Weight Loss Tips
- Eat between meals to lose weight? Yes, it really does work. Eating healthy snacks of fruit, seeds and nuts between meals can keep your metabolic rate working which helps burn fat faster.
- Control your salt intake (aim for less than 6g a day) as too much can upset your body chemistry and lead to imbalances between minerals. It also contributes to fluid retention and cellulite. If you have a preference for salty or sugary foods, or a poor sense of taste and smell, you could be suffering from a zinc deficiency.
- Eat fruit and drink fruit juices separately from other food as you'll absorb the maximum nourishment and you'll digest them more efficiently.
- A piece of fat weighing the same as a piece of carbohydrate provides twice as many calories.
- If it's green, it's good. Eat plenty of spinach, broccoli, sprouts and green beans but limit starchy vegetables such as potatoes as the body converts starch to glucose which can raise blood sugar.
- Did you know that the kiwi fruit contains twice as much Vitamin C as an orange? Try eating it as a snack instead of sweets. Just cut the top off (like a boiled egg) and eat it with a spoon.
- Drink more water – at least 8 large glasses a day. Pure water is best but herbal teas are also good. Water helps eliminate toxins and reduces bloating. It also makes you feel full.
- Cut down on sugar which is just empty calories. Avoid processed foods containing glucose, sucrose, dextrose, or maltose – all mean sugar.
- Soya products provide a high protein, low fat alternative to red meat.
- Eat protein to switch off hunger signals.
- Eat five portions a day of fruit and vegetables which can be eaten raw, steamed, stir-fried, stewed, made into soups or salads. Mineral and vitamin rich, they'll help prevent dozens of diseases and fill you up without fattening you up.
- Eat the right kind of carbohydrates – low glycaemic index foods such as oats, rye bread and fruit which release glucose into the blood slowly.
- Reduce your coffee intake as caffeine causes blood sugar to rise then crash and you end up reaching for something sweet. If you must have something sweet, try Stevia, available from most health-food stores. It's a natural plant product from South America which has been used safely for years.
- Don't miss out on breakfast – it's the most important meal of the day and wakes up your metabolism. Just some fresh fruit with muesli or yogurt is enough to break the fast and stoke up the fat burning fire.
- Don't get obsessed with counting calories or skipping meals as the body will think it's starving and conserve energy in the form of stored fat for fuel.
- Stop focusing on how much weight you have to lose and begin to think positively about being slim. Concentrate on how you want to look and take trouble over parts of your body that you can improve quickly – pamper your hair, your skin and your nails and you'll soon find your self-esteem returns. A positive mental attitude is a powerful weapon.
- If you eat too much fat you will get fat. It's that simple. But there are different types of fat and some, such as essential fatty acids, are positively beneficial. Cut down on saturated fats food in animal products and particularly avoid fats known as ‘partially hydrogenated' fats. Mostly found in snack foods such as crisps, biscuits, cakes and some ‘low-fat' prepared meals.
- If you know that you have a big appetite, try the simple trick of using smaller plates – sounds daft, does work.
- Don't go to the supermarket when you're hungry as you'll stock up on snacks and always take a list.
- Don't yo-yo diet as regular losses and gains of weight cause overall redistribution of fat around the body. Over time, fat is removed from the upper body and deposited on to the lower body, resulting in cellulite.
- Try to cut down on fat as the more fat we eat, the more the body craves it. Food manufacturers are wise to this and almost all processed foods are crammed with fat to give ‘mouth feel'. The good news is that the less fat we eat, the less we want it.
