Diets don't work.

Yes, that's right, diets don't work.  Now, that doesn't mean you shouldn't change the way you eat.

Let's start off with the concept of a "diet".  Your diet is actually the WAY you eat - not just a weight loss program.  However most of us associate the word "diet" with eating a lot less and basically lettuce and grilled chicken.  Severe calorie restriction and avoiding all those foods that we enjoy is a recipe for disaster.

If you want to lose weight there are several things you will need to do, but the main one is to:

MAKE A LIFESTYLE CHANGE

The majority of people who decide they need to lose weight follow the following steps:

1. Go on a calorie restricted diet
2. Lose weight
3. Stop the diet because they have reached their weight loss goal
4. Put the weight back on again... and then some.

Sound familiar?

Consider this:  If the way you ate before the diet made you put on weight, going on a calorie
restricted diet will help you (in some cases) to lose that weight.  So you then think YIPEEE! I can stop the diet, and you then start eating the way you did before.  Yes, the way that made you gain weight to start with... So if it made you gain weight in the beginning, why wouldn't it do the same again?

The few people who manage to lose weight and keep it off is due to not only changing their diet but changing their lifestyle as well.  A change in eating habits that permit you to lose weight is a longterm change, not just a quick fix. 

First you need to sit down and analyze exactly what you eat and what healthy habits you have in your life - if any.  Now, you need to be brutally honest with yourself.  My suggestion here is to keep a food diary for a week or two.  Write down EVERYTHING you eat or drink EVERY day and at the very moment you eat or drink something.  Don't wait to write it all down at the end of the day - you simply won't remember everything.

Once you have completed your diary you can analyze the types of foods you are eating.  We know for a fact that refined carbs (sugar, pasta, white bread and white rice), and root vegetables make us put on weight, also processed foods and junk foods.  So you can see where you are making the wrong food choices.

Ask yourself WHY you ate that McDonald's meal on Thursday evening, for example.  Or WHY you ate that packet of biscuits.  Do you eat when you are stressed?  Do you eat when you are emotional?  Bored?  Knowing your state of mind when you eat something you know you shouldn't is very important and will help you to make healthier choices in the future.  So, when you are reaching for the family sized chocolate bar in the cupboard, ask yourself why you want to eat that.  

Do you feel guilty after eating something you know is fattening?  If you do, then the next time you are heading for the biscuit tin, ask yourself if you are going to feel guilty afterwards, is it really worth it?

If you ask yourself pertinent questions, you can also find healthier solutions.  Am I eating from boredom?  What can I do to stop myself feeling bored?  How about reading a book or better still going outside in the fresh air for a brisk walk or a run?  

When eating healthy food, visualize what those healthy nutrients are doing to your mind and body.  Enjoy the knowledge that you are giving your body what it needs and, in time, those healthy foods will become what you crave.  

Have patience.  Sustained weight loss should happen over time.  Each person loses weight at their own pace, no matter what they do.  I have had patients drop 6 kg in 18 days, and other lose 1.5 kg per month... it all depends.  So, bear in mind you won't know how you are going to lose weight until you try, so don't get frustrated and give up if you aren't losing weight at the pace you'd like.  Your body will dictate that.  

Exercise is very important.  Not only for the body but for the mind too.  Find a sport or activity that you enjoy and look forward to doing.  If you can find people to join in with you then all the better.  If you have arranged to meet someone to go for a walk or run, you are more likely to go.  Exercise also helps with stress levels.  High stress levels means high levels of cortisone which leads to weight gain, so try something that will help you to de-stress.  Everyone is different, I like to run, a friend of mine likes to do high adrenalin workouts at the gym... it's up to you.

However, none of these changes will work if you don't incorporate them into your life as a part of it. 

1. Find a healthy eating plan that works for you - my suggestion is almost always a low carb diet with lots of vegetables.
2. Find a sport or activity that you enjoy.
3. Make this a long term project.

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

Ever wonder why your diet isn't working?

The 6 mistakes we often make.

1. Skipping Breakfast. 
Most people think that skipping breakfast will encourage your body to use it's fat stores for energy instead.  And this is true to a certain extent.  Scientists have found that people who exercise before breakfast burn up to 20% more fat than those who exercise after breakfast (British Journal of Nutrition, Dr. Emma Stevenson and Javier González).  However, Dr. Marilyn Glenville, author of Fat Around the Middle, believes that skipping breakfast can make you hungrier later on during the day and can lead to night time bingeing as the body tries to make up for the lost calorie intake during the day.  The best form of breakfast for people wanting to lose weight is a high protein one; an omelette, smoked salmon, boiled eggs, raw muesli with nuts, etc.  "If you can't face breakfast, eating a handful of walnuts or almonds an hour after waking will be enough to stop you bingeing later," says Dr. John Briffa, author of Escape the Diet Trap.

2.  Falling off the diet wagon at weekends.
Many believe that if you eat healthily all week then you can treat yourself at the weekends.  However, just two days of carbicide a week will make you gain weight.

"They equate their working week with dieting and deprivation, which locks them in the mindset of 'good' and 'bad' eating.  If you feel compelled to overeat every weekend, it suggests that way you're eating most of the time ins't satisfying you," says Dr. Briffa, "You're waiting for the weekend when you can enjoy your diet.  But the healthy eating should be making you feel better, not be your penance."

To avoid the temptation of over eating at the weekend, pepper your working week with small amounts of what your fancy, such as a glass of wine, some cheese or a few squares of good quality plain chocolate.  If you love a fried breakfast on a Sunday morning, just make sure you go back to your healthy eating habits for the next meal.  The damage is really done when you start thinking; "Oh, I've been bad now, so I might as well continue all weekend."  It all about organization and planning, if you know you're going to a dinner party on Saturday night, then be strict with yourself all week, enjoy the dinner party, but get straight back to your healthy habits on Sunday morning.

3.  Diet drinks.
In general it is believed that diet drinks don't have any calories so do not affect weight.

However, a study from the University of Texas Health Science Center, found that people who drank 21 diet drinks a week were twice as likely to be overweight.  Another study that followed diet drinkers over a 10 year period found their waists grew a staggering 70% more than non-diet drinkers' waistlines.  Another study also found that a high intake of diet drinks could increase the risk of Type II Diabetes by 67%.

The problem is that on receiving the sweet taste of the diet drink, the body assumes it will also get the calories to match the taste.  When the calories don't arrive, it triggers sweet cravings that make you eat more.  Sweeteners have also been shown to have a similar effect to real sugar on blood glucose and insulin levels.  So, stick to sparkling or still water with fresh lime or lemon juice, or coconut water.

4.  You can eat as much "healthy food" as you like.
Quite often so called healthy foods such as hummus, pistachios, and peanuts contain healthy fats but also come packed full of calories and quite often "eating just one" is impossible.  Be careful of cereals proclaiming to be healthy, they are often high in sugar.  Read the labels, ingredients are listed by their quantity not alphabetically, so if sugar is first, second or third on the list then put it back on the shelf.  Many food manufacturers disguise the sugar content by using different names such as corn syrup, maltose, dextrose, sucrose, fructose or any other word ending in OSE.

So, no matter how healthy they are, don't keep or buy foods you find moreish.  It's all about choice, if you can't have just a teaspoon of hummus with your vegetables, then choose something different.  Raw almonds or brazil nuts are pretty difficult to binge on, for example.

5.  Fat does not make you fat.
Studies show that the small percentage of people (10%) who manage to lose weight and keep it off, actually eat moderate amounts of fat.

"Fat is highly satisfying," says Zoe Harcombe, "People who avoid it are invariably never satisfied by meals.  Dieters' obsession with low fat products merely fuels a craving for fatty foods, and that's why they end up bingeing on cakes, biscuits and ice-cream - all sources of fat their bodies need."

Low fat food is a waste of time for people wanting to lose weight because when real fat is removed so is taste and texture which then needs to be replaced, usually with sugar and flour, which are nutritionally poor.

The human body also needs dietary fat as certain vitamins are only fat-soluble.  Vitamins such as; A, D, E and K need the presence of fat to enable the body to absorb them.

So, add some butter to your steamed vegetables and make sure you are getting enough Omega-3 fatty acids found in oily fish, coconut oil, walnuts, flaxseed, etc., there is some evidence that these fatty acids may help the body to burn fat.

6.  Diets don't work.
At least not for longterm weight loss.

Most people who go on a strict diet, lose weight initially but a strict diet is difficult to maintain, and soon the dieter has stopped and the weight goes back on - and then some!  This is repeated periodically over the years - each time a little more weight is gained.  This cycle gave birth to the name "yo-yo dieters".

On a very strict diet, the body thinks that it's starving so compensates by switching on all the mechanisms it possesses to store food.  "One of these [mechanisms] is hormones.  Last October, a University of Melbourne study of 50 overweight women and men showed that after dieting, our hormone levels start to work overtime and react as though our bodies are starving.  The study found that participants' levels of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates appetite, was 20% higher than before they went on the diet, and their levels of leptin, a hormone that suppreses appetite and registers satisfaction after eating, were lower." (Professor Alexander Miras, a obesity researcher at University College London).

"The only diets that have been proven effective for longterm weight loss in randomized controlled studies are those that focus on higher amounts of protein and vegetables, and limit carbohydrates to those with a low glycaemic index (GI)," says Professor Miras.

Statistics:

• 98% of people who go on a diet, regain the weight within a year.
• The famous 10% who didn't regain the weight - keeping off anything from 13kg to 136kg for 5 years or more, did it by:
• 78% ate breakfast everyday
• 75% weighed themselves at least once a week
• 62% watched less than 10 hours of television a week
• 90% exercised moderately for an hour everyday - most walked as their chosen form of exercise.

Social Nutrition:
You can make an appointment to improve your health with Social Nutrition either in person (Madrid) or online (Skype).  Just send an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com