I’ve always thought diets to be a waste of time. I think it’s a matter of changing your lifestyle instead. It’s the little things that make a difference and the little things are much easier to stick to. If you deprive yourself, you just want it more, and if you starve yourself, you just eat more when you come off the starvation regime.
It’s not that hard to make the switch. There’s no need to deprive yourself of a visit to Starbucks or Neros. If you’re like me, you LOVE nothing more than a hot flavoursome coffee and a treat to have with it. I say, have a skim milk mocha (300 calories) instead of full-fat milk mocha (400 calories), or skim milk cappuccino (30 cals). If you can do without the milk, go for black / Americano with 17 cals. Low-fat muffins, cakes and flapjacks aren’t really that healthy, just have one once in a while – they can have up to 600 cals! Go for a banana instead.
What about lunch? Sandwiches tend to be pretty awful, full of mayonnaise, salt and fat. Make your own, or go to a deli and watch them make it in front of you. Or have some left-overs from last night’s dinner. A tasty option is to cook some pasta and add vegetables and tomato sauce, or throw together a fresh salad. Shop-bought salads tend to be full of fatty ingredients and heavy-calorie dressings.
Stay away from the diet drinks, they’re not that great. It only takes a can of diet coke a day to decrease the bone density in women. Try unsweetened fruit juice or naturally flavoured water. Don’t buy smoothies, these tend to have added sugar, it’s better to make your own.
Cereal bars usually have lots of added nasties as well – sugar and fat. Try fruit instead. And as for cereals – I stay well away from those, as they are sooo unhealthy. Have you ever tried to find a healthy muesli? – just check out the ingredients label – take my word for it, you’ll be shocked. I don’t like porridge oats but that could be an option for you, with a spoonful of honey on top. I like a slice of melon for breakfast or some yoghurt.
I never touch vegetable oil or butter. Instead I use olive oil and margarine. I don’t eat read meat, instead I eat skinless chicken breasts, fish, and soya substitutes which are really scrummy. I don’t eat hard cheese very often, if I do want some, I get the fullest flavour reduced-fat cheddar I can find, so I only need to use a little. I like cottage cheese and use that instead of hard cheese – top up a few rye crackers with cottage cheese, tomatoes and herbs, and there you have a cracking lunch. I never EVER buy cake or biscuits – if they aren’t in the house, you can’t eat them!
Watch your portion sizes. The normal stomach is the size of your clenched fist. A meal should be the size of 2 clenched fists. Any more than that, and you’re overloading your system. It’s much better to eat 6 small meals a day rather than 3 huge ones. An important tip is, only eat when you’re hungry! Who cares if you’re hungry at 11AM – grab something healthy. If you’re not hungry until 4PM, fine. Your body will tell you when it’s time to eat, just learn to listen to it.
If you have a sweet tooth, try this. I buy a large bar of the best chocolate (my favourite is Green & Blacks Maya orange flavour) and stash it in the freezer. When I really want ‘pudding’ or some chocolate, I just break off a couple of squares. It always satisfies that craving. I also get yoghurt every week and that’s sweet enough for me. If you hanker after ice-cream, try frozen yoghurt.
I stopped taking sugar in my tea years ago. Now I can’t stand tea with added sugar. I also stopped adding salt to food, I only use it when I’m cooking something bland such as potatoes. I add other things to bland foods, such as fresh herbs, spices, garlic.
All this is easy to implement, it just requires a little thought and planning. Two years ago, I lost 40 pounds within 3 months by switching from a force-fed unhealthy regime (thanks, ex-boyfriend!) to my own healthy regime as above. I honestly thought there was something wrong with all my clothes as I was holding my trousers up with safety pins, until the penny dropped and I realised I had actually lost weight. I dropped 4 dress sizes (from UK size 16 to 8, US size 14 to 6) and I’ve kept it all off since! I feel happy with the way I eat now – I certainly don’t feel deprived. Pre-boyfriend, I was a size UK 6 / US 4 so I still feel too fat for my frame, so I’m planning to hit the gym this month, and have taken up belly dancing and salsa dancing – it’s great fun!
Posted by Miss Norty 
Posted by Miss Norty 
Posted by Miss Norty 
