Diet Foods - The Pick Of The Bunch

Also: Best Diet Food Tips, Best Diet Food Vitamins

When it comes to diet foods, there is a lot of personal taste and opinion that comes into the picture. What is a favourite diet food for one person is a no go area for another. A food that can be an important part of a weight loss diet for one dieter may not fit in to the diet of another dieter. Plus, it is not just personal opinions that come into play, but medical and scientific opinions too.

However, those apparent conflicts do not prevent me from trying to draw from a consensus, or as near as you can get to a consensus when it comes to diet and weight loss. I have done just that to bring you a list of top five diet foods that may well help you to both stay healthy and lose weight. here are those top 5 diet foods. please also see our health food website.

Diet Food 1 - Olive Oil

Despite the anti-fat campaigns of recent decades, your body does need some fat to process vitamins and use them properly. My favourite oil, olive oil, is a mono-unsaturated fat that is the primary source of fat in the so-called Mediterranean diet. Olive oil contains antioxidants, flavonoids, beta-carotene and vitamin E, among other things. One tablespoon of olive oil has 125 calories, which is high, but drizzled on a 13 calorie spinach salad with a little lemon juice and some garlic, you still have a meal with less than 150 calories - plus a lot of healthy fuel for your body.

Olive oil has all sorts of culinary uses, but to get the most enjoyment out of olive oil, try to select the most appropriate oil for the dish you are preparing. Some olive oils are good for salad dressing, but not for cooking; another may be good for high heat frying while a sister olive oil will be ruined at the same temperature. So, you may need to keep more than one variety of olive oil in the kitchen. But try to make sure it is always an Extra Virgin Olive Oil; these are the highest quality, but also the most expensive. However, I believe the higher cost of Extra Virgin Olive Oil is worth it.

Diet Food 2. Whole grain breads

You are probably aware of the recent popularity of low carbohydrate diets, but most doctors seem to agree that you do need a healthy portion of carbohydrates each day, something like 50-60% of your calorie intake. So, instead of cutting out carbohydrates, you should be aiming to keeping them to a sensible proportion of your diet.

What that means in practice, if you are on a daily diet of 1500 calories, you should be aiming to get about 900 calories a day from grains, fruits and vegetables. Whole grain breads contain a lot of nutritional value, and give you far more benefit than white bread, in terms of vitamins, amino acids and roughage, all things your body needs. So too do oatmeal or whole grain cereal, but watch out for added sugar.

An added benefit with these wholemeal foods is that you will feel full far longer, too, because you will be giving your body something to work on that will take a while to digest. One note of caution, though. Wheat is a common allergen, and many people are allergic or intolerant of wheat. If you have not had wholemeal for a long time, introduce it slowly and watch for any reaction. Before I started working at home many years ago, I used to take sandwiches every day to eat at my office desk lunch time. I switched to brown wholemeal bread. It was only some months later I realised that I was feeling drowsy every afternoon because of an overload of wheat. Now, if I have wholemeal bread, it is in modest amounts.

Diet Food 3 - Fish

Many major medical associations say you should eat at least three servings of fish per week, even more. Fish is low in fat, as high in protein as red meat, and provides something that most other proteins don't - omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 3 is one of the main building blocks in your cells. If your body doesn't get enough Omega 3, it will try to build cells from other fatty acids. The problem is that those cells are not as flexible, and not quite the right shape. Among the cells that aren't quite right are the ones in your brain that help control impulses and tell your body what it needs. By providing enough Omega 3 for your body to use, you'll be healing the damage done through years of poor diet. And since fish, as a general rule, has fewer calories than most meats, you'll be saving calories, too. Just remember that you are replacing portions of meat with fish, not adding fish to what you already eat.

Another word of caution here. Fish from polluted seas can be a source of harmful pollutants, so if you buy fresh fish, enquire of its source and keep your eyes out for reports of fish with high pollutant content. The most likely problem areas are close to urban industrial centres.

Diet Food 4 - Spinach

Popeye was no diet slouch! Spinach, at 13 calories and 2 grams of carbohydrate in 2 cups of chopped raw spinach, is one of the lowest cost sources of nutrition you can give your body. Every serving gives you folic acid, manganese, beta-carotene, protein, lutein (a potent anti-oxidant), magnesium, vitamin C and vitamin K. You can eat it raw in salads, steamed as a side dish, or sautéed in a tiny bit of oil for a different taste, and still get all the nutritional benefits.

Diet Food 5 - Pink Grapefruit

With only 40 calories in half a grapefruit, you're getting 45 mg of vitamin C, lycopene, pectin, beta-carotene and potassium. Pink grapefruit is versatile and tasty. Eat it as is for breakfast, or toss it into a salad with spinach for an extra punch to perk up the nutritional quality of your diet.

It is important not to base your diet around any single ingredient. The best way to lose weight is to eat a variety of healthy foods, to ensure that you get all the essential nutrients you need each day.