With the new treatments for weight loss, appetite can decrease significantly. Therefore, the diet during obesity treatment must then meet a new challenge: eating less often becomes easier, but feeding your body properly can paradoxically require more attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before continuing your reading, try to answer this question:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you had almost no hunger today, what would you eat to be sure to still give your body what it needs?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Imagine it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s noon. You could easily skip lunch. There\u2019s no hunger pangs or particular urge to eat. Yet you know your body needs to be fed. So, what do you choose?<\/p>\n\n\n\n A fruit? And among these choices, do you know which would provide you with enough protein? Fiber? Which foods would be most interesting if you could only eat a small amount of them? The answer is often much less obvious than one might think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For a long time, advice on weight loss has mostly been based on the same idea: reduce what we eat.<\/strong> Less calories. Smaller portions. Less fat. Less sugar. Reduce snacking. But new obesity treatments are fundamentally changing the question. When a treatment effectively reduces hunger and increases satiety, some people no longer need to be taught to eat less. They do it spontaneously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then you have to learn something else:<\/p>\n\n\n\n How can we properly feed a body that requires much less food?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is an important change of perspective. As quantities decrease, the nutritional quality of what we eat becomes even more important. We need to continue providing our bodies with what they need to preserve their muscles, energy, bones, intestinal function, and, more broadly, their health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, with modern treatments for obesity, the question is no longer just:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00abHow to eat less?\u00bb<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n She also becomes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00ab How do I make sure that what I eat actually nourishes my body?\u00bb<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And to answer this question, we sometimes have to relearn some basics that we thought we already knew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the previous article dedicated to physical activity<\/a>, I was explaining to you why it is important to work our muscles during weight loss. But a muscle that we want to keep must also be nourished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proteins contribute to maintaining muscle mass. When weight loss is significant and food intake decreases, their role in the diet becomes particularly important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, we sometimes overestimate the amount of protein contained in certain foods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peanut butter contains protein. So does hummus. Cream cheese, nuts, or certain plant products can also provide it. But in the portions usually consumed, some of these foods do not necessarily provide as much protein as we might imagine. I sometimes call these foods, together with my patients, the \u00abfake friends\u00bb of proteins<\/strong>. They are not bad foods. There is absolutely no need to eliminate them. They provide other nutrients and can perfectly be part of the diet. Simply, if you eat little, they should not be your sole source of protein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Greek yogurt rich in protein, eggs, fish, chicken, meat, cottage cheese, tofu, legumes or other protein-rich foods can help you get more of these nutrients in a sometimes rather small amount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The right amount obviously depends on each person: age, weight, health status, physical activity, kidney function, the importance of weight loss, and other medical conditions must be taken into account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The goal is therefore not to turn every patient into a gram-counting accountant; rather, it is to develop a new reflex:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00abSince I\u2019m eating less, where is my source of protein in this meal?\u00bb<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now imagine that your appetite allows you to eat only half of what you used to eat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your body does not need half of all the vitamins, minerals, proteins, fiber, or fluids it needed before. This is where one of the new challenges of nutrition during obesity treatment lies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the volume of food decreases significantly, every bite counts more.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This does not mean that every bite has to be \u00abperfect\u00bb. It simply means that it becomes interesting to regularly give space to foods that actually nourish you: proteins, vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, adapted dairy products or substitutes, nuts and seeds, oils and other sources of good fats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it\u2019s not necessary to cook for hours to get there.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Microwaved frozen vegetables remain nutritious vegetables that are easy to prepare and interesting for their fiber, vitamins, and minerals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A soup prepared for several days counts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eggs with a slice of whole-grain bread and some tomatoes can form a real meal rich in fiber, protein, and vitamins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Greek yogurt with fruit can be much more interesting than not eating anything when your appetite is very low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quality food doesn\u2019t need to be sophisticated to be effective.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Not necessarily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the benefits of these treatments is precisely to allow certain people to regain a sense of satiety that they had previously found difficult to achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It would be quite paradoxical to then learn to ignore that satiety and to finish their plate at all costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore, a balance must be found.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Respecting your satiety does not mean neglecting your nutritional needs.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You can eat smaller portions, take more time, prioritize the most nutritious foods in the meal and distribute your intake differently throughout the day. For some people whose appetite is particularly diminished, three small meals plus one or two snacks will be easier to tolerate than large meals. For others, the organization will be different. There is no one correct way to eat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nutritional therapy must adapt to the person, not the other way around.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When we eat less, we can also drink less without realizing it. Some obesity treatments also slow down the emptying of the stomach and can be accompanied by nausea, a feeling of fullness, or constipation. Hydration becomes particularly important then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once again, There\u2019s no need to turn the day into a competition for water bottles.<\/strong> The goal is simply to drinking regularly and being attentive<\/strong> Certain signs: dry mouth, very dark urine, dizziness, constipation or headaches can in particular be accompanied by insufficient hydration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fibres also have their place<\/strong>, However, they should be increased gradually and accompanied by adequate hydration. Fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains can contribute to both fiber intake and the overall quality of the diet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, there is something that nutritional tables measure poorly: The pleasure of eating<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Food is not just a combination of proteins, fibers, vitamins and minerals. We can add all kinds of flavors to it with spices and aromatic herbs, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also eat because it\u2019s good.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Because we share a meal.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes a recipe reminds us of someone.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The conviviality in the restaurant can be pleasant.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes we just want to treat ourselves to a dessert\u2026 or some ketchup chips!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And that is part of a Normal relationship with food<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Treatments for obesity can alter hunger, satiety, and sometimes even the interest in certain foods. However, their goal is not to transform eating into a permanent medical prescription.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A diet that supports health should be able to leave room for pleasure.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There is therefore no \u00abperfect\u00bb food on one side and no \u00abforbidden\u00bb food on the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eating better does not mean eating perfectly.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This means learning to make choices that take care of him most of the time, while continuing to live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Something particularly interesting also happens when hunger becomes less overwhelming. For some people, it is the first time in a long time that food takes up less space in their minds. This can become an opportunity to observe:<\/p>\n\n\n\n When do I actually feel hungry?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Which bite will satisfy me? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Which foods give me satisfaction?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Which ones are less well tolerated now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do I eat because my body craves energy, because something is in front of me, out of habit, for pleasure, because I am stressed or because I am trying to soothe something else<\/a> ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is not a matter of deciding that some of these reasons are good and others are bad. We are human beings. We will never eat only in response to a perfectly regulated biological signal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A yogurt?
A few walnuts?
A soup?
A slice of bread with peanut butter?
Two eggs?
A piece of cheese?
Or nothing at all, since you\u2019re not hungry?<\/p>\n\n\n\nAnd what if the challenge wasn\u2019t simply to eat less?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Let's start with proteins: do you really know where they are located?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
When every bite counts more<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
And if I\u2019m really not hungry, should I force myself to eat?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s not forget about water and fiber<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A smaller plate should not become a sad plate<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Taking advantage of this period to observe rather than to control<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n