and overall good health at the same time.