Lose weight the easy way…

I am continually amazed that  this kind of advertising is still successful: Lose 5 kilos in just a week!: Lose weight the easy way!: etc, etc… in all the years of trying many different diets, all I lost was my faith in diets (and the advertising industry). Take it from me, there is no easy way to lose weight.

Many fad diets do, indeed, work… if you very strictly adhere to the specified foods, pills and potions they call for. But this involves such a major change in eating habits that you won’t stay on such a diet for very long before becoming bored, disillusioned and irritable, or feeling deprived and hungry – often long before you have lost any significant amount of weight. The restricted foods and portion sizes are so radically different from what might be considered ‘normal eating’ that you can’t wait to ‘finish’ the diet! And once off the diet, of course, you quickly return to your old style of eating – which is what made you overweight in the first place.

‘Going on a diet’ always presupposes that, at some stage, you will come ‘off’ the diet. If you are serious about losing weight, and keeping it off for good, don’t go on a diet; rather consider your overall health and make some lifestyle changes. This means changing the way you eat, certainly, but, as I’ve said before, you can make small changes, gradually.

Starting today, make sure you eat regularly, starting with breakfast. If you are really in a rush in the morning, with no time to eat, take a couple of pieces of fruit to work with you; a hardboiled egg, some cheese and crackers or a small tub of yoghurt. Whatever you choose, eat it before 10:00am.

Lunch can be difficult when you’re working away from home. Pack your own healthy lunch at least twice a week, rather than sending out for fatty, salty take-aways. This is not only beneficial to your weight and general health, but it costs far less too.

Dinners are easy… use the recipes I post here. They are all low fat, low salt, high fibre, healthy recipes using fairly standard ingredients. They are simple to prepare and most of them don’t take more than half an hour to make. My daily recipe posts are meals that I have prepared myself with the intention of staying healthy and maintaining my weight loss.

It took me a year to lose 18kg – quite a bit slower than I would have liked - but I have not regained any weight in the last twelve monrhs. And the way I eat now has become such a habit that I’m sure the weight I’ve lost is gone forever.

(C)Leaning up

Having de-cluttered the kitchen, we now need to check whether the foods we store and prepare in there are healthy. To develop healthy eating habits we need to eliminate any potential foody pitfalls, so:

Throw out: white rice and pasta, refined flour products (bread, English muffins, crumpets, bagels); thick dressings and cook-in sauces; high salt stock powders and high sugar cereals. And while we’re at it, ditch anything containing caffeine – caffeine slows down the metabolism.
Replace with: whole grain pasta and brown rice, whole grain flour products; oil-free or low-fat dressings; make your own ‘cook-in’ sauces with healthy fresh vegetables; buy rolled oats, bran flakes, low-fat low-sugar muesli, raw unsalted nuts and dried fruit.

We can only succumb to temptation if temptation is there! Stop buying sweets, chocolate, cakes and salty snacks; nibble on fresh fruit or a small handful of dried fruit, or crudités with fat free cottage cheese instead. Don’t buy ice-cream, buy frozen (fat-free) yoghurt – or make your own. I have to be honest and admit that I do still buy and eat chocolate on a regular basis, but I only buy dark chocolate – preferably with almonds – and I limit myself to two little squares as an after dinner treat. If you know something is just too tempting, delicious and irresistible, don’t have it in the house. There is absolutely no harm for the rest of the family to adopt these habits, too. Learning good eating habits now will stand them in good stead for a healthier life.

Cutting down on salt doesn’t mean that our meals should be bland and tasteless – stock up on lots of herbs and spices. ‘Must haves’ are: fresh chopped (and you can freeze these for easy use) mint, parsley, coriander, ginger; fresh grated lemon zest and juice; dried thyme, dill, oregano, and rosemary; ground cumin, coriander, cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, paprika and cayenne pepper; chillies – dried or fresh or frozen, or in a paste; one or two good quality curry pastes of differing ‘heats’. All these not only add flavour but have nutritional and medicinal value, too.

Start collecting low-fat, low-salt quick and easy recipes – or try out the recipes I post here. Dig out your old recipe books and put them in clear view so that you use them! Recipes are easily modified to reduce the salt and fats – use herbs and spices and a no-fat cooking spray, fat free yoghurt or cottage cheese as replacements.

No matter how motivated you are to eat healthily, if you don’t have healthy foods and snacks available you are setting yourself up to fail. We need to continually review and modify our eating and shopping habits.

A thought provoking question

Do you sometimes berate yourself? Call yourself fat / ugly / a pig / useless? This serves no useful purpose. It certainly won't boost your self confidence!

A friend of mine sent me an e-mail the other day. It was a list of thought provoking questions. The question that caught my attention was:

“If you had a friend who spoke to you the way you sometimes speak to yourself, how long would you stay friends?”

We all of us have our failings and weaknesses, especially when it comes to changing our eating habits and leading a healthier lifestyle. It can be difficult to keep on making those incremental changes and sticking with them, though it’s not impossible. We all have slip-ups and indulge in unwise food choices or overly large portions occasionally; but when we do, we can and should forgive ourselves.

Be kind to yourself. Don’t let mistakes disempower you, learn from them and move on.

You can find more questions at http://thoughtquestions.com/

A reader has pointed out that I have misquoted the original question. It should read:
"If you had a friend who spoke to you the way you sometimes speak to yourself, how long would you allow that person to be your friend?"
My apologies for misquoting.  17/09/10 5:55PM

Time for a change...

There are thousands of diet plans, books, pills, shakes and regimens available, but most of these are detrimental to health (and finances!) in the long-term. Yes, you may lose weight, but once the pills are all gone or your 14 day detox plan is over, you will more than likely revert to old eating habits – and these are what got you overweight and unhealthy in the first place! Do you actually need to lose weight? Do you know what your healthy weight-range is, based on gender, age and activity levels?

Weight loss is difficult to achieve, and even more difficult to maintain, if it is not undertaken as an adaptation to a healthier lifestyle – and even then it can be difficult. But not impossible – it just takes attention and application.

Maybe it’s not weight loss you’re after, rather a healthier way of eating. A healthy lifestyle will promote weight loss where necessary, and eventually maintain weight at your optimal level. You’ll not only look better, but feel better too. And have more energy. But you have to be realistic. Understand and appreciate that changes need to be made, and it will be easier to accommodate such changes if you make them one at a time. Once one change has become automatic, then it’s time to make another, and so on. Who are you doing this for and what is your rationale? You need to want to do this for you, no-one else. It takes a lot of persistence to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get back on track when you slip up (we all slip up occasionally). But the effort is very rewarding.

Here are some changes you can implement right now, from today – without disrupting your life too much:

• Switch to buying low-fat or fat-free dairy products.
• Eat breakfast. (Scroll down to see Monday’s post)
• Eat smaller portions – especially red meats, starches and full fat dairy products.
• Eat more vegetables and fruit.
• Eat your vegetables first – they will fill you up so that you don’t want so much starch and protein.
• Eat more slowly - chew your food well.
• Eat only when you are hungry – sometimes we mistake thirst for hunger, try a glass of water first.

Those will keep you busy for a while.

Nature and nurture

Did you ever think, when you looked at a newborn baby, that (s)he is already everything (s)he will ever be? (S)he is. So is that teenager. So is that good looking guy in the next office. So is your grandmother. All of these people have potential, and it's all down to genes.

Our genes (nature) come from our biological parents - half from mum, and half from dad (and each of them got their genes half from mum and half from dad, and each of them etc. etc.). Genes dictate race, hair and eye colour, gender and blood type. But, beyond that, genes provide us with potential in every area - physical, mental and emotional. And it is nurture that feeds and allows that potential to develop. (This is my personal opinion and you are welcome to disagree - many people do!)

Nurture is usually regarded as the effect of family upbringing, but it goes way beyond family influence. We develop, mature, change, grow and evolve throughout our lives - physically, mentally and emotionally - because we are exposed to new environments, stresses and experiences on an almost daily basis.

Family upbringing - I'm using the term 'family' rather broadly here - has the greatest and most lasting impact on our eating habits, and therefore on our physical health. Children grow taller now than in previous generations because food is more readily available. Children (and adults) grow fatter now than in previous generations because portion sizes have increased way beyond what the body actually requires. We grow fatter and lazier because there is so much processed food available.

Isn't it time we got back to nature and nurtured ourselves, and our children, with healthy portions of fresh nourishing foods? Eating habits are formed at a very early age, but they can be changed. Change yours now. And help your children learn and enjoy the benefits of healthy eating.

Vary the veg

Having turned off the TV during dinner, and enjoyed some quality conversation with you spouse/partner and/or family instead, it's time to introduce more vegetables.

If you have been looking at (better still, using) my recipes, you will have noticed that all of them have at least three vegetables in them or with them; if there is a shortage of veg on the plate, then I always suggest a salad. You don't have to serve the vegetables I recommend - you can substitute your own favourites - but I do try to include a variety that is seasonal, relatively inexpensive and colourful. A colourful plate is a healthy plate. A variety of colours indicates a variety of vitamins and minerals. But leave out the veg you or the family really don't care for; just be sure to substitute something else. I personally don't care for pumpkin (except in pumpkin pie, when it is wonderful) - I find it watery, stringy and bordering on tasteless. But I really enjoy butternut squash which has real substance, form, colour and flavour. And butternuts come in usable, storable sizes, which is always a plus in my book, unlike pumpkins.

If I use something unfamiliar to you, do try it. You might enjoy it. I bought ochra a little while ago (I'm not sure if I've posted those recipes yet), something I've never tried before. They were alright. Interesting. A little bit different. I don't know that I would rush to buy them again - but at least I gave them a chance.

Buy a different vegetable this week - something you haven't served in a while, or ever. You might be pleasantly surprised.