3 Best Weight Loss Program in Malaysia You Should Know!

You know what has always been a popular subject of discussion? CLEAN EATING! With the vast sea of unlimited information available in your fingertips, it’s most likely to get confused between what’s good for you and what’s not. One of the biggest misconception around clean eating is that it’s boring, bland and difficult to start on, but that is not the case at all. Clean eating is a way to refresh your eating habits, going for the healthiest option in the food pyramid and cutting down on the not-so-healthy ones.

Being in Malaysia and as a Malaysian, we are well known for our love for varieties of food. We Malaysians LOVE eating and hence, food is in our blood no matter what time it is in the day, it is our culture and unfortunately, favorite past time. Malaysians are so fortunate to be spoilt for choice, always surrounded by a flock of restaurants, majority of which are open 24/7 (Looking at you, mamak stalls). Malaysia eats out like they breathe in oxygen.

As a result, we are currently leading as the highest rated obese country in South East Asia.

Thus, almost half of the Malaysian population aged 18 and above are either facing issues of being overweight or obese. This is a worrying trend about the future of Malaysians and the future generations on the kind of environment they’ll be brought into.

And I believe that it comes down to our food - what we put into our body on a daily basis that plays a part of the link to cause of this epidemic obesity.

Honestly, majority of us are not aware of how harmful certain foods are for us because we are so used to eating unhealthy food. We grew up surrounded by people close to us eating this way as a result; we feed our kids with unhealthy stuff. Or perhaps we are just ignoring the dangers ahead until something terrible happens to us, diseases like high cholesterol, diabetes, stroke, heart attack, high blood pressure and more are not something to be taken lightly.

Thus, here are 3 best weigh loss programs that you can do it by yourself in Malaysia!




1.ATKINS DIET

Fellow physician Dr. Robert C. Atkins, promoted the ever popular Atkins diet. At first, the diet was actually perceived to be unhealthy and frowned upon by the most health authorities. This is due to its high saturated fat content in the diet. But based on recent studies, saturated fat is actually harmless and thus it is usually recommended for weight loss.

The common nature of the Atkins diet plan is that it claims that individuals can lose weight while consuming as much protein and fat all to your hearts contents or in this case, fill up your stomach. All under one condition, foods high in carbs are to be avoided. Recent research have proved that weight loss can be feasible with the Atkins diet without ever wasting time on calorie counting and has various health improvements. Moreover, an increase in weight loss and greater improvements in blood sugar, “good” HDL cholesterol, triglycerides and other health markers has been shown by the diet has than low-fat diets.

Protein and fat are equal game in the Atkins diet, but only carbs has to be strictly limited to between a net carbs (total carbs minus fiber) 20 and 25 grams (g) during the phase 1. Those carbs will be sourced from nuts, seeds, veggies, and cheese.

Phase 2 will see an increase in the carb allotment of 25 to 50 g, bringing in foods like blueberries, cottage cheese, and yogurt. You’ll have to retain yourself here until you're around 10 lb away from your goal.

In the third phase, an increase of net carbs at between 50 and 80 g as you work out on finding that perfect balance — which is how many carbs can you consume before the weight loss goes to a still?

Once you already figured out that and succeeded to maintain your weight for one month, it’s time to move to phase four: Lifetime Maintenance. This phase of the diet strives on you to focus on continuing phase 3 and their habits developed. As long as the weight doesn’t creep back on, carbs are still allowed in this phase (up to 100 g per day). The main reason why low-carb diets are so effective for weight loss is that the fluctuation of carbs and increased protein intake leads to reduced appetite, making you consume fewer calories without having second thoughts about it.

The only rules that you'll have to obey in an Atkin's diet is to consume both fruits and vegetables. Several foods to avoid when implementing Atkin's diet are sugar, trans-fat, grains, vegetable oils, self-proclaimed "diet" foods, high carb fruits and vegetables, starches and legumes. However, it is important to base the diet on meats, fatty fish and seafood, eggs, low carb vegetables, full-fat dairy milk, nuts and seeds and healthy fats usually sourced from butter, avocados and olive oil. You will lose weight only if your meals are rich in fatty protein source with vegetables or nuts and only healthy fats. Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy.




2.KETOGENIC DIET

Also known as keto diet, there are many health benefits implementing the ketogenic diet all while being a low-carb and a high fat diet. Ketogenic diet was first implemented in the 1920s as a cure to treat children suffering from epilepsy. The diet may even contain benefits to fight diseases like diabetes, cancer, epilepsy and Alzheimer. They also share many similar traits with the Atkins diet and other low-carb diets. Research has since then correlated the diet to weight loss.

Your main goal/focus should be to reduce carbs while increasing the fat and protein content of your meals and snacks. And carbs must be restricted, In order to reach and remain in a state of ketosis. While some might only achieve ketosis by eating less than 20 grams of carbs per day, others may have success with a much higher carb intake.

By substituting carbohydrates with fats, the diet drastically reduces carbohydrates which allows your body to go into a metabolic state known as ketosis. During the reduction of carbohydrates, your body burns fat for energy efficiently. Ketones are formed from fat in the liver, supplying energy for the brain. By undergoing Ketogenic diet, there will be a dip in blood sugar and insulin levels and along with an increase in ketones, has numerous health benefits. Following this diet practice is a proven effective way to losing weight and lowering the risk factors for disease. Studies recently showed that the ketogenic diet is far superior than the often recommended low-fat diet.

In a ketogenic diet, meals and snacks should be based around the following food: eggs, poultry, fatty fish, meat, full-fat dairy, full-fat cheese, avocados, nuts and seeds and also with non-starchy vegetables.

Between the keto diet and Atkins, the one key difference is the amount of protein you’re allowed to take in. There is no limit on Atkins, while while there is a limit of protein to about 20 percent of your daily calorie intake in the keto diet. Besides, keto centers around the body to be in ketosis the entire period of the diet.




3. VEGETARIAN DIET

A vegetarian diet gets the person to focus on plants for meals which includes fruits, vegetables, peas, grains, seeds, dried beans and nuts. There is not only a single type of vegetarian diet. For your information, there are various types of vegetarians like Lacto-vegetarian, fruitarian vegetarian, Lacto-ovo vegetarian, living food diet vegetarian, Ovo-vegetarian, Pesco-vegetarian, and Semi-vegetarian. However most "semi-vegetarians," are not accepted by vegetarian and vegan societies.

Vegetarians have to eat a vast variety of plant based foods to ensure nutritional requirements are met. They got to be careful in their diet choices as some of them may need to take supplements. Vegetarians are mostly Lacto-ovo vegetarians, they do not eat/consumer animal-based foods except for eggs, dairy, and honey.

Not only for health considerations, there are a range of reasons to be a vegetarian. It is ecologically sustainable to cook up vegetarian meals, and reduce the damage to the environment. There are many who quit consuming meat for ideological, ethical, or religious purposes but usually, the focus is on personal health.

Research over the last few years have proven that almost all vegetarians have lower body weight, less prone to diseases, and have a longer life span/expectancy than people who consume meat.