How to lose weight healthily
It may come as no surprise but January is actually a difficult time of year to make changes to your diet. Limited daylight hours and the cold weather often leads to low mood, tiredness and an insatiable desire for sweet comfort foods. If this sounds like you don’t give up yet - you can still make some valuable changes to how you eat which will help shed those extra pounds.
The first thing to do is replace stimulants and sugary foods such as caffeinated drinks, sweets, biscuits and cakes with slow-releasing carbohydrates. Swap your white refined foods for whole-grain ones such as granary bread, brown rice or wholemeal pasta. These foods help keep you fuller for longer and provide slow and sustained energy. Replace chocolate, crisps or biscuits with nutrient-dense options like nuts, seeds, a small whole-meal scone, a slice of malt loaf or some oat cakes.
To cut back on caffeine start to make your regular cuppa weaker or replace 1-2 cups with a glass of water or herbal tea.
Ideally we should eat every 3-4 hours to keep our metabolism burning, maintain energy levels and of course help us to concentrate! If you count calories or follow a fasting diet you actually cause your metabolism to slow down and this means that once you start eating again, which you inevitably will, you’ll put back the pounds and some. Eating little and often helps to balance blood sugar levels, you won’t feel hungry and the calories you eat will get burnt as energy rather than stored as fat.
One of the biggest threats to our waist lines is the ever increasing size of our portions. In fact we now eat portions some five times larger than 30 years ago. A useful way of visualising how much you need is that a meal should fit into your two cupped hands: the protein part (fish, meat, beans, soya) should be the size of one palm and the starchy carbs (potatoes, rice, pasta, bread) the size of a clenched fist. Add to this a selection of your favourite veggies and you have a well-balanced meal.
It may be cold outside but you can still optimise your fruit and vegetable intake by choosing seasonal produce or frozen summer crops such as mixed berries or vegetables. Remember five portions a day is the absolute minimum so find ways of increasing your intake with foods such as soups and smoothies. Fruit and vegetables make healthy low calorie snacks so try carrot sticks with hummus or a slices of apple spread with peanut butter.
Last but by no means least don’t forget to exercise! It might not be the weather to go for a jog but there are other ways to get active. Taking the stairs instead of the lift and getting off the bus one stop earlier are both cost-free ways to keep on the go. And buying a skipping rope is a lot cheaper than a gym membership or an expensive exercise bike.
Kerry has her own website www.foodlinkfirst.com