We have all the information at our fingertips. We have access to good quality food, and  fitness training opportunities abound: From fun dancing classes, to social sporting groups, to gyms filled with modern toy-like equipment. And yet, collectively, the modern world seems to find it almost impossible to lose weight and keep it off. What’s going wrong?

Weight tends to creep on gradually, a kilo here and a kilo there, almost imperceptibly, until, shockingly, you have to buy larger clothes. You know that a crash diet may work, but those kilos will bounce back on when you return to ‘normal’ eating. Here are some reasons you may have gained weight:

• You became malnourished in the vitamins and minerals that help your body create muscle rather than fat. Your body’s ability to build muscle relies on the presence of protein and important minerals that are often lacking in a modern diet full of processed food. Without these substances, your body creates fat instead of muscle.
• You stopped moving: Perhaps you gave up that regular team sport because of an injury, but never got back to it, or didn’t replace it with another sport. Regular exercise boosts your metabolic rate and promotes the formation of muscle (which will burn energy 24 hours a day).  Your muscle turned to fat, which expends no energy at all to be stored. Goodbye toned shape. Hello flab.
• Your portion sizes increased: Perhaps you purchased a new dinner set with larger plates, and your  dinner enlarged as well.
• You began eating mindlessly, because you’re busier. Eating on the run while driving, watching TV, checking emails? It’s hard to hear your stomach shouting “enough - I’m full” when your mind is occupied elsewhere. 
• You stopped planning ahead for meals, because you’re tired. So you opt for the ‘quick & easy’ instant or take-away meal instead of a home cooked meal. Preparing healthy food does take time. Somehow, the easy meals appear on the table more often, and your waistline is showing the effects of all that extra fat and sugar.
• You embarked on several crash diets without extra exercise, then returned to ‘normal’ eating, and the kilos returned. With each round of dieting it seems to be harder to lose the weight. It is. You’ve lost a little more muscle with each diet (without exercise, you will lose muscle rather than fat when you withhold calories), and your metabolism is now in ‘starvation’ mode, rigorously sparing every possible calorie in case you ‘starve’ again. Increase your exercise first, then reduce your food intake.
• You’ve aged, or you’re stressed, so your endocrine system needs support to create metabolism-boosting hormones. Stress and aging seem to promote fat deposits particularly on the abdomen. You may need professional help to address this.

Recognise yourself in any of these? If so, try ‘undoing’ what has been done for more effective, long term weight management.

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Ever wondered how those packaged weight loss meal replacements work? You may have several friends who have used them to successfully lose weight, but feel concerned about doing the same, because your friends now can’t return to ‘normal’ eating for fear of putting the weight back on. Or they have disrupted bowel motions, a frequent ‘side effect’ of whey protein-based meal replacements.  I’m going to let you in on the ‘secret’ behind the effectiveness of this style of diet, and show you how to achieve the same result using real food.

ITS ALL ABOUT PROTEIN

It’s all about the balance in your diet between protein and carbohydrate intake. Most people, if they eat breakfast, eat a meal rich in carbohydrates and sugar; like cereal, with little or no protein.  This is digested quickly by your body, leaving you hungry by late morning. Lunch is often carbohydrate-based too (like a sandwich), and the only meal of the day rich in protein is dinner – meat & veg.

When I complete computer analysis of food diaries for weight loss clients, their intake of protein versus carbohydrate is often way out of balance. It’s this balance that the meal replacement shakes address. They replace your carbohydrate-rich breakfast with a shake that is almost completely protein.  Instantly, you have immensely improved your carbohydrate to protein ratio.

Protein has a different effect on your digestion and your metabolism. It’s a tough molecule, so it takes longer to digest (so it’s longer before you feel hungry again). The digested protein is more likely to be used for muscle development and tissue repair; unlike carbohydrates, which are more likely to be shunted to fat deposits when they’re eaten in excess of your immediate energy needs.

HOW YOU CAN DO THE SAME (WITHOUT THE EXPENSE)

You can have a positive effect on your weight loss by using the same techniques as the commercial meal replacements, but without the expense, and using real food. Switch to a protein-based breakfast, with just a little carbohydrate for energy. An omelette with steamed sweet potato is ideal; or savoury mince on toast. At lunch, include more high quality protein (like fish or chicken); and at dinner, avoid pasta completely in favour of seafood, chicken or fish with non-starchy vegetables. Asian-style stir fries are ideal.

Make sure you include lots of vegetables and legumes to maintain a good fibre intake. Now you’ve got a diet plan that will help you lose weight, and a food plan that you can follow for life. 

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Heard the saying “all work and no play makes Jack no fun to be around”? Its true – that’s why holidays were invented. You may have  to slog through working weeks that seem to go on forever. But then the weekend arrives. It refreshes and revives you, ready for the coming week’s challenges.

Your diet needs the same balance between rigorous discipline and enjoying some fun treats.

Let’s look at what happens when you don’t allow yourself to enjoy planned treats. You’ll start your diet with a sense of ‘this time I’m going to get it right’. You’ll make massive changes in your diet, and you’ll feel deprived, but soldier on “because you have to”. You’re invited to celebration events but turn down even a sliver of that luscious cake ‘because you’re on a diet’. It’s hard work!

After lots of deprivation, you’re likely to be feeling just a wee bit rebellious. You’ve been “so good” that surely you deserve an unplanned treat. Or worse, you step on the scales to find that you haven’t lost a gram. Now you might feel just a tad rebellious too. You’ve been feeling deprived – for what? Now here comes the overwhelming urge to eat all the ‘bad’ foods – but in less than constrained quantities, and you may abandon your entire weight loss project.

You can prevent this from happening by approaching your weight loss the same way you would a long term work project: With a plan of action, milestones along the way, and regular holidays. Planning your meals a week in advance is an ideal way to identify the ‘special meal’ that will be your ‘time off’ from diet ‘work’, help you feel less deprived, and refresh your resolve for the coming week.

For some people, this could be their favourite family meal with dessert to follow; or a really nice restaurant meal that someone else has prepared for you. If there’s a big celebration happening, like a wedding, you can plan to just enjoy the food on offer without worrying, this time, about whether you ‘should’.  Really savour this weekly treat – and then get back to work, knowing that another treat is definitely coming in just a few days.

Now your weight loss project is more sustainable. And a funny thing will happen: You’ll find yourself naturally balancing your diet more effectively for the long term, and learning how to balance your food intake for effective results.

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Have you noticed that over the past few years there’s been a growing interest in food? TV cooking shows and competitions are appearing everywhere, demonstrating just how easy it is to prepare fresh, nutritious food. It’s great to see.

And we have an abundance of fresh, sensational produce easily available to us in the area I live in. We can visit farmers markets, buy produce at the farm gate, seafood that’s almost straight off the boat, and meat products that have been grown locally. We’re spoilt for choice – away from this area, that the same variety and quality just isn't available like it is here.

We’re so lucky, because creative cooking, and eating food, are some of the great pleasures of life: A meal can be a time to re-connect with family and friends, or a chance to relax in solitude.

So if food is so pleasurable, why are so many of us disconnected from it? Eating ‘on the run’; eating while multitasking with the internet; or eating unconsciously while watching TV. After your meal, are you really aware of what you ate, its texture and flavour?

Think about other pleasurable activities, like watching a great movie. You’ve heard about it, anticipated how enjoyable it will be, and made time to view it. Do you then watch the movie on fast forward to get though it sooner? Probably not. You consciously enjoy the whole event.

Why not apply this process to your meals too? A more mindful way of eating is actually going to be better for your health. You’ll digest your food more efficiently when you’re relaxed. And for weight loss, you’ll find your appetite control easier. It takes about 20 minutes for your stomach to register “I’m full!” – so really savouring your food will give your body time to let you know that. By the way, if your mind is occupied elsewhere while you’re eating, you might miss the ‘full’ message completely.  That’s how entire packets of biscuits can somehow evaporate during a TV show.

If you suspect you’re eating unconsciously, you could try making every meal an event this week (even breakfast!). Appreciate the food, enjoy the experience.  Sounds easy – but sometimes the most commonsense approaches are the most challenging! See if you feel more relaxed, better fed, by the end of the week. Good luck!

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Some time ago, when the connection between heart disease and a diet too high in fat was recognised, the general consensus became that a low fat diet would be better for us all. And although it’s a relief to see that most of us are keeping an eye on our fat intake, it seems that the ‘low fat’ trend has been taken too far, and is causing another set of health problems altogether.

I believe that our increased intake of sugar from the ‘low fat food’ movement is actually contributing to the increasing incidence of diabetes.

Here’s an example: I came across vinegar in the supermarket this week labelled 99.7% fat free. But vinegar is naturally fat-free. There’s no such thing as a fatty vinegar. And yet the marketing of this product implies that its healthier because it’s ‘fat free’.

That’s a fairly harmless example, because there’s only so much vinegar you can put in a salad dressing; but lets consider yoghurt as another example. Many brands are now labelled ‘low fat’ or even ‘no fat’ and marketed as a dieter’s advantage because now you can eat more of it. And its true – you will get a lower amount of calories in a low fat yoghurt because fat is a very dense, calorie-rich substance. But here are three traps from choosing a low fat variety:

1. You’ll miss out on fat soluble vitamins A and E. These vitamins travel into and through your system while attached to fat molecules. They’re both important – vitamin A particularly for your eyesight and immunity; vitamin E for your skin.
2. You can disrupt your blood sugar regulation. Naturally fatty foods take a long time to digest, as the fat molecules literally get in the way. Low fat foods, being primarily carbohydrate based, are digested faster. This can bring on a blood sugar ‘spike’ and then ‘crash’ if there isn’t sufficient protein present as well to slow digestion.
3. You may ingest more additives than you expected. Examine the label of that next low fat yoghurt or low fat spreadable cheese you pick up, and compare it with its full fat neighbour. Extras like vegetable gum and other fillers may have been added to promote a more natural, satisfying ‘mouth feel’ when you eat the yoghurt. The same sense of texture that full fat foods provide.

So, if choosing the ‘fat free’ option can be a trap, what’s the best choice? The easiest approach is to choose full-fat foods and just eat far less of them. Using the yoghurt again as an example, choose to have just a tablespoon of full fat yoghurt on some fresh fruit rather than a whole tub of low fat yoghurt with added sugar.

We all need some fat in our diet, and not too many sugars, so next time you’re presented with the ‘fat free’ option for a food that’s naturally fatty, think twice before you make your choice.

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Many people have found it easy to lose weight and avoid the energy rollercoaster just by cutting sugar out of their diet. Curiously, as you do this, your diet will naturally become healthier too; with more unprocessed food, more fibre, more protein.

Here are seven ways you can make it happen; and a tip: Don’t try to do them all at once! Pin this article up on your fridge and do step one in week one; then move onto step 2, and so on. By the time you get to step 7 you won’t be missing sugar at all.

1. Leave sugar out of your cuppa. If you routinely scoop two heaped teaspoonfuls of sugar into your coffee or tea, you may be shocked at the total amount of sugar you’re taking in each day. You can go ‘cold turkey’ and just stop, or do it the easy way - reduce the amount of sugar in each cuppa by ¼ teaspoon each time.  There’s another, less obviously sugar-laden culprit that I see taking up shelf space beside coffee machines in -  flavoured syrups. You don’t need them; enjoy the real taste of coffee instead.
2. Stop using soft drink, cordial and fruit juice. Huh? Isn’t fruit juice healthy? Well, many actually have sugar added (sometimes labelled as ‘fructose’). Give yourself a fibre boost by enjoying a piece of real fruit and a glass of water rather than a sugar-laden juice.
3. Stop adding sugar to your breakfast cereal. Most of them already contain sugar, especially so called healthy muesli. Check the label – if your favourite muesli contains more than 10g sugar per 100g, its officially ‘high’ in sugar content.
4. Examine every packet before you drop it in your supermarket trolley. Reject any that include contents of ‘sugar’ ‘corn syrup’ ‘fructose’ ‘glucose’ or any other type off added sugar. By the time you get to the checkout you’ll find your supermarket trolley full of real food: fresh vegetables and fruit, meat, nuts, legumes, whole grains. Fabulous.
5. Be suspicious of naturally fatty foods labelled ‘fat free’ – especially yoghurt. They often have lots of added sugar to make them taste better. Compare the ‘sugars or carbohydrate per 100g’ on the nutrition label with ‘plain natural yoghurt’ to know for sure.
6. Watch out for ‘sugar free’ spreads. Often the manufacturer has used fructose (fruit sugar) instead of cane sugar, but its still full of sugar. The nutrition label listing the amount of sugar per 100g will help you decide.
7. Take sugar and syrups out of your house. All the white sugar, raw sugar, golden syrup, maple syrup, treacle, honey…… If its not in the cupboard, you’re likely to find something else sweet to eat...like fresh fruit.

How did you go? Is there an easy way to do this? Let us know by leaving your comment below.

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Is this you?

“I want to lose weight and develop a fabulous body, but I don’t want to exercise, and I don’t want to put any more effort than I do now into how I behave around food or the choices I make.”

“I want to get rid of this digestive pain, but I’m not prepared to stop eating any of the foods that could be causing the problem, even for a while”

Want a shapely body? Great skin? Enough energy to enjoy life all day long, and still have energy to spare for your family in the evenings? It’s there waiting for you, but you have to be willing to pay the price.

The price? What do you mean? Shouldn’t you expect to be able to eat whatever you want, exercise only when it suits, and still find your body maintaining the vitality and energy of childhood? Sadly, no. Like a car, your body performs at its best when you carefully maintain it; Your car works best when you use high quality fuel to the tank; regularly service the engine, and check the tyres. Your body works better with careful maintenance too.

The price of good health is the effort it takes to change.

Unfortunately, there’s no magic pill that will make up for years of neglect. Its going to take attention, and effort to retrieve your health and keep it.

Its always an interesting conversation when I  talk with potential clients. We discuss what they’d like to achieve. We explore their current approach to nutrition, and their fitness training regime. And I gently enquire about their attitude towards changing their diet, improving their fitness, managing their stress more effectively. If they’re going to be treated successfully, there’s going to be change. The clients who get the best results are the ones who are prepared to change.

But because so much of our culture now offers instant gratification, its tempting to think that a healthy body can be achieved just by swallowing a few supplements. The brutal truth is that if your body has fallen into ill health, its most likely due to a combination of poor diet and inadequate exercise, or poorly managed stress. All the supplements in the world can’t make up for this.

When you want to feel better, in the long term, you will need to address the reasons why you became unwell in the first place. Then everything will begin to fall into place. And gradually, maintaining your health becomes a joy rather than something you ‘have to’ do grudgingly.

So, what’s your approach to maintaining your health? Are you happy to embrace change?

(P.S If you think you could benefit from a health coaching program shaped to meet your needs, give me a call on (02) 6672 6255 )

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Do you find that when you’re feeling down, you reach for comfort food – something fatty or sweet like sticky buns, chocolate, desserts? And, what’s worse, you find yourself eating far too much, sometimes even bingeing? Researchers have found that how people feel does indeed affect whether they choose unhealthy comfort food or the healthier options.

The original research article is here http://www.atypon-link.com/AMA/doi/abs/10.1509/jmkg.71.1.194?cookieSet=1&journalCode=jmkg

You can use this information to help you manage what you eat, and become more successful in maintaining a healthy weight.

When you eat sugary or fatty food, there’s a biochemical effect on your brain, producing more happy neurotransmitters. Researchers found that people will actually eat to affect their mood: If you’re feeling unhappy, comfort food will actually help you feel better; if you’re already happy you’re likely to deliberately seek out healthier food choices, in order to maintain your good feelings about yourself.

To make things even more complex, its easier to eat too much of the comfort food when you’re feeling down. The guilt that follows overeating can make you feel even worse!

But there are ways to help manage your food intake when you’re feeling down:

First, measure out your portion so you know exactly how much you’re eating. Choose a smaller portion than what you think you’ll need to eat to feel better. Then walk away from the kitchen to enjoy it while totally focused on the food and how it tastes. (i.e don’t eat comfort food while watching TV, or standing in the kitchen at the fridge door – that’s unconscious eating).

Next, know what’s in that food. Being aware of the calorie, fat and sugar content of your comfort food actually reduces how much you’ll eat. Read the nutritional label. Keeping a food diary of what you eat and your mood can be an effective tool.

Finally, be aware of your tendency to eat more when you’re in a sad mood. Just being aware of your mood can help you make different choices about how you’ll deal with it.

So, feeling down? Wanting comfort food? Measure out your portion of what you want, read the label, focus on the enjoyable food while you’re eating it. Then as soon as you’re finished that portion, change your activity: Going for a walk is one of the best, as the physical activity will also help improve your mood.

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OK, so this blog post is a little tongue-in-cheek, but if you're presently working hard to reduce your weight, you might enjoy this humorous perspective!

• Don't worry about dietary fibre, or eating fresh fruit and vegetables. Eat whatever you like, whenever you like.

• Don't restrict your portion sizes, especially with high fat, high sugar foods that are really yummy. Seek out restaurants that provide 'man-sized' portions.

• Too busy to plan and prepare food? We all are. Head for the fast food drive through. Keep plenty of processed sweet and fatty foods like chocolate, chips and ice cream in the kitchen for whenever you feel hungry.

• Avoid the fresh produce sections of the supermarket, they're full of food that takes valuable time to prepare. Choose instant meals that only need re-heating in the microwave.

• If you have a toddler, make sure you eat the the meals your child didn't finish. You can eat lots of extra food this way without feeling satisfied.

• Eat everything that's on your plate, even if that's going to make you feel uncomfortably full.

• Eat while your mind is occupied elsewhere. Its amazing just how much food you can get through while you're watching TV, or walking along the street window shopping. And because your mind is elsewhere, you won't hear the "I'm full!" message from your stomach.

• Resolve that someone else is responsible for your health. Any other person or institution will do, really; just so long as you don't feel that you are the person who needs to take action.

• If you find yourself taking steps to get healthy, give up at the first obstacle, injury or eating mishap. Then you can claim that you "really tried…but….."

• Refuse to acknowledge any connection between how you're feeling emotionally and your eating patterns.

• Believe the advertisers that promise fast weight loss without exercise or diet change, and believe that the weight you lose with their product won't just spring back on when you return to 'normal' eating.

• Keep buying larger sizes of clothes (reassure yourself that they must have changed the sizing).

• Park as close as possible to the shopping centre doors. Drive around the block as many times as it takes to ensure that you don't have to walk more than 25 metres from your car to the shop.

• Always take the escalator or lift, never the stairs.

• Never exercise or get sweaty unless you absolutely have to. The less movement, the better. Spend as much time as possible sitting on the couch or in front of the computer games console. Whenever you feel like becoming active, lie down until the feeling passes. You're too busy to exercise anyway.

• Ignore the science proving that the more active you are, the more muscle you will have and the faster your metabolism will run, making it easier to lose weight for good.

• Don’t take action when you start acquiring the modern western chronic diseases that come with a lack of fitness. Why bother? There's sure to be a pill that can save you.

Any other ideas you'd like to share with us? Leave your comments below! 

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