'Keep it really simple!' Obesity doctor names types of food to limit on a weight loss journey

Dr Sasha High (known as @sashahighmd on TikTok) advised slimmers that strategies such as keto and low-carb diets, or counting macros, are overly complex.

Instead, those on a weight loss journey should "keep it really simple" by prioritising whole foods over refined carbs, refined sugars and trans fats.

Dr High referenced an article entitled Obesity Pathogenesis: An Endocrine Society Scientific Statement, published in the National Library of Medicine.

This maintained that dietary composition "does not play a clinically significant causal role unless they promote increased calorie intake".

This means that "a calorie is a calorie" - whether you're doing a low-carb or low-fat diet, "it's all going to be the same anyway".

What matters is how your food choices affect your hunger levels and cravings.

Dr High explained: "That's the key piece for me because different diets are going to cause you to have more hunger and wanting than others."

Indeed, she told slimmers that some foods increase the "hunger drive and the dopamine response within your limbic system, which is that pleasure drive for food".

The expert warned that "hyper-palatable" foods are typically filled with refined carbohydrates and sugars, as well as trans fats.

"They are produced by the food industry to hijack our brains and cause increased energy intake," she stated. "We eat more, we buy more - that's what it's all about."

So, a slimmer's best bet is to limit their intake of these and go for whole foods such as protein, healthy fats and vegetables instead, as these do not trigger your "pleasure drive".

Refined foods, as defined by Holland & Barrett, "have had some processing done to them and often have nutrients and fibre removed".

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As for trans fats, the experts explained that these are "the worst type of dietary fat". They warned: "It really does pay to read the labels carefully when it comes to trans fats. If the label says 'partially hydrogenated oils', it's a sign a product contains trans fats."

The World Health Organisation stated: "Industrially produced trans fat can be found in margarine, vegetable shortening, Vanaspati ghee, fried foods and baked goods such as crackers, biscuits and pies.

"Baked and fried street and restaurant foods often contain industrially produced trans fat. Trans fat can also be found naturally in meat and dairy foods from ruminant animals (e.g. cows, sheep and goats). Both industrially produced and naturally occurring trans fats are equally harmful."

In contrast, whole foods "come from the ground, a tree or an animal" and are not "boxed and bagged", Dr High explained.