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103 Diet Tips for Lifeby
Lorna Willock 1
Lorna Willock
Hi there,
My name is Lorna Willock and I am a fully qualified and practising Dietician and Nutritionist. For many years I have been helping people to lose the extra pounds gained by getting ‘out of balance’ with their appetite and falling into poor dietary habits. During this time I have also been reading and studying all aspects of nutritional health and well being, and keeping abreast of the latest research.
The situation is getting worse: diabetes and obesity are now problems for our younger children as well as the adults.
According to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2001 to 2004. About two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight, and almost one-third are obese.
But the solutions to these problems are so simple... we are eating far too many simple carbohydrates and omitting the essential fats from the diet. We also eat too many foods which have been adulterated by the food industry. Our bodies do not recognise these as foodstuffs. Sugar is added to many foods when this is not necessary and increasing our taste for sweet stuff as well as promoting production of insulin the sugar storage hormone.
I have managed to maintain my own weight, give or take a couple of pounds, for over 30 years and do not think this is a result of denial or my ‘lucky’ biochemistry. I was overweight at 19 years old, went on a diet for six weeks, lost the stone I needed to drop and have kept it off ever since.
I now want to pass all I have learned in all these years of education onto you to help you reach your goal of a healthy, slim, vital body. You can
Lorna Willock 2
then stay like this for the rest of your life by following a few simple tips.
Below is my book containing 103 diet tips.
For more information about myself and my qualifications visit my website
www.foods4life.co.uk
Your top over one hundred weight loss tips begin very soon. Try a new tip every day or just a couple per week if you want to take things slowly.
Think about how these tips can best work for you given your lifestyle and environment. We all seem to be so busy these days it can be hard to stand back and see what changes we could make fairly easily.
Watch the pounds fall off as you incorporate these tips into your daily life – making simple changes without any difficulty.
Easily become the more energetic, vital person you have always wanted to be.
Lorna Willock 3
Diet tips for life1. Go ‘cold-turkey’ on sugar hits. Sugar is a highly addictive
substance: the more we have, the more we seem to want. The best
policy is to cut it out of your diet as much as possible, and to watch
for hidden sugars in foods. The September 2008 issue of ‘Zest’
showed that a chilli chicken ready meal contained 14½ tsp of sugar
– scary! These are empty calories and deplete us of our important B
vitamins, which become used up whilst we metabolise these simple
sugars.
1. Cut back on carbohydrates. Soaring
obesity rates have made it startlingly
obvious that the low-fat, high
carbohydrate regime does not work as a
method for losing weight. We need our
essential fats, and it is crucial that we
include them in our diet because we
cannot make them ourselves. There is no
such thing as an 'essential carbohydrate'!
3. Avoid low-fat foods such as low-fat
biscuits. 'Low fat' does not necessarily
translate into 'low calorie'. Foods sold
as being low fat often contain more
sugar than their higher fat version.
Lorna Willock 4
Extra sugar → extra insulin production
→ extra weight laid down as fat.
4. Ensure that a minimum of 40% of your diet is made up fruit and
vegetables. Fruit and vegetables fill you up as they are full of
soluble fibre. They are also a great source of vitamins and minerals,
increasing your vitality. If you’re not a great fan of fruit and
vegetables, soups and smoothies are a good way to incorporate
them into your diet.
5. Have a reasonable intake of ‘good fat’. As a nation we are a bit
‘fat phobic’, but in fact, it is the fats and proteins we eat that fill us
up and slow down stomach emptying, keeping us feeling full for up
to three times as long. A carbohydrate meal can leave the stomach
after just two hours, leaving us feeling hungry again relatively
quickly, while fats take up to six hours
to pass through the stomach.
6. Eat
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fish, particularly oily fish. Fish is a good source of easily-digested
protein, and oily fish is great for supplying our essential omega
3. It keeps us full for a long time and we only need a small
portion to make a meal.
7. Maintain a minimal intake of tea and coffee. There are a couple of
reasons for this. Drinking tea and coffee reduces our blood sugar
and makes us hungry, plus we are too often tempted to eat a cake
or biscuit along with our cuppa. Remember the 1985 advert for
McVitie’s rich tea biscuits, which proclaimed: ‘a drink’s too wet
without one’ (of course, they neglected to mention that the biscuit
did not provide anything pro-health!).
8. Eat a good breakfast. Remember the expression: ‘breakfast like a
king’. It is vitally important to eat a good breakfast. It really does set
you up for the day, and it means that the rest of your meals can be
smaller.
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9. Cut out refined cake,
biscuits and sweets. These
foods give us minimal
nutrition whilst being
nutrient robbers.
8.
10. Stop eating before you feel full. If you eat very quickly you can
easily end up feeling ‘stuffed’, where the contents of your stomach
cannot be digested properly as it is too full to churn them over.
11. Drink very cold water with ice, as your body will burn up a few
calories as it heats up the water.
12. Freeze pieces of fruit and eat them while partially frozen. Grapes
are particularly useful to freeze; it takes far longer to eat them when
they are still partially frozen.
13. Avoid pastry. Pastry is full of saturated fat (or hydrogenated
margarine).
It is extremely high in calories that you can really do without.
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14. Make a big pot of low-calorie soup. A soup made entirely from
low calorie, low G.I. vegetables (not parsnips!) such as tomato,
celery, onion, French beans is filling and will keep you going if it is a
while until your next meal. The soup can be chunky or smooth
depending on your preference.
15. Don’t deep-fry. Apart from the extra calorie issue, sunflower oil
is polyunsaturated and should never be heated as it will then
produce harmful substances that damage our bodies. Deep frying
with a saturated fat such as dripping is safer, but who needs or
wants all that artery clogging fat anyway?
16. Never eat while watching television. Always give the food you
eat 100% of your attention, otherwise you will end up barely
noticing the meals you eat and feeling unsatisfied. TV dinners are a
bad idea nutritionally speaking, and do nothing for the family's
social skills either!
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17. Eat a big salad as a
starter to your meal.
Salads are absolutely
delicious and if eaten first
are digested quickly but
will still fill you up. You will
therefore eat less of the
main dish and still feel
satisfied. Watch the
dressings, however, as
you may be adding too
many calories with fatty
'ranch-type' dressings.
18. If eating potato, go for
sweet potatoes. Mashed
potato has a G.I.
(glycaemic index) of 85,
while table sugar is 59! I
am not suggesting that it is
fine to eat sugar; however,
one needs to be aware how
quickly potatoes raise
blood sugar → high insulin
production → fat (often
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deposited on the
abdomen). My dad grew
his own potatoes and
always put on a few
pounds on his waistline
every summer!
19. Start the day with a
bowl of real porridge.
When I say 'real' porridge I
do not include the
microwaveable varieties;
they are too glycaemic
(causing blood sugar levels
to rise too quickly). Soak
real raw or pinhead oats
overnight and cook through
slowly in the morning while
you wash and dress.
Porridge has a low G.I. and
keeps us feeling full for a
long period of time. Rolled
oats are another option but
have a slightly higher G.I.
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20. Set a weekly or monthly
weight loss goal. Rather than
just wanting to lose weight,
have a goal that is realistic and
that you would be happy with. If
you need to reset your goal, do
so, but have a plan in place.
21. Thicken with cornflour and not a ‘roux’. The traditional sauce
recipe uses a butter and flour mix to thicken but cornflour will do
the same job without the calories. A herb and onion sauce over
vegetables is very tasty.
22. Look at the sugar (and fat) content of boxed breakfast cereals.
There are a multitude of cereals out there selling themselves as
healthy and wholegrain when in
fact they are full of sugars and
often fats. Take a look at the
granola types; is it little wonder
many people love these? You
would be better to make your
own muesli – much cheaper and
you do not need to add all that
extra dried fruit.
23 Keep foods you can’t resist out of the house. If you have a
Lorna Willock 11
serious chocolate biscuit habit, don’t buy them. Why tease yourself
by having them around? Do people buy cigarettes when trying to
give up? Don’t buy them for the kids, either; they will be much
better off with a peanut butter sandwich. If crisps or cashew nuts
are your problem foods, don’t buy them either.
24. Chew your meals thoroughly. We
generally tend to eat rather too quickly, don’t
we? If we chew each mouthful slowly we will eat
less and be much more aware of how much we
have eaten.
25. Keep away from the chip shop. A fish supper can contain
sufficient food value to keep us going all day. Portion sizes are often
huge, with a couple of pieces of fish covered in greasy batter and a
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mountain of chips, all cooked in vast quantities of poor quality oil.
Once you have bought it you may well be tempted to eat it all
despite its daunting size.
26. Eat whole fruits rather than drinking
their juices. If you eat the whole fruit,
you will soon become full due to its fibre
content, while you could drink a very
large quantity of fruit juice without
feeling full at all.
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27. Use a smaller plate and bowl. Psychologically, having a full plate
or bowl at mealtimes keeps us happy. A smaller plate will ensure our
portion size stays fairly small.
28. Watch out for the calories in
wine and beer. Many people put
on weight as a result of what
they are drinking rather than what
they are eating. There is a lot of
sugar in a glass of wine. It
would be better to have a brandy
and soda or, if you are having
wine, make it dry and turn it into
a spritzer by adding the same
volume again of fizzy water.
29. Cut down your wheat intake. Many of us are consuming too
much carbohydrate in the mistaken belief that it is the healthy
option, for example Weetabix for breakfast, a sandwich at lunch and
pasta for our evening meal. Too much wheat can lead to excess
bloating and weight gain as a result of fluid retention.
Lorna Willock 14
30. Shop for food ‘on a full stomach’. If you are hungry when you go
for your weekly shop, your blood sugar levels will be low. This will
tempt you to buy foods that give you a quick lift, such as biscuits.
Make a list, stick to it and always shop after a meal.
31. Avoid reduced-fat cheese spreads. What processes have been
carried out to reduce the fat content? Stick with cottage cheese and
flavour it with fresh herbs, garlic and onion; it can be surprisingly
Lorna Willock 15
tasty.
32. Keep away from ‘fizzy pop’ like
Coke and Irn-Bru. As a nutritionist
there are host of reasons I could
give on why to avoid these drinks.
Apart from the colourings and
flavourings they also contain very
high levels of refined sugar – a whole
34.9 grams in a can of Irn-Bru.
Whatever the advertisers say, that
does not help in building a strong
body.
33. Make your own low-calorie dressings. Whilst we need our good
fats/oils, it can be all too easy to consume a lot of oil without
realising it. I make low-calorie dressings using goats or cows natural
yogurt. Add a little lemon juice or balsamic vinegar, season well,
add fresh herbs, garlic, onion and/or mustard: delicious. This can be
used to moisten home-made coleslaw or Waldorf salad instead of
using mayonnaise.
34. Eat only low G.I. carbohydrates. The glycaemic index (G.I.) is a
system for ranking carbohydrates according to how quickly they are
converted to glucose in the body. Therefore avoid ordinary potatoes,
bread made from wheat flour, white rice and bananas (apologies for
the latter). Keep off the carbs in general, except for the occasional
Lorna Willock 16
time when you need to boost your energy. Go for carbohydrate
foods such as quinoa and brown basmati rice.
35. Always go for the smaller portion. If a meal is already plated up,
take the one that appears smaller. Always ask for a small portion
when given a choice. Some cafes and restaurants will supply a
smaller size, or you could opt for two starters instead of a starter
and a large main course. Just ask!
36. Go 'cold turkey' on chocolate. Chocolate can be very difficult to
cut back on owing to its levels of theobromine, a highly addictive
substance. It is better simply to cut it out altogether. (Sorry!).
37. Avoid diet drinks and
foods containing aspartame. It
has been found in experiments
on mice that the mice who had
aspartame in their water ate
more of the food supplied than
others which had only water.
Lorna Willock 17
Aspartame has also been
linked to such health issues as
headaches and rashes
(WDDTY, Sept 2008)
38. Don’t eat garlic bread. A popular side dish to many meals, garlic
bread's main ingredient is highly glycaemic white bread coated with
butter or margarine. The only wholesome part is the garlic, and this
is likely to be in powder form rather than the fresh article.
39. Watch how many nuts you eat. I am all for nuts being part of a
weight reduction diet as they contain good fats, vitamins and
minerals. However, eating handfuls will cause you to put on weight,
so keep it in check. You can make a few nuts go further by adding a
few to salads, such as a teaspoonful of toasted pine nuts, walnuts in
a Waldorf salad, flaked almonds in a brown rice salad or cashews in
a stir-fry.
Lorna Willock 18
40. Keep off processed meats. These are generally poor grade
products, full of preservatives, salts and other additives as well as
high levels of saturated fats. As we store unwanted chemicals as
fat, such foodstuffs make us more likely to put on weight and to
suffer from fluid retention.
41. Minimise your intake of cream. There are many ‘creamy’ soups
and sauces on the market, which we often eat without appreciating
that we are eating cream. If you have to have some, enjoy some
single cream served with fresh fruit. The creamy desserts you see
on the menu when when you eat out are just calorie bombs and not
good for either your heart or your waistline.
42. Eat plenty of berries and cherries. Great for adding vitality,
these low G.I. fruits are great for keeping us going between meals.
They are also full of antioxidants, which are vital for good health.
Lorna Willock 19
43. Snack on crudités. If you are at a drinks party pre-dinner and
there are lots of fatty dips on the table, steer clear of the dips and
instead snack on the crudités served alongside them such as
carrots, peppers or broccoli florets.
44. Watch out for shop-bought sandwiches. For example, Marks and
Spencer's Oakham Chicken and Pancetta Caesar Sandwich allegedly
contains nearly a third more fat than a Big Mac: almost 45 grams!
(Dispatches, July 2008). Unless you know exactly what is in your
sandwich, you could be consuming an awful lot of extra calories you
had not planned on.
Lorna Willock 20
45. Keep an emergency fruit supply in your car, office or handbag.
When trying to lose weight, you can often find yourself suddenly
hungry. If you have plenty of fruit to hand then you need not suffer
unduly; it will help to keep you going until the next meal.
46. Always have a large glass of water before you drink alcohol.
Alcohol contains quite a lot of calories, so in order to lose weight
you need to watch how much you drink (drinking less is good for
your liver, too). If you drink a glass of water before your glass of
wine, you will already have quenched your thirst and will probably
drink your wine more slowly and enjoy it for longer. Also, as it takes
4 molecules of water to balance out each molecule of alcohol, you
are less likely to suffer from a headache caused by dehydration.
47. Don’t eat very salty foods such as nuts, crisps and bacon. Too
much salt in your diet will cause your body to retain fluid and you
will certainly feel larger. Most nuts can be bought unsalted; it is
simply a matter of retraining your taste buds. Don't eat too many
Lorna Willock 21
as high in energy.
48. Include pulses and beans in your diet. These low-fat, low-calorie
foods contain ‘resistant’ starch. This makes the energy contained in
them slow to release, so you will feel full for longer. There are plenty
of recipes to try out; Rose Elliot has some very good ones. The
internet is also full of great ideas.
49. Use the stairs
rather than lifts or
escalators. Taking lifts
when you have the
option of walking is
never a good idea.
They are often no
quicker, either (an
exception could be the
Empire State Building!)
50. Go to work ‘on an egg’ – organic of course! It has been proven
that a protein breakfast keeps you satisfied for a lot longer than one
that is carbohydrate-based, such as toast and jam or cornflakes.
Lorna Willock 22
51. Keep your serotonin levels high. Serotonin is produced from the
amino acid tryptophan, which is present in certain foods.
Tryptophan levels are high in chicken, tuna and salmon, while
chickpeas and lentils are good vegetarian options. Higher serotonin
levels reduce appetite; is it any wonder that depressed people often
turn to food to try and feel better? Plenty of vitamin B6 is also
essential for the conversion, so those who suffer PMS may benefit
from a B6 supplement. Complex carbohydrates (contained in whole
foods such as brown basmati rice) will keep levels circulating for
longer, whereas refined carbohydrates such as white bread are less
helpful.
52. Wear tight-fitting clothes to ‘bug yourself into action’. In the
days of loose jogging trousers and shell suits, people tended to eat
more. If you wear a garment that is a little tight, you are less likely
Lorna Willock 23
to eat quite as much.
53. Train for a running event. Events are held all over the UK, many
of which are only 5 kilometres (around 3 miles) and can be either
walked or run: a target even a complete beginner can aim for.
Running will also raise your metabolic rate a notch or two, helping
Lorna Willock 24
you to shift that weight fast.
54. Don’t use sweet foods as treats. Too often, sweets and
chocolates are used as rewards, as a thank you, or to bribe or
placate. Remember never to say ‘eat up your greens and then I’ll
give you something nice’. You need to start thinking of lean meat
and vegetables as treats.
55. Use pureed vegetables as a sauce instead of cream. We are
used to using tomatoes for sauces, but most other vegetables can
be used to make delicious sauces without adding fat, such as
carrots with chilli, peas and mint or caramelised onion.
56. Cut back on saturated fats. Fat comes in at 9 calories per gram,
compared to carbohydrate and protein at 4 calories. Whilst we need
our good fats and oils (which, as well as being essential to the body,
keep us fuller for longer), too much saturated fat is never a good
idea.
Lorna Willock 25
57. Put photos of ‘slim you' around the kitchen, such as on the
fridge door. Choose a picture of yourself that you are particularly
fond of. If you don’t have an appropriate picture, get a flattering
current one whittled down using computer software such as
Photoshop.
Lorna Willock 26
58. Don’t buy any food containing more than six ingredients. This
will cut out many of the foods available in the supermarket without
eliminating the staples. If you study the packaging of supermarket
cakes and biscuits you will see that many of them contain a scary
number of ingredients.
59. Poach and steam; don’t fry. These cooking methods are
appropriate for vegetables, many types of fish and eggs. Steaming
as a cooking method will ensure that your vegetables retain all their
vitamins as they are not leached into the cooking water.
60. Eat brown basmati rice. White and even regular brown rice are
fairly glycaemic. Basmati rice is much slower to break down, and
the brown version is slower still. It is great added to salads, stir fries
and soups.
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61. Sprinkle lemon juice and/or balsamic vinegar on salads. Instead
of the usual salad dressings, you can zap up a salad simply by
adding a little chilli and lemon juice. If the salad contains a fat such
as avocado or parmesan shavings, this will slow down stomach
emptying process, keeping you feeling full for longer - plus it will
taste delicious!
62. Never eat ‘synthetic’ food. This may sound like a strange thing
to say, but I am talking about foods that contain a high number of
additives, preservatives,
flavourings, hydrogenated fats and so on. There is a huge industry
manufacturing such ‘foods’, though I would question how many of
these would be eaten by any other species of mammal. Many of
them consist of unidentifiable animal parts minced to a pulp before
being reformed into ‘food’; remember Jamie Oliver and the ‘Turkey
Twizzlers'? We end up laying down fat as our bodies attempt to
protect us from these ‘foods’.
Lorna Willock 28
63. Eat at the table. It is important to be aware of all the food you
eat, and not be distracted by another activity. It is easy to consume
a large quantity of food absentmindedly if you are busy with other
tasks.
64. Cut out crisps. Many of us get through a lot of packets of crisps
and other savoury snack foods. When you heat polyunsaturated oil
such as sunflower, it produces harmful by-products. So do yourself a
favour and give up these little bags of salt, fat and flavourings.
Lorna Willock 29
65. Don’t fixate on ‘dieting’. Almost by default we start a diet and
feel deprived before we have even started. We cannot imagine that
losing pounds could be anything other than complex and DIFFICULT!
It is your mindset that you need to adjust. If you think about
maximising your fitness and energy, what foods do you need to
consume? Not cake, chocolate and pizza, that's for sure! You need
lean protein, lots of fruits, vegetables and wholegrains.
66. Watch out when buying minced meats. A lot of minced meat
products may be high in fat as they are likely to have been minced
from a fattier cut. If buying beef ask for steak mince, or have it
minced from rump steak. Turkey mince is fairly lean and can be
made into burgers instead of buying fattier versions. You can bulk-
make and freeze them to save time later. Adding garlic, onion, herbs
and spices will make them even tastier.
67. Watch your caffeine levels. A high consumption of caffeine
Lorna Willock 30
through coffee or energy drinks such as Red Bull will cause your
blood sugar to rise and you will need more insulin (the blood sugar
reducing, fat storage hormone). One reason for this may be that
caffeine triggers the release of adrenalin, a hormone that releases
stored sugar from the liver.
68. Try eating small meals every few hours. This will help to balance
out your blood sugar levels. If these levels dip too low you will find
yourself getting hungry. Also, eating small amounts often is thought
to boost metabolism. Skipping meals in an effort to lose weight can
slow your metabolism right down, causing you to put on weight.
69. Don’t eat dinner late! I don’t know how many people I have
come across who practically starve themselves all day and then eat
all through the evening. It is important to 'break fast' by having a
morning meal a short while after you wake up. If you miss this meal,
your body (in its infinite wisdom) will respond to what it perceives
as being 'starved' by abruptly slowing down your metabolism. Later
in the day, maybe at around 5 pm, you might start eating and
Lorna Willock 31
continue until bedtime. Does this sound familiar to some of you out
there? As a result you can end up not burning up the calories and
going to bed on a full stomach. Apart from anything else, you won't
sleep as well if you are digesting foodstuff whilst sleeping.
70. Eat a diet high in soluble fibre. However, don't increase your
fibre intake too quickly or you will overload your digestive system.
Some people are sensitive to high fibre levels, so make sure you
introduce it in a planned and gradual way. Soluble fibre, such as the
fibre in porridge, is easier on your bowel than rougher fibres such as
bran. Whilst on a diet you can try extra physillium or linseed tea to
help fill you up - just do it gradually!
71. Always buy jam with a high percentage of fruit. St Dalfour,
Meridian and The Real Organic Food Company all produce jams
containing very high levels of fruit, which are far better for you than
those containing up to 65% sugar.
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72. Cut out ‘ready meals'. These pre-made dinners can contain a
host of horrible additives. When you eat something your body
perceives as a toxin or chemical, it may react by storing it as fat to
keep you safe. Ready meals vary a lot in their quality, and many are
a very poor source of nutrition.
73. Don’t sit down for prolonged periods. If you work in an office,
see if you can go up and down some stairs a few times during the
day, or offer to do any extra jobs that will involve moving around. It
is hard to put fat on a moving object so keep moving. Find jobs
around the house to keep you active in the evenings. Sitting around
watching television does not burn many calories. Being fitter will
reduce your risk of many associated health problems.
Lorna Willock 33
74. Walk or cycle to work if possible. If your workplace is less than
six miles away, there is no reason why cycling there should not to
be quick and easy. It is even possible that it would take less time
than driving or taking public transport (depending on where you
live!). Walking one mile should take around 15 minutes – maybe a
little longer if you are very overweight. See what is possible and
watch the pounds melt off whilst your body gets toned.
75. Have that tasty pudding once every ‘blue moon’. Every now and
then, if you really want to, allow yourself a pudding such as apple
crumble and custard or pecan pie. Start your meal with a low calorie
salad and have that pudding you have been craving. See it for what
it is – a total indulgence - and don’t do it too often. Also, if you make
the same pudding using alternative ingredients such as wholemeal
spelt flour, brown sugar, butter and seeds it will be more
Lorna Willock 34
wholesome.
76. Juice vegetables for extra vitality. Vegetable juices will not pile
on the pounds the way smoothies might. They do not contain nearly
so much sugar as fruit, but are full of vitamins and minerals. This
will give you more energy and you will find you can do more - plus
you will actually feel like doing more as your mood and vitality
improve.
77. Use marinades to make meats taste delicious. People often
claim they are bored with their ‘diet’ foods. To avoid this, use tasty
marinades such as garlic and chilli for your fish and chicken and
give more 'zap' to your meals.
78. Start with a target weight.
When you begin your weight
loss plan, take a note of your
weight and check this against
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your BMI. Work out roughly what
your BMI should be and how
long it may take you to reach
this target. Make it realistic and
do-able.
79. Don’t be pushed into overeating. Some of your friends may say
‘they like you just the way you are’. It can be a threat to them for
you to slim down, or they may just feel jealous as they are unable to
sort out their own health issues. This negativity might be coming
from a partner or husband who may feel vulnerable if you gain
confidence through a 'healthier you'. Stick to your guns and don’t
be badgered into having a cake you neither want nor need.
80. Try to eat as much homemade food as possible. If you made it,
you know what’s in it - simple as that!
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81. Buy a ‘Foreman’ grill. These little beauties are great for cooking
meat and fish such as chicken, tuna and salmon. They quickly sear
the meat, keeping the juices in without adding fat – and the results
are delicious.
82. Don’t eat while walking around. Lots of people can be seen out
on the streets every lunchtime eating their lunches as they walk
around. They are too distracted to actually appreciate what they are
having, and their lunch is often gone before it is truly enjoyed.
83. Freeze fruit juice or smoothies. When the weather is hot and you
feel like having an ice cream: don’t! Have a fruit ice-lolly instead: far
less fat and still delicious. As far as 'whippy' varieties of ice cream
are concerned, they are full of additives. Ice cream, at its best, is
made simply of cream, sugar and eggs: high in calories but much
safer than the weird alternatives.
84. Don’t eat hydrogenated fats. Hydrogenation is the original
process of making margarine, which is produced from a liquid oil.
Sunflower oil should never be heated as this produces toxic by-
products; only saturated fats and oils should be heated as they are
stable compounds.
85. If you are out for something to eat and you are not feeling
hungry then just have a starter or something fairly light. It is not a
good idea to eat more than your body is asking for. Keep in tune
with your body.
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86. Avoid fast-food outlets. I saw a
great quotation the other day:
‘When you see the Golden Arches
you are probably on the road to the
Pearly Gates’. It was by William
Castelli MD, who was presumably
talking about McDonalds. There
have been plenty of exposés on
fast-food chains, such as the film
'Supersize Me'.
Lorna Willock 38
87. Take out a gym membership – and use it! Many people take out
a membership to a gym in the New Year, as part of a health
campaign, and after a couple of months or less they rarely go. So
take out the membership, decide how often you can realistically go
and stick to it. It will take some self-determination but will definitely
be worth it. If you can find a friend or two to come along, you can all
help each other attend.
88. Take a photo of yourself in a tight top or dress. One thing that
often makes
people want to change is seeing themselves in a photo or video. Put
the photo in the front of your wallet as a daily reminder and see
how much it helps motivate you.
89. Drink approximately half a litre of water half an hour before
each of your three main meals. There are a few good reasons for
this practice. Often when you are thirsty, you can end up eating
instead of drinking; drinking plenty of water will put an end to this.
Also, it is important to give your body sufficient fluid to produce
your digestive enzymes, but if you drink with your meal this will
Lorna Willock 39
dilute these much-needed enzymes.
90. Buy a good recipe book and/or use the internet to look for ideas.
We are not all born great cooks. If you have a good, fairly simple
recipe book, this will pave the road to culinary success.
91. If you are having a lazy day, only eat fruit, lean protein,
vegetables or salad. Your body needs protein on a daily basis, but if
you are planning to be fairly inactive you won’t need much
carbohydrate (such as potatoes or bread).
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92. Try whole rye bread open sandwiches (cut thinly). Ring the
changes and have an 'open' sandwich, thereby instantly halving
your intake of bread. Whole rye bread has a lower G.I. than wheat,
so when cut thinly it will not add too much carbohydrate. Pile tons
of salad on top and a few jumbo prawns. Then sprinkle with lemon
juice – delicious!
93. Use thermogenic herbs and spices. These will speed up your
metabolism by raising your core body temperature, and include
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ginger, cinnamon, mustard, paprika and cayenne. It should also be
noted that cinnamon has been used therapeutically to lower blood
sugar and could therefore be helpful to diabetics.
94. Exercise daily. Make a plan to ensure that you are doing some
form of exercise every day. Plan it out on a chart and, if possible, do
a variety of different things such as dancing, going to the gym,
swimming, yoga and walking. Really try to stick to it; you will feel
so energized.
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95. Book yourself into a weight-loss camp. If you have the time and
the money there is no better way to kick start weight loss than
attending a camp. People who have been there are amazed at how
good they feel after only a week. Once your metabolism has been
geared up a few notches, you will find it much easier to carry on
with a plan once you return home.
96. Try a supplement such as Hoodia Gordonii, which acts as an
appetite suppressant. It is a cactus which grows in the Kalahari
Desert in South Africa and has been shown in studies to be very
effective. It is also reputed to be a mood enhancer, promoting
feelings of wellbeing. (Note however that the principle active
ingredient, pregnene glucoside, is similar to glucose in its action but
Lorna Willock 43
is far more concentrated, and therefore this supplement may be
contraindicated for diabetics.)
97. Try to get out into good light and/or sunshine as often as you
can. Many people suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). In
the winter, you can use daylight bulbs around your home for a
mood-enhancing effect. This will help your body to produce
serotonin, which the pineal gland will then transfer to melatonin,
important for regulating sleep cycles. If you have low serotonin
levels then you may well become addicted to carbohydrates such as
bread and potatoes as your body attempts to correct this problem. If
you suffer insomnia and/or depression this may well be a problem
for you.
98. Try not to use artificial sweeteners in tea and coffee (such as
Candarel, or Splenda). These sweeteners all contain aspartame
which, as I mentioned before when discussing diet drinks, will not
make you lose weight. It has been shown that laboratory animals
who were fed aspartame ended up obese. It may be that there is a
mechanism in these chemicals that increases appetite.
99. Often our excess weight is caused by fluid retention, so cut back
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on the foods that tend to trigger this, such as wheat. Watch your
stress levels, too, as stress can make you retain fluid by upsetting
your endocrine system (also bad for upsetting hormones). To relieve
fluid retention, try drinking infusions of gentle diuretic herbs such as
dandelion or chamomile. Many of the de-tox types of tea also
contain diuretic herbs.
100. Use seaweed in cooking. A little seaweed added to soups will
add a little iodine to our diet. Another great food containing both
seaweed, fish and rice is sushi: a favorite training food of tennis
champion Andy Murray. Iodine is the food of the thyroid gland,
which governs metabolism. If you have too little it can make you
feel sluggish.
101. Don’t start a slimming diet on a Monday. It’s often hardest to
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be strict about your eating at the weekends. Birthday parties with
cake, weddings, and dinner parties all tend to be held on Friday or
Saturday nights, leaving your blood sugar levels a little haphazard.
To start a fairly strict weight loss regime on a Monday morning is
asking too much of yourself; getting back to a working week after a
busy weekend is enough to cope with. A Wednesday would be a far
better option.
102. Stuffed vegetables are a good low-calorie light meal. Large
mushrooms, beef tomatoes, courgettes (zucchini) and peppers are a
few examples of vegetables that are easy to stuff. Add extra herbs
for flavour, and season well.
103. Get your children used to a variety of vegetables from an early
age. There are so many different vegetables to choose from, it is
most likely that your child will like some of them. Do not pass on
any preferences from yourself or the rest of the family, and let them
try out everything that you are happy to have. Maybe your child will
Lorna Willock 46
prefer many vegetables raw, such as carrots, peppers and celery.
Keep experimenting.
Disclaimer: These diet tips should have a positive effect on your body’s
physiology. If you have any health problems or are in poor health please consult
your GP before making any dietary changes. In certain instances dietary
change could interfere with or lower one’s needs for medication.
This e book does not provide medical advice
The information and materials on this e book are provided for general information purposes and may not be relied on as a substitute for actual professional medical advice, care or treatment. Nothing in this book may be used for diagnosing or treating any health condition and is not a substitute for professional medical evaluation, diagnosis or treatment. The information provided by this site is not intended to be, and should not be taken as, professional medical advice. You are encouraged to consult your physician or your local health care provider to obtain professional medical advice, which may agree or disagree with the information and materials contained on this site. You should consult your own physician or your local health care provider regarding your own symptoms, medical condition, treatment or medications. If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem, you should contact your own physician or local health care provider immediately. Do not disregard the medical advice of your physician or local health care provider or delay in seeking medical advice from your physician or local health care provider because of anything you read within this book. The information and materials provided in this e book are not recommended or approved nor disapproved of by the NHS in the UK.
Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability
The materials provided by this e book are provided 'as is' without any warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement of intellectual property. Lorna Willock does not warrant the accuracy and
Lorna Willock 47
completeness of the information and materials provided by this site. Lorna Willock may make changes to the information and materials provided by this site at any time without notice. The information and materials provided by this site may be out of date and Lorna Willock makes no commitment to update the information and materials provided by this site.
In no event shall Lorna Willock be liable for any damages whatsoever, including without limitation, consequential damages and those resulting from lost profits, lost data or business interruption, arising out of the use, inability to use or the resulting use of this e book, or the information and materials provided by this or any linked site, whether based on warranty, contract, tort or any other legal theory and whether or not advised of the possibility of such damages.
The information and materials presented on this site is believe to be accurate, but should not be relied upon by the user for any purpose. Any and all liability for the content or any omissions from this e book, including any inaccuracies, errors or mis-statements is expressly disclaimed. All other damages, direct or indirect, special, incidental, consequential or punitive are hereby excluded to the fullest extent allowed by law, even if Lorna Willock has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
Your use of this e book expressly acknowledges your agreement that Lorna Willock is not responsible for the results of your decisions resulting from the use of this e book including your choice to seek or not to seek professional medical advice, care or treatment.
This e book is not a substitute for in-person evaluation, diagnosis, or treatment by your
physician or other local health care provider. Questions concerning your health, medical
condition, treatment or medications should be made in person with your physician or other
health care provider
Lorna Willock 48
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