Step 1: Veg out
Forget calorie counting, weighing, measuring and other faddy diets. Simply switch from eating meals based predominantly around carbohydrates such as cereals or toast for breakfast, sandwiches or jacket potatoes for lunch and rice or pasta for dinner to meals that are largely based around fruit or vegetables instead.
Doing so will automatically reduce your calorie intake (sometimes by as much as 500 calories a day – the amount recommended for long term, permanent fat loss), lower circulating levels of insulin (the fat storing hormone) and because we naturally prefer to eat carbohydrates with fats (think bread without the margarine, baked potatoes without the butter and crackers without the cheese) you’ll slash your fat intake too.
You’ll also significantly increase your intake of essential vitamins, minerals fibre and other disease preventing nutrients.
How? - Eat a minimum of seven servings of fruit and vegetables a day.
• Swap your bowl of cereal with some chopped fruit on top for a bowl of chopped fruit with a spoon or two or cereal added.
• Swap your midday ham salad sandwich for a large ham salad.
• Swap a lunch time jacket potato for a bowl of vegetable soup.
• Swap your shepherd’s pie made from just mince and potatoes with a few carrots on the side for a smaller serving of pie made from carrots, peas and mince with a sweet potato and leek topping and fill up the rest of the plate with a spring cabbage lightly sautéed in a little garlic and olive oil.
• Swap the usual plate of spaghetti with two or three spoons of bolognese sauce on top for a plate of bolognese sauce made largely from tomatoes, peppers, carrots, peas and sweetcorn with a little extra lean meat added and one or two spoons of spaghetti added in.
[See also: Four weight loss mistakes and how to avoid them]
Step 2: Eat two thirds of your calories within the first two thirds of your day
If you were to drive from London to Edinburgh on an empty tank of petrol you wouldn’t expect your car to keep going on the ‘promise’ you’d fill it up when you get there. That’s exactly what we expect our bodies to do when we race through the day skipping breakfast, grabbing a bite for lunch only to fill up on an oversized, energy sapping, calorie laden meal in the evenings.
If you were to drive from London to Edinburgh on an empty tank of petrol you wouldn’t expect your car to keep going on the ‘promise’ you’d fill it up when you get there. That’s exactly what we expect our bodies to do when we race through the day skipping breakfast, grabbing a bite for lunch only to fill up on an oversized, energy sapping, calorie laden meal in the evenings.
How?
Make breakfast the largest meal of the day followed by medium sized lunch and a far smaller evening meal (try using a side plate in the evenings rather than a dinner plate).
Always have a healthy, low GI snack such as a small handful of nuts, seeds or dried fruit, a low fat yoghurt, some fruit or a wholegrain cracker topped with cottage cheese and grapes mid morning and mid afternoon. Swap calorie packed desserts for a low fat yoghurt or fresh fruit. Don’t have foods in the house that you know will tempt you into nibbling in the evenings
Brush your teeth straight after dinner. You’ll be amazed how effective that can be at stopping you from heading back into the kitchen!
Step 3: Switch to low GI carbohydrates
Low GI carbs release their sugars at a much slower pace into the blood stream helping to keep energy levels high, cravings for fatty/sugary foods at bay and insulin production to a minimum and the less insulin you have the less fat you’ll store and the lower your risk of developing diabetes and heart disease will be.
How?
• Swap Baguettes (GI 95) for wheat tortillas (GI 30)
• Swap Rice Cakes (GI 74) and bagels (GI 72) for a slice of wholemeal rye bread (GI 58) or wholemeal stone-ground, heavy grain breads (GI 47)
• Swap Jacket Potatoes (GI 101) for Sweet Potatoes (GI 46)
• Swap white rice (GI 87) for Barley (25)
• Swap Mashed Potatoes (GI 101) for lentils (GI 26)
Step 4: Fill up on high ‘SI’ foods
Why? - ‘SI’ stands for ‘satiety index’. A measure of how filling a food is created by Dr Susanne Holt, one of the researchers at Sydney University where the Glycaemic Index was developed. According to the Satiety Index, some of the most filling foods you can eat include oats, apples, wholewheat pasta, oranges, popcorn, beans, grapes and wholemeal bread.
However, the most satiating nutrient of all has been shown in numerous studies to be protein so adding high quality, lean meat, fish, chicken, nuts and seeds to your food is a great way to control appetite which will naturally help to reduce your calorie intake.
How? - Try smoked kippers or smoked salmon with scrambled eggs for breakfast.
Snack on a small handful of nuts and seeds, grapes, oranges, apples, low fat hummus and popcorn.
• Swap your usual lunchtime pasta salad for a mixed bean salad or a tuna nicoise instead
• Swap your cheese sandwich for an open topped ham, chicken or beef one instead.
• Swap your usual bowl of evening pasta for a chargrilled tuna or sirloin steak on a bed of lightly steamed pak choi or shredded spring cabbage sautéed in garlic and a little olive oil.
Top your fish pie with protein rich mashed lentils instead of potato
Add strips of lean beef to your stir fry, beans to your casseroles and pulses to your curry and soups.
Step 5: Hit the bottle
The water bottle that is. Keep one with you at all times and as soon as it’s empty fill it up again because apart from the fact that sipping water instead of sugary drinks, alcohol and lattes can cut up to 500 calories a day, studies show that even very mild levels of dehydration will slow the metabolism and can result in over eating by confusing signals of thirst with hunger.
How? - Drink at least 2 litres of water a day.
Swap strong teas and coffee for herbal teas or hot water infused with lemon, lime, ginger or fresh mint (and don’t over do the lattes - they can add up to 350 calories to your day!) Drink at least two large glasses of water when you wake in the morning to replace the fluids you have lost during the night.
Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to drink. Research shows that thirst can be a poor indicator of hydration.
Swap sugary drinks that contain excess calories and only serve to make you more dehydrated for vegetable juices and diluted fruit juices.
Alcohol dehydrates, robs the body of essential nutrients, adds empty calories and increases appetite so apart for the odd glass of red wine keep it to a minimum. Sip on sparkling water with a splash of elderflower or ginger cordial.
Article by Racheal Anne Hill for Yahoo Lifestyle
Natural Woman recommends -
Sanafil - to help curb your appetite
AcaiOptimum - to help boost your weight loss plan
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