Damn Xmas food! Something about it.. the whole spirit of Xmas and the holidays surrounding it had me wanting to eat like everyone else.. So I did… and it’s not xmas yet! Wasn’t the best of ideas because I did this for about 3 weeks and I’m paying for it now as I have packed on a few kilos. A little ice-cream here, a little Indian curry there.. it adds up.. especially if you’re hungry and eat later as well. I have something that clicked in my head but I’m going to write that in another post… so that it’s not skipped or skimmed.

Here are some more tips and suggestions when you’re looking to plan your diet!
4. Eat your calories, don’t drink them.
Don’t fill up on sodas and other drinks. You can get all your calories for one day in these if you do it too often. Having a soda with your lunch meal and then one when you’re out of the office is not the way to go. A few cups of hot chocolate there. A few beers here. That will put on the pounds straight back on easily.

7. Discover your food triggers.
I’m talking about the ones where you go “oh I feel like that”… When you go shopping what are you thinking when you walk past the cookies isle or the potato chips isle?  It’s important to fit your plan around your shopping schedule too. I know this sounds silly but if you’re like the vast majority of us – you WILL buy something that’s not on your list just because you’re an impulse hunger shopper!  So put those cookies back and just get the bread and milk you came for!

There are plans available for almost everything these days. It makes things more organised so we can do more throughout the day. Sometimes it sounds a little overdone but it does allow us to get more things done during our life and let’s face it – we organise our HOLIDAYS too – some ppl just use their holidays to vege… to let their lives settle and unstress. We all know that organising things can either put the person’s mind at ease or increase their stress levels (rushing from one thing to the next)… but that’s another topic.

When it comes to dieting, however, it IS a good idea all round to plan what you should be eating. Here are a few steps.

1. Mini meals are great. Some nutritionists say people should be eating something every two hours. Your body needs fuel. Having a couple of big meals a day will give you a downtime – siesta – as your body needs to put all its energy into starting off the digestion. That’s why – if you like to keep your energy up throughout the entire day, it’s best to eat several smaller meals a day – like a sandwich for lunch with a little fruit rather than taking off to a restaurant for a smorgasbord. It can be difficult to eat something every two hours so – I guess an easier time span would be every 4 hours. Don’t JUST eat some fruit – make sure you keep up your vitamins and minerals within most of the every day food we eat. Also, don’t make your mini meal a bucket of fried chicken. This is a great way to avoid hunger and improper snacking throughout the day. Usually when we get hungry, we will eat anything and usually it’s not good for us – like ice cream, cream buns, donuts etc. Pack yourself a selection of snacking foods such as carrots, celery, a small pasta meal, fruit, low fat yoghurt, sandwich (on multi-grain bread) boiled egg etc.. you’ll think of it just look in the pantry.

2. Don’t go over board. You don’t need to write down every single piece of food you’re going to have inside a dish you’re making and pin out the calories on a board. If you’re trying to cut back on food – try to write up maybe a maximum amount of food you’re allowed to eat. Personally, I’m a pretty big eater. I sometimes pop a hunger-suppressant pill every couple of days just so my body doesn’t go “ok here’s the food, where’s the exercise?”. I can eat excessively sometimes. I’m not suggesting you bring the calculator out and count up every amount of fat, sugar, saturated fat, sodium, calories, kilojoules etc you are eating and drinking… but it is a good idea to have a general idea. Don’t eat with your eyes, eat with your mind.

3. Eat good tasting food. It’s ok to occasionally treat yourself and eat something not-so-good for you. Just because you’re cutting back on the calories doesn’t mean you need to cut back on the taste. If your self control isn’t too good and you want to add that butter to the toast or you want to have ‘just another bowl of ice cream’ you should not even START eating something not included in your diet plan. There are plenty of delicious, low fat meals that are VERY tasty! Remember you can add different herbs to your dishes to spice things up a little.

Will Post more steps shortly.

I wonder this every day. How many calories do we need to function properly throughout the day though? It depends on a lot of factors including age, sex, physical activity throughout the day and also down to the type of work you do (from sitting in front of a computer all the way up to construction etc). Many people think that 2000 calories is the set amount for everyone however this is not the case at all. How is a person who has a very active lifestyle and is on their feet all day going to function properly on 2000 calories? Those of us who work at a desk would often find that can sometimes be too much and can end up gaining weight by the end of the day. I’m not suggesting you ignore how many calories you have – definitely not! It’s hard to avoid anyhow – just look at the treadmills and almost any machine at the gym these days – they all calculate how many calories you’re ‘burning’.

It is not just the calories you should be calculating – but also the amount of saturated and trans fat and sugar you’re consuming. Yes, these all calculate into calories for those of us who follow the low fat or calorie controlled diets created to reduce weight. Basically what I’m trying to suggest is – if you are only following the number of calories you’re consuming to maintain your weight rather than doing it to lose weight, don’t beat yourself up over an extra 200 calories over your usual ‘diet’. The amount of physical activity you do throughout the day will often burn them off anyway – especially if you park 1/2 a block further from work than your usual “park as close to the elevator as possible” attempts! Also, instead of walking slow and casual, upping your pace to a brisker walk will help burn the extra calories off faster too.

If you are eating a lot of fast food and candy throughout the day, this is not good calorie control and all the extra preservatives and sugars and fats in these foods are not good. Basically, just use your common sense.

If the calories you are eating are coming from healthy food, this is fine! If they’re primarily coming from deep fried food and heavily sugared foods, you have a problem and should change your diet. So if all the energy you’re digesting is coming in proper proportions from the food groups in the Healthy Food Pyramid (demonstrated below), then you are eating sensibly.

It’s not necessarily the amount of calories you are eating (ok, yes this is important) – it’s where the calories are coming from! I know many would think that calories are calories whether they’re coming from low fat and healthy foods or coming from the take-away franchises and local ‘fish and chips’ shop. Think of the benefits of the foods you are eating – the vegetables and all the foods mentioned in the bottom 3/4 of the healthy food pyramid all have a lot of other benefits other than supplying your body with ‘healthy’ calories.

Ultimately, if you are eating over 2000 calories a day and are eating the foods that are healthy for you, provided you are not on a medically induced diet, you are fine to eat a LOT of healthy foods but NOT the unhealthy foods. Just because the nutrition table on the wrapper of a burger says a certain amount of calories doesn’t mean that it is good for you because “there’s only this many calories in this burger”. You need to take into account the fats, sugars and sodium used in the making of it.

For proper healthy eating – I recommend you stick to the table!

There are stacks of diets out there nowadays. From food plans, pills, Hollywood stars’ plans, special exercises.. there’s a plethora of different diets. The latest big thing to hit the dieting market is Hoodia Gordonii, an African plant that has the amazing and handy property of curing hunger cravings (it tricks the brain into thinking your stomach is full). A small amount of Hoodia and you can go several days without eating and your body will be no worse for wear.

What’s quite common is the directional ‘dieting professionals’ demanding you what to eat and what not to. Diet or no diet, your body needs certain minerals and nutrients to be able to function properly so be careful what the current diet fads are telling you what you’re allowed to eat and not allowed to. Obviously, these diets would be the ones to avoid. They may help you to lose weight fast but you won’t keep it off and your body will suffer. It’s ok to eat bad food everynowandthen. Your mind will need it to ‘let off steam’ every now and then. Getting into the habit of it, however, isn’t so much a good idea. Having an occasional (like once a week and not a large portion) where you treat yourself won’t make that much of a difference in the long run.
Exercise is important when it comes to any diet. This is the only way to lose weight unless you get … surgery. Exercising has the combined benefits of burning up fat and strengthening your entire body. The endorphins (the happy hormones) you produce while exercising will also help you to have a better outlook on your life and overall improve your mood. It also helps you to handle stress and pressure better. There really are a lot of benefits to exercise!

If you’ve tried diets and they haven’t been working let us suggest something. Our proposition is to combine herbal pills (that are proven to work) and exercise (generally 100 mins of cardio exercise a week – including walking). This is guaranteed to help you shed those excess pounds fast and keep them off. The herbal pills are 100% natural (there are no extra chemicals added) and contain the astonishing ingredients Hoodia (a unique cactus plant from Africa that curbs the feeling of hunger), white kidney bean (it disrupts the starch to sugar conversion… so if you like white bread and potatoes, you can still eat it ), Chitosan (prevents cholesterol being absorbed into the body), and white willow which metabolizes fat. If you’re keen to lose weight and nothing’s worked yet – or if you’re just starting out, this is all you’ll need!

Remember, you need exercise to help you lose weight in the first place – and these herbal pills WILL help you get to your targetted weight with exercise!