Let's face it, dieting is never going to be an easy ride and it is always going to be something that most of us will struggle with at some point during our lives. Most of my clients that come in to see me, have usually followed the same endless pattern of yo-yo dieting where they gradually gain weight, diet for a month or so, lose a bit of weight...maybe a lot of weight, then stop the diet and go back to their usual way of eating and then, of course, the inevitable happens; they put it back on again! And so this cycle will probably go on a few more cycles before they give up completely and surrender to a lifetime of over indulgence and being over weight.
The thing is, as I always explain to my clients, if you need to go on a diet then obviously you're doing something wrong in the first place, and so, rather then dieting, what you really need to be doing is re-educating yourself and taking control of what you eat. As we all know, diets don't really work long term; what they do is offer you a short term plan to weight loss, but without the education and support throughout this process you're not actually learning about where you are going wrong in the first place and how you can change this in order to keep your self at a healthy weight for life.
So, rather then jumping onto the diet wagon, maybe you should have a real think about whether you want a quick, short term fix, or, a long term solution with improved health and gained knowledge that you can then pass onto your family to ensure that they don't follow in your footsteps.
During my time working as a Nutritional Therapist I have noticed a running theme. This is that people generally don't want to take responsibility for their health and what they eat. Instead they seem to be on a constant mission to find some kind of quick fix or magic potion that is going to make them lose weight without actually having to make any changes to their lives. Well I'm sorry to say it, but this really isn't going to happen any time soon and certainly isn't the right attitude to sustained weight loss. This said, there are a few tricks that have been sneakily taken from the modeling industry that you can use, which over time will help you maintain a healthy weight or lose a few pounds without having to diet.
Trick 1: Stabilize your blood sugar levels and stop cravings and fat storage
When you eat any kind of refined carbohydrate or sugar, you get an instant sugar hit. This triggers your body to release Insulin which then carries the sugar away from your blood and into storage as fat. This can be prevented by only eating complex carbohydrates that break down slowly, giving a steady sugar release into the blood. This means that you don't get a huge surge of Insulin and so the sugar isn't taken away to be stored as fat.
Refined carbohydrates, such as white bread, rice and pasta should be exchanged for wholemeal brown varieties and sugar should never be added to foods or drinks.
Trick 2: Boost your metabolism to improve fat burning
A poor diet, along with lack of activity and muscle mass, can be a sure-fire way to a sluggish metabolism and when your metabolism is sluggish, you're going to gain weight more easily then you should.
A slow metabolism isn't by any means an excuse for weight gain... believe me, I hear this a lot! Unless you have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism, a slow metabolism is a product of you not being active enough and not eating at the right times. But luckily it is also something that can easily be put right.
By increasing your metabolism you will also increase your basal metabolic rate, which is the amount of energy that your body uses at rest. This means that if you increase your metabolisms then you burn more calories when doing absolutely nothing.
This can be done, firstly, by doing some exercise, even if it's only half an hour walking daily. This will improve muscle tone which will help to gradually increase your metabolism. The second way that you can do this is by including certain foods in your diet. These foods are; green tea, chilli, cayenne pepper, black pepper, turmeric, ginger and jalapenos. So, try adding them into your diet, along with lots of water in between meals, and give your metabolism the kick start that it needs!
Trick 3: Fill up on calorie burning foods
There are certain foods that are thought to require more energy for the body to break them down then are actually in them. These foods are thought to actually help you burn calories as you eat them and so can be very helpful in weight loss. These should make up part of your everyday meals and can be eaten in large servings. These foods include; apples, cranberries, grapefruit, lemons, oranges, raspberries, strawberries, tangerines, asparagus, beets, broccoli, cabbage, turnip, carrot, cauliflower, celery, chilli peppers, cucumber, water cress, garlic, green beans, lettuce, onion, radishes and spinach.
So tuck in and eat as much as you like! You don't need to go hungry with these foods around!
Trick 4: Bring on the dairy!
Many people are under the impression that you should cut out all dairy to lose weight. Although this does have some logic behind it; being high in calories and fat, it has actually been shown to speed up weight loss when eating 2 servings a day of natural yogurt or semi skimmed milk. So try incorporating some as your snacks in between meals.
Having a small glass of warm milk before bed is a great way to finish the day. Along with giving you a slow releasing sugar throughout the night (keeping your blood sugar levels stable) and helping weight loss, it also aids sleep by increasing melatonin levels, which is your body's natural sleep hormone.
Fed up with fasting? Crabby from your crash diet? Looking for a
fresh new approach to losing weight and feeling terrific for life? Laura
Lamont knows from personal experience exactly what that feels like...
She also knows from her days as a model and her current practice as a
nutritional therapist what to do about it.
http://themodeldiet.co.uk
contains a treasure trove of practical advice from the women we love to
hate: those perpetually slender and 'effortlessly' lithe occupants of
the catwalk and the fashion pages - revealing that, contrary to
expectation, many models work hard to stay that way. Also including
Laura's Ten Top Tips for weight loss together with her scientifically
formulated eating plan and scores of healthy and delicious recipes, this
site will help you:
-Curb your cravings
-Boost your metabolism
-Shed at least 2 lbs a week while dieting and
-Maintain your ideal weight after that
If it works for models, can you seriously afford to ignore it?
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Laura_Lamont
