by Evonne Brown on May 29, 2010
Yay! Spring has well and truly sprung, we’re enjoying better weather and we have approximately half a dozen extra hours of light compared to the bleak mid winter.
So there’s no longer any excuse not to get more activity into the day. And the great thing is that – even for those who find exercise loathsome or difficult, most of us can walk just a little bit extra each day, without much extra effort, but with impressive results if sustained longer term. Walking can be done in most locations, you don’t need special clothing or equipment, and the best thing about it is that it’s free! (I’m an especially big fan of ‘free’).
Did you know that simply walking an extra mile a day and making no other changes to your lifestyle equates to a weight loss of 10 – 12 lbs over the course of a year (approximately a dress size, or thereabouts)?
Walking can be increased gradually by most people, irrespective of starter fitness levels. So now it’s time to set your goals to achieve the recommended 10,000 steps a day. If you have a sedentary job or lifestyle, you may need to seek out opportunities to accumulate your daily total of steps – for example, setting goals of walking all journeys which take less than 20 minutes to complete, taking stairs rather than lifts, parking further away from the supermarket/ office entrance, etc will make great inroads into achieving your daily target. To help keep yourself motivated it’s advisable to buy and routinely use the best pedometer you can afford (Roche manufacture some good ones) to keep a tally of your progress. After just a few weeks, the walking habit will become just that – a habit, so you probably will no longer need a pedometer for motivational support. (Just be aware that pedometers can be sensitive to all bodily movement, not just purposeful exercise, so it’s best to take the pedometers off when you are sitting down and attach them to your belt or waistband only when standing. Otherwise you might think you’ve walked half a mile whilst watching East Enders when in fact you’ve only exercised your remote control thumb!)
To ensure you will stick with your goals, you might also want to go public, talk about your exercise aims and get sponsored by friends and associates – with funds going to good causes. Making a public commitment is far more motivating than relying on willpower alone. (I’ve found that capping contributions at £1 per person helps to prevent “compassion fatigue” and also attracts a greater number of sponsors, so the selected charity still gets a reasonable sum from my long walks – and I feel good too: a ‘win-win’ outcome!).
by Evonne Brown on May 20, 2010
Many seasoned dieters are under the impression that eating between meals or snacking is a “no-no” for successful weight loss. In fact snacking can be a valuable strategy for both weight loss and weight management. Of course, it goes without saying, the snacks need to be of the healthy nutritious variety not the “Greasy Spoon” takeaway version.
Why snack? A typical British way of eating can subject us to highly fluctuating blood sugar levels. For example, a ‘simple carbohydrate’ breakfast of white bread toast and jam and juice would release the starch and sugar content rapidly energy into the bloodstream resulting in increased blood sugar. The pancreas then releases insulin to remove this sugar spike, resulting in low blood sugar. Low blood sugar makes us feel like an energy boost is needed so at this point many people reach for the mid-morning coffee and biscuit, muffin, etc. This pattern sets up fluctuating blood sugar problems, often continuing throughout the day.
Deciding to eat regular small healthy protein or complex carbohydrate snacks – a handful of whole nuts, a small bowl of porridge, a medium apple, a handful of strawberries, a small dish of vegetable crudités, etc releases energy in the form of sugar and starch gradually into the bloodstream. This effect avoids the trigger of insulin therefore, there are no subsequent sugar lows (and the accompanying carbohydrate cravings). And the good news is that healthy foods contain many of the same mood-elevating chemicals as other foods.
However, if electing to go for the “little and often” style of eating to keep the body sustained and energised throughout the day, weight conscious individuals need to be mindful of the amounts they eat, both as snacks and, especially, at mealtimes: all meals and snacks, however healthy, have a calorie content, and main meals need to be reduced in portion size to allow for the calories consumed from snacking (in practice, this is not so hard, given that regular small snacks reduce the hunger levels normally experienced prior to the timing of main meals). Think “starter” portion size rather than “main” meal portion size. There’s no getting around the simple truth that if you want to be light, you have to eat light… but you don’t need to be hungry.
by Evonne Brown on April 14, 2010
Unfortunately, carbohydrates and fats tend to get a bad press and many dieters think, mistakenly, that they should be avoided for successful weight loss. Because fats contain more than twice the number of calories per gram (9 calories) than either carbohydrates or proteins (approximately 4 calories per gram), fats – in particular – are routinely targeted and omitted by dieters in an attempt to lose weight quickly. (Some doctors also prescribe weight loss drugs are used as fat blockers – with very unpleasant and antisocial consequences for the users).
In fact, both of these food groups are essential for healthy bodies. A major role of carbohydrates in the body is to provide energy. Fat is also a source of energy and helps in the absorption of certain vitamins. Essential fatty acids (so called because they are essential for the body but are not manufactured by the body so have to be ingested in food) are necessary for good brain function, joint lubrication, as an aid to prevent heart disease, etc.
The confusion over whether carbohydrates and fat are good or bad lies in the fact dieters tend to think of processed starchy foods (for example, cakes and biscuits) and poor quality fats (such as cheap meat products, non-dairy ice-cream and hydrogenised fatty foods) when referring to these ‘forbidden’ food groups. In fact, most vegetables and fruit contain carbohydrate, as do whole foods such as whole grain cereals, brown rice, whole wheat bread, etc which release their energy slowly into the blood stream. Such food help to sustain energy for longer, supporting dieters to feel satiated and to avoid “snack attacks” (which often result from low energy or blood sugar levels).
Essential fats, such as the omega 3, 6 and 9 fats, are found in seeds, nuts such as almonds, walnuts and brazil nuts, and in oily fish, such as mackerel (omega 3). Whilst they only need to be eaten relatively sparingly, they should form part of any healthy diet. There is some evidence that Omega 3 fats help regulate the body blood-sugar levels by increasing insulin sensitivity and that they assist with weight reduction. Studies have found that Omega 3 fats help keep hunger at bay and also help reduce the risk of diabetes and obesity. For further study see the The British Journal of Nutrition extract on Patrick Holford’s July 09 blog www.patrickholford.com.
by Evonne Brown on March 31, 2010
Many people who struggle with their weight have a distorted view of their daily food intake, frequently underestimating the total calorie intake of their food.
This happens in several ways:
- Many foods which are calorie laden come in small portions or, individually, weigh very little on the scales; dieters often think that these foods, frequently eaten as snacks rather than meals, don’t impact much on their daily calorie allowance. In fact many such snacks contain significantly more calories than their main meals (‘culprit’ foods include dense oat based bars frequently marketed as healthy snack options, croissants and bagels, nuts – whether healthy varieties such as almonds or unhealthy ones such as peanuts, olives, and low-fat fruit yoghurts and natural fruit juices made from concentrate – both very high in sugar).
- Some dieters make the mistake of comparing themselves to their slim friends or colleagues and mistakenly think that – if their colleague can eat a bar of chocolate at break, or burger and chips for lunch and stay slim, they should also be able to. It’s futile to use anyone else as a benchmark for your food intake. You simply don’t know if that person regularly eats calorific foods or if – in fact – they sometimes skip meals, or are more active, or compensate in some other way. And, of course, that person may naturally have a higher metabolic rate and burn off more calories than the average person even whilst sleeping! The only person that a dieter should be interested in or use as a benchmark, from a dietary perspective, is themselves!
- Some people find their weight creeping on as they get older, even though their daily diet hasn’t altered much since their slim youth, or they may be eating even less than they used to and still find that they are gaining weight. What many people fail to take into account is that their metabolic rate (the rate at which the body burns calories) slows year on year once they reach their late 30s to early 40s, therefore eating the same diet as when they were young adults simply will not continue to produce the same (slim) result. Secondly, most adults have less active lives in middle age than when they were in their 20s (late night clubbing and partying tends gives to give way to a preference for more sedate evenings; running around after toddlers tends to be replaced by chauffeuring teenagers; job promotions and commitments tend towards increased responsibility with longer, often sedentary, working hours and stress). Thirdly, increasing disposable income which happens typically as we reach middle age and are more settled in our lives often results in a higher or more regular consumption of alcohol – which goes hand in hand with the need to relax after a stressful day, or is an intrinsic part of socialising with friends – not only is the alcohol calorific but the finger food snacks that usually accompany it are calorific and it lessens our resolve to stick within the dietary limits we have set ourselves.
- Over time, food manufacturers and distributers have tended to increase “portion” or unit sizes or encouraged buyers to buy and eat more with promotional “3 for the price of 2, buy one get one free” style offers on processed foods. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has reported that portion sizes have increased dramatically for some staple foods over the last 2 decades. For example, a medium slice of white bread weighed 30g in 1990; today it weighs 40g. Assuming we eat an average of 2 slices a day that’s an extra 329 calories a week – which would add 5 lbs to our weight over the course of a year, without our consciously doing anything different. A typical beef lasagne ready meal weighted around 250g. Today, it can weigh from 320g to 500g – doubling the size can double the calories.
- The availability and consumption of luxury or premium products has exploded over the last 2 decades and these, typically, come in bigger portion or sizes. So, whilst a traditional cookie from a packet weighs just 12g, a luxury cookie can weigh 110g with 10 times a s many calories. Cup sizes for up market coffee shop high street chains and wine glass sizes in many bars have more than doubled in size compared to ‘conventional’ cup and glass measures over the same period.
- Finally, in the interests of “fairness” or simply out of habit, women often serve out the same size portion for family members, forgetting that women need 500 fewer calories a day than men, and significantly less than teenagers who are going through a growth spurt.
To help avoid “supersizing” your dietary intake, the following tips are recommended:
- If you are using large crockery or glasses, replace them with smaller plates, bowls, cups, etc. You’ll naturally eat less without feeling as if you are short-changing yourself.
- Avoid buying special promotional offers on processed foods which you enjoy (biscuits, chocolate etc). You won’t save any money – you’ll just eat more. (And then the effort of losing the weight gained will cost you dear in money, time, self-esteem, etc.)
- Always transfer food onto a small plate or into a small bowl (i.e. don’t eat out of a packet, tub, tin, etc.). That way, you won’t accidentally eat more than you intended.
- Serve up low calorie foods onto the plate first – salad, green vegetables – so that it already looks plentiful before you add anything extra.
- Always use an accurate measure (spoon, cup, etc) – don’t “guesstimate” a measure of food, especially if it is oil or hard fat (fat contains more than twice the calories of protein or carbohydrate).
- Women’s servings should be approximately ¼ less than those served to men.
by Evonne Brown on March 31, 2010
PART ONE
There’s a few little words which I always ask clients to look out for and, ideally, to erase from their vocabulary. This is because these seemingly innocuous words are so frequently used by dieters to beat themselves up with the end result that they give up on themselves.
The first word to work on is: “can’t”
– this word is often used in the context of “I can’t lose weight”, “I can’t say no”, “I can’t stop eating”, “I can’t stick to a diet”, “I can’t offend the host” etc.
The word “can’t” makes the statement become self-fulfilling and removes the ability to focus on what the client really wants. It places the focus entirely on the food being passed up. And the food becomes even more desirable as a result of being withdrawn. I ask clients to replace this word with choose or choice, as this more accurately reflects the reality of the situation. “Can’t” feels oppressive and restricted. “Choice” feels empowering.
Saying “I can’t have any cake, I’m on a diet” (it’s not fair, boo hoo!) feels like deprivation; restating this comment with “I’m opting not to have any cake because I’m choosing to be a weight I’m happy with” feels positive. The focus is now on the desired outcome – the payoff for making the healthy choice.
Too many “I can’ts” is likely to result in a person eventually throwing the towel in and maybe “pigging out” because they’ve made themselves feel very negative, deprived and hostile; selecting the phrase “I choose to” is an accurate statement about the reality of the situation and produces positive emotions, vital for maintaining motivation.
by Evonne Brown on March 31, 2010
Celebration periods and holidays can often be the death knell of successful weight loss or – at least – throw us seriously off course. But it doesn’t have to be like this. Rather than resigning yourself to a chocolate fest over the forthcoming Easter period “because it’s traditional”, why not consider all of the non-edible treats you could opt for instead. If someone you know is in the habit of buying you a ‘special’ or luxury Easter Egg, why not ask them to put a £5 max spend on the egg and buy a bunch of Spring flowers with the change, or skip the eggs entirely and opt for a spa treatment gift voucher. Imposing a ceiling on the chocolate expenditure means that you’re likely to receive a hollow egg, bunny or whatever. These are still yummy and still feel indulgent but are far less calorific than their £10 chocolate filled counterparts.
Make sure you communicate your eating requirements clearly to friends and family in advance to avoid uncomfortable situations or surprises (this includes getting the children to ensure they don’t leave half eaten chocolate eggs within temptations way).
It is very important that you associate with positive and supportive people, or your life will get difficult and you may end up feeling like you have to avoid social situations or giving up on your weight loss goals – neither of which is ideal. With Easter marking the start of new beginnings it may be a good time to review who you associate with and elect to spend more time with people who are successful and who can help motivate you to achieve your goals. With the start of the longer daylight hours you could also use the Easter break to start getting out more in the fresh air, walking more, exploring more, and generally being more active.
If the holiday period is filled with social events there is no need to stray. Aim to eat normally at breakfast, and through the first half of the day, and if you’ve got a celebratory style lunch or dinner to look forward to, eat light for the rest of the day. Sticking as close as possible to your normal dietary routine gives you every chance of getting through the holidays unscathed. Remember that Easter is traditionally celebrated over the course of one day not one week!
