| Here are 5 nutrition tips to help you lose weight | | | | frustratingly... alcohol! Cutting out all of these foods |
| quickly, safely, and without the risk of rebound | | | | would make life miserable, so set yourself some |
| weight gain... | | | | realistic nutrition goals. How about keeping your |
| 1) Forget fat... focus on your carbohydrate intake. | | | | alcohol intake to the weekend? Or only treat |
| So many dieters make the mistake of following a | | | | yourself to chocolate on a Sunday? Or cut down |
| rigidly low-fat diet, but don't realise that the | | | | to one bag of crisps a day instead of three! |
| underlying cause of their weight gain is eating too | | | | Whatever your goal, make it realistic, sustainable |
| much carbohydrate - usually in the form of | | | | and reward yourself for sticking at it! |
| chocolate, bread and alcohol. Sounds familiar | | | | 4) QUANTITY - watch your portion sizes. |
| doesn't it?! The real cause of weight gain is raised | | | | Portion control is an absolute must for keeping |
| levels of insulin - a hormone that promotes fat | | | | your blood sugar levels down, especially at dinner |
| storage and blocks the hormones that trigger fat | | | | time when there's less chance of it being burned |
| burning. Your Insulin levels rise the more you eat | | | | off. Low-fat spaghetti bolognese, reduced fat |
| carbohydrate, so the only way to achieve lower | | | | shepherd's pie, 10% fat sausages and mash... |
| insulin levels is to stop focusing on low-fat, | | | | mountains of pasta and potatoes are an insulin |
| fat-free, or 10% fat foods and start watching | | | | nightmare just waiting to happen! Take your |
| your carbohydrate intake. | | | | Friday night curry with rice, naan bread, a potato |
| 2) Be realistic about your carbohydrate intake. | | | | dish, a pudding and the usual booze... easily 2000 |
| As a rule, the more you reduce your | | | | calories of insulin surging carbohydrate in one meal! |
| carbohydrate intake the faster you'll lose weight, | | | | Be realistic and have the Friday night curry, but |
| even with a high fat diet. But before you reach | | | | get into the habit of having just two types of |
| for your Atkins cookbook try to keep in mind | | | | carbohydrate, not five! |
| that all very low-carb diets (a) ruin your social life, | | | | 5) TIMING - eat less and less as the day goes on. |
| and (b) always result in rebound weight gain. If | | | | You should breakfast like a king, lunch like a lord, |
| you've got a wedding or a holiday in a month then | | | | dine like a pauper. The ideal timing of |
| banishing carbohydrate is great for a quick fix, but | | | | carbohydrate intake is to have a high-carb |
| be prepared to see your weight fly back on... and | | | | breakfast, a moderate carb lunch, but a low-carb |
| more! If you're looking to lose weight long term | | | | dinner. Loading your carbohydrate intake before |
| then the only sustainable approach is to set goals | | | | 3pm is important because you need fuel in the |
| to improve the quality, quantity and timing of | | | | morning and daytime, but by 6pm it's like putting |
| your carbohydrate intake. | | | | petrol into a car that's already got a full tank. If |
| 3) QUALITY - eat less of the junk food. | | | | you get your carbohydrate balance right you |
| When you eat poor quality, refined carbohydrate | | | | should wake up feeling ravenous, your appetite |
| your blood gets flooded with sugar leading to | | | | should lessen as the day goes on and you should |
| huge insulin spikes and increased fat storage. The | | | | head to bed on an empty stomach - forcing your |
| worst offenders are sweets, crisps, biscuits, | | | | body to burn fat as you sleep. |
| chocolate, cakes, white bread/pasta/rice, and | | | | |