If you’re looking to make some healthy changes to your life but are not sure where to start, take a look at my Weekly Plans for some inspiration.
The permanent changes suggested in the plans will help you become slimmer, healthier and fitter. The 4 week plan introduces healthy habits by changing small things in your life that you can stick to and which will become part of your healthy lifestyle. Goodbye bingo wings – Hello to skinny jeans.
A nutritionist talks about food, sport and lifestyle
Archives for posts with tag: Diet
I’m not a fan of the new year’s day diet mentality but I do recognise the new year is a time for new beginnings. With that in mind I have written 4 weekly plans to kick start your health plans for 2011. These plans are designed to get you active and eating healthily in small steps that will become permanent habits.
There’s no point trying to change everything at once on January 1st because come February 1st you may be totally fed up and give up completely. I recommend making several smaller changes and sticking to them so that each one is built into your life and becomes a part of it. Check out the articles in my ‘Weekly Plan’ category. You will also find a 14 day healthy eating plan designed for quick and simple recipes on my ‘Menu Plans’ page.
I devised this 14 day healthy eating plan when a client asked for a simple menu – not one that required hours in the kitchen and fancy ingredients. So the meals in this plan are deliberately simple but still incredibly nutritious.
I love apples! I love raw apples, apple juice, baked apples, apple peal and apple sauce with my pork – hmmmm. Apples are packed full of nutrients, taste delicious and are versatile – the perfect food! They can help us to lose weight, to slow down the effects of aging, reduce cholesterol levels and can even help to prevent cancer. Eating one a day will give you tonnes of vitamins and minerals as well as a healthy dose of fibre.
An apple contains approximately 81 calories (depending on it’s size) and 3.7g of fibre. One of the nutrients that is really good for us is pectin. Pectin is found in whole apples, apple juices and is also available in supplement form. It is a soluble fibre that binds with fat in the intestines to prevent it from being absorbed into the blood stream. There are several supplements on the market which suggest it can be used to aid weight loss.
About 7 years ago (before I became a nutritionist) I decided I was too heavy but I couldn’t work out why I wasn’t losing weight. I went to the gym most lunchtimes, cycled to and from work every day and didn’t eat an unhealthy diet but the weight wouldn’t budge. In desperation I spoke to my personal trainer at the gym and he said the magic words to me ‘Portion Control’.
If you are trying to lose weight one of the best lessons you can learn is to exercise portion control. To lose 1lb per week you need a 500 calorie deficit every day. This should be a combination of activity and eating less calories.
