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