Chose to lose weight to a level that doesn't compromise your health nor quality of life.
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It surprises me the medical fraternity is still debating which is worse – a high fat diet or a high sugar diet? The question is irrelevant. What we know is a diet high in bad fats and/or refined sugar is bad for you. We also know we benefit from a certain amount of good fats and complex carbohydrates.
It is very easy to obtain the foods to provide a balanced diet. We can eat daily foods that provide protein from both meat and non-meat sources, fat which is large poly- or mono-unstaturated and unrefined sugars.
A piece of lean meat fried in olive oil and a variety of steamed vegetables – carrots, beans, broccoli and spinach. Whack on one or more herbs and you have taste sensation thats great for you.
I see two main challenges. Firstly, many of us currently rely on bad fats to give taste to our food. To address this we should move to healthy AND tasty meals. While low-glycemic diets have been developed for people with diabetes they are appropriate for everyone. They ensure we get a steady stream of ’fuel’ that avoids the fluctuations in blood sugar associated with foods high in refined sugar.
Secondly, whatever we eat we eat too much. This is a double whammy when the food we eat is high in fat and/or sugar. This is probably the harder challenge, both initially and in the longer term. We need to train ourselves to eat smaller meals and limit the in-between snacks. While there is no alternative to eating only what we are going to burn up during the day we can mitigate over-eating by changing what we eat. If you are going to have a blow out then eat food that is lower in fat and/or sugar. For example, fill up on salad greens rather than potatoes.
With attempts to change any ingrained behaviours it does take persistance. With something as central to our lives as eating most of us do not have the discipline to stick stick to a regime that isn’t pleasurable. So enjoy losing weight and stick with a healthy and tasty diet.
Keith
Why are some many people persisting in using diet pills? Do diet pills work to help you lose weight? I am stunned to visit some sites where the discussion is all about comparing pills.
Without having tried them I can’t comment on the effectiveness of diet pills. However I know, through experience, you can lose weight permanently and safely through eating well.
Interested to hear people’s feedback, Keith
It seems whenever we move from one season to another we are faced with managing our diet. Perhaps moving into Spring is easiest with salad vegetables becoming increasing available. Conversly Autumn and Winter are seasons of starchier foods and cold weather is a temptation for fatty comfort food. As I increasingly believe in eating local, fresh food as a preference there is a need for some discipline. Winter greens are a great source of nutrition and allow you to maintain a low glycemic diet during this period.
While fat enhances flavour continue to cut fat off meat and cook in good oil. This coming Winter is going to be season of the slow cooker! Ok, so I’m following the current fad – but not all fads are bad! An early trial will be some very lean goat meat I picked up at the local supermarket. This would probably be tough as old boots if done as a quick fry. The thought of a rich casserole has me full of anticipation. I just need to decide on the veges to gone into the pot – don’t want too much carb.
Eat well, Keith
I have found to lose weight I need to focus on what I am eating. Exercise has not been that helpful in directly losing weight. For unfit people my suggestion is you can improve your overall health by losing weight through managing what you eat.
While low glycemic diets are generally only recommended for people with diabetes I believe they provide excellent eating principles for all of us.
However you should not avoid exercise for ever. Consider slowly increasing your activity levels. You do want to exercise regularly as long term health is dependent on being moderately fit. Putting my money where my mouth is you will note from my other blogs I keep myself fit through regular and varied exercise.
The importance of exercise has been reinforced by a study that compared dieting with dieting and exercise. While the weight loss was similar across both groups the group that exercised improved their blood pressure, cholesterol and insulin sensitivity more than the group that did not.
Reference: Enette Larson-Meyer, Ph.D., R.D., assistant professor, family and consumer science, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyo.; Walt Thompson, Ph.D., professor, kinesiology, Georgia State University, Atlanta; January 2010, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise
Eat well and consider what exercise you would enjoy doing and how you can motivate yourself to undertake this exercise regularly.
Follow my guidance in Enjoy Losing Weight if you are over-weight.
Regards, Keith
Christmas is the time of year when its hardest to lose weight. However there are a number of strategies you can use to maintain weight loss.
Plan for the majority of food eaten over Christmas to be both tasty and healthy. Restrict food high in fat and sugar to a limited number of big favourites.
Chose a way of cooking meat that results in lower fat on your plate. Select deserts that include and are garnished with fruit rather than cream.
Plan Christmas day so you eat the main meal and then do something that doesn’t involve continuing to eat - avoid eating on and on. And a little bit of exercise never hurt anybody!
The Christmas period can easily end in a session of overeating from Christmas through to New Year so be selective in when you are going to have ’special’ meals and stick to normal, tasty meals at other times to lose weight.
In other words, keep making food a focus of Christmas but in such a way you continue to lose weight.
Enjoy losing weight over Christmas
Keith
The American Diabetes Association is warning the number of diabetes cases is predicted to double. The two main drivers are the aging population and increasing rates of obesity.
While we can’t address the aging issue on an individual basis we can minimise the risk we will develop diabetes. Reduce weight through eating well is the main priority as being obese appears to be a major risk factor in developing diabetes.
An important element is controlling blood glucose levels. While a low glycemic diet has been recommended for people that already have diabetes or have recognised symptoms I recommend such a diet for everyone and follow the general principles myself. While a low glycemic diet sounds like it is a ‘medical treatment’ it can better be termed a common sense approach to eating well!!!
Keeping fit through regular exercise also helps overall wellbeing as well as contributing directly to reducing the risk of diabetes.
Eat well, exercise, feel great
Keith
Exercise makes you hungry – not a new concept to most people I would have thought. However if you are seeking to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight you don’t want extra eating overwhelming the benefits of exercise in assisting to lose weight.
A small study of 58 overweight and obese adults found some lost weight through increased exercise while others appeared to have their exercise efforts counteracted by increased eating. For those who managed to lose weight exercise may have improved their body’s ability to signal when they were full. The researchers found these subjects were hungrier before breakfast but were not hungrier during the rest of the day.
The learning from those that didn’t lose weight is a general warning to all of who are managing our weight. We need to be aware of any tendancy to over eat after exercise and address this if it occurs.
It also reinforces the need to control our eating habits as the main contributor to losing weight.
To read the abstract go to American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Neil A King, Phillipa P Caudwell, Mark Hopkins, James R Stubbs, Erik Naslund, and John E Blundell
Dual-process action of exercise on appetite control: increase in orexigenic drive but improvement in meal-induced satiety
Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, Oct 2009; 90: 921 – 927.
regards, Keith
Modern life sees us rushing here and there (and back again). Lots to be done. No time to relax. We eat fast food and we tend to eat food fast.
However, to help us in our endeavours to lose weight it appears we should slow down and eat slowly. A brief video points to the value of eating slowly. By eating food over a longer period there is time for the body to tell the brain it is full. To watch the video click on the link to the HealthDay website
HealthDay video
So, to lose weight, eat food more slowly (and perhaps more slow food as well)
Keith
We are bringing up a generation that will need to lose weight.
As parents we are concerned about road safety and stranger danger. However we seem to be less vigilant about a widespread danger to our kids. We appear to be compromising their health at an increasingly younger age. While historically many adults have drifted into obesity in middle age we are raising a generation that will enter adulthood obese. Not the proudest of legacies!
An investigation of children’s meals at fast food outlets found only 3% met the standards set by the National School Lunch Program. The average energy density of the meals that failed the standards was 2.3 calories per gram compared with 1.5 in the standards. Of the meals that failed 65% had too much fat while the levels of a number of key nutrients were inadequate.
reference: J.M. Mendoza, “Kids, Fast Food, & Obesity: Menu Reviews From a Houston Pediatrician” Agricultural Research, October 2009
To read the article click on: article
Lets make sure our kids eat well and enter adulthood healthy. It will then be up to them to determine their future health and hopefully they will follow the guidance provided to them in their formative years.
regards, Keith
If you are obese lose weight to reduce the risk of damage to your heart.
Left atrial enlargement of the heart can lead to atrial fibrillation, stroke and death. The Journal of the American College of Cardiology reports obesity is the most important risk factor for left atrial enlargement. The authors conclude early intervention is important if young obese people are to avoid premature changes to their heart.
If you are obese it would appear important to lose weight, what ever your age, to avoid or minimise left atrial enlargement. A change in diet and possibly lifestyle could be life saving.
To access the article click: JACC article abstract
regards, Keith
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