Be positive and lose weight after Christmas
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Over the Christmas period alone, the average person piles on a staggering 8lbs (over half a stone) in weight thanks to festive food, drink and partying and it can take up to three months to lose that seasonal flab. Add that to New Year resolutions, festive hangovers and a hefty dose of guilt and it all equates to a dismal January for most women, so why diet and be miserable when you can lose the weight and be happy?
It’s a well known fact that if women approach slimming in the right frame of mind then they are more likely to succeed and Slim.Happy is a new approach to weight loss from Slim.Fast – just because watching your weight is a part of life doesn’t mean it has to rule it.
Slim.Happy is all about losing the guilt as well as the weight and enjoying life. Why not kiss a picture of your old self goodbye on the 1st January, take a daily dose of mirth and even find a friend who also wants to lose some weight – a problem shared is a problem halved! Make sure you enjoy everyday and give yourself a pat on the back every time you reach a personal goal.
Happyvisor, Jenni Trent-Hughes, is an expert in women’s psychology and has some great advice on how to make dieting an enjoyable experience rather than a chore, laugh through the bad times and make 2007 a magical new world for slimmers. Noshtritionist, Fiona Hunter, is an authority on dieting issues and is great at dishing out advice on controlling food cravings, nutritional needs and cooking light. She has a great supply of tasty recipes – all of which are less than 600 calories!
Join Fiona & Jenni online on Friday 5th January at 1pm as they offer advice on a happy dieting new year.
TRANSCRIPT:
H: Katie Pullinger, Host
F: Fiona Hunter
J: Jenny Trent-Hughes
H: Hello and welcome to today’s edition of the Lifestyle Show, brought to you by Slimfast and a very happy new year to you, I’m Katie Pullinger. Now it may shock to you that the average person will actually put on 8lbs over the Christmas period which is quite scary and a very ominous thought through January to think are we going to have to hit the dieting books, are we going to have to start going to the gym, cutting out all the treats that we’ve enjoyed – because I think that you’ll find that you know, you’ll agree that it actually gets very depressing when that’s the thought ahead of us for January. So we’ve got lots of tips for you today, and I’ve got two experts, Happyvisor and Noshtritionist I should say, Fiona Hunter, and Jenny Trent-Hughes – how are you today?
F: Very well thank you Katie
J: Very well and you?
H: I’m very well. We’ve got loads and loads of questions for you today as well because many people are panicking about that potential 8Ibs that we could have put on. Now where do we start?
F: Well we start by not panicking
H: Ok – panic out the window
F: Rule number one, because when we panic, we tend to choose the wrong type of diet, you know and we forget that it takes several weeks in some cases several months or several years for us to gain this weight, but we all expect to lose it overnight, so we choose crash diets, we choose faddy diets, we choose these ridiculous detox diets, and you are really just setting yourself up for failure. The best way, the safest way, the most effective way to lose weight and keep that weight off, because that’s the key, is to choose a sensible plan, a realistic plan that will give you a slow, steady weight loss but weight that you will keep off
H: That’s the most important thing because like you said you know you do these crash diets, and then a month later you’ve put it all back on again, which is a horrible thought
F: Absolutely and that’s really bad news in terms of your weight, but also in terms of your self-esteem as well because dieting is much more than just about the food that we put on our plate, what’s going on in our brain is just as important
H: Yes and that’s what we want to talk to Jenny about because it is about – well it’s peace of mind as well, and not getting that panic with that horrible word “diet”, we’ve got to get rid of the word “diet” haven’t we?
J: Absolutely because the instant that you hear it, our subconscious is the most powerful tool that we have, and once you hear the word diet, you think that you’re being punished, that you have been naughty and that you’re punishing yourself, and then the two people that live inside of you – the nice person and the naughty person – start warring with each other and so then you don’t get anything accomplished, you’re miserable and you don’t lose weight, so it’s actually about convincing yourself that you’re doing something for yourself rather than to yourself, if you understand the difference
H: Because I think that’s that horrible sort of feeling of as soon as you say diet, you’ve got to get rid of cream and ice cream and then cakes and all those things that you love, and like you said you’ve got these two people in your brain are warring with each other going “do it, do it, it’s only one spoonful of ice cream” –
J: And you also think, the thing is that you also think you’re depriving yourself, and we live in a society anyway which is all about fulfilling all our needs and addressing – having everything that we want whenever we want, and so telling yourself “no you can’t do that” – we just don’t want to hear that
H: So what do we do, I mean do you just work everything in moderation –
J: Well first of all one of the things that is really important to me is that you get comfortable with yourself first –
H: Ok
J: Because if you start hating yourself and “oh I’m awful” and “oh I look terrible” – then you get unhappy, and then it just spirals out of control, so first it’s get comfortable with who you are, and then separate the fact that you need to lose weight as, you know the fact that you need to lose weight doesn’t mean that you’re a terrible person and there’s something awful wrong with you and you’re a blight to humanity – it just means that you need to lose some weight
H: Right well let’s go straight into the questions, because we do have loads of them for you today. I’ve one from Diana from Preston, hello there she says “there always seems to be a dieting frenzy in the New Year which really puts me off as if you tell people you’re going on a diet there’s almost a level of expectancy. Don’t want to be a boring dieter who updates someone on how many pounds I’ve lost every time I see them – please help me give a fresh outlook to my dieting, I think I could do with losing about 2 stone.” Where does Diana start?
F: Well don’t think of a diet, let’s forget the word diet altogether –
H: Ok, scrap that
F: Think about lifestyle changes that you can make and think about a long term approach to dieting, because that’s going to be the most successful, so small changes, things like switching from full fat milk to skimmed milk for instance, if you make enough of those small changes it will make a real difference, but don’t think of a diet as something that you follow for 6 weeks or 6 months and then go back to your old eating habits think about making permanent changes
H: Permanent changes to your diet which of course – I think people panic because they think they have to eat lettuce, you know lettuce and salad and that’s my nemesis, I hate salad, I do try but I would prefer it was covered in a cheese dressing and fried bacon, so how do you moderate that diet?
F: Well it doesn’t have to, dieting doesn’t have to be about punishing yourself, it doesn’t have to be hard work, it doesn’t have to be depressing, you don’t have to get hungry on diets. If you choose the right sort of plan, so it’s all about choosing the right sort of plan
H: But do you think that’s different for everybody?
J: well the thing that’s really striking me though about Diana’s question – and this is something that I try to tell everyone, and if she’s listening now Diana – sssh don’t tell anyone. That is where I think most of us go absolutely wrong, we climb up on our roof tops, wave our arms and tell the world we’re going on a diet, and once that happens most people that you know will feel they also need to be on a diet. So first they get mad because you’re doing it and they’re not, so you know what they want you to fail, the fact of the matter is most people want you to fail on your diet –
H: That’s sad
J: It is, and they will subconsciously do things to actually rattle your cage
H: Ooh let’s go and get a takeaway, a curry
J: Exactly, exactly, so if you’re really serious about dieting, don’t tell everyone until you’re comfortable with it and you’ve developed your patterns that you know are working, keep it to yourself
H: Yes. Now this is actually kind of linked actually because Marie in Sheffield is going to take her husband with her on this diet, she says “I’m thinking of going on a diet with my husband in the new year, do you have any tips for motivation?” I think that’s a good thing to have someone to motivate you and vice versa isn’t it, so even though they’re not telling everyone, it’s quite good to have somebody –
J: Yes but you have to be really careful, and one of the things that she’s going to need to be aware of before she starts, which is the danger – in a lot of ways your husband is the best person to do it with, in certain ways he’s the worst person to do it with because men lose weight faster than women
H: Oh do they, I didn’t know that. How come?
J: Because we are – our bodies are programmed to hold fat to feed children during pregnancy, all of that, so we retain fat in a different way and that’s why you’ll meet these guys – it drives you nuts, because you know they need to lose like 14 stone and they sort of stop drinking beer for two weeks and they all look like Jude Law
H: So they look better
J: And you’re chugging away and you’ve lost 3 pounds, so yes that’s the problem quite often, when people lose weight as couples that – you know the women will lost 2 pounds, and for every 2 pounds she loses, her husband will lose 7 or 10 so it’s kind of like a golfing handicap – be aware that you know, set a handicap, and set a goal so you, the two of you doing it together, take £50 out of the household kitty and say ok whoever reaches their goal first – and the goal has to be different, because the weight loss capability is different
H: And be realistic as well, yes
J: So you can’t say whoever loses 10Ibs first, it’s if he loses 30, you lose 10 or whatever it is, and whoever gets there first gets the kitty
H: I like that!
J: Aha!
H: I like that a lot, I think that’s a really good fact to know because I honestly didn’t know – I knew that women had to have more body fat than men, but I didn’t know that men could actually lose it quicker
J: Yes
H: Damn them!
F: From a purely practical point of view, yes of course it’s very helpful if you’re cooking the same food, if you can cook the same meals because there’s nothing worse than having to cook two sets of meals, or having all those tempting things in the house for husbands and kids that might not be dieting. So new year is perhaps a time to clear your cupboards of all the tempting treats, everything that might tempt you, and it’s a good time for the whole family to start thinking about eating healthily
J: You know what I do as well, and I’m learning as I go along and losing weight, so I’m finding out what works and doesn’t work, anything that’s “naughty” I put it in the freezer
H: Oh so if you actually wanted it you’d have to wait for it
J: Exactly
H: So it’s not something you just grab
J: Exactly
H: That’s a really good idea
J: And yes first couple of weeks you will find yourself eating frozen biscuits, and all sorts of manor of unpleasantries, but you get past that, and that’s also one of the things that’s good about Slimfast, is they have you know they have these little snack bars –
H: Treats
J: Treats that are like chocolate, they’re like candy –
H: And they’re not denying you the treat
J: Exactly so if you really really feel that you absolutely must have it, you can have it in a modified way
H: Brilliant. This is actually a good time for Chloe’s question, she says “I’ve got a sweet tooth and I have a daily craving for chocolate etc – how can I cut the cravings?” Well there you go, it’s these little snacks, they look yummy as well. Chocolate peanut bar, you see again the word “chocolate” is in there, I’m liking that!
F: I have to say there’s also a chocolate milk drink isn’t there which is fantastic for anyone that likes chocolate
H: Is that this milkshake here?
F: There we are, but there’s no need to – there are no forbidden foods on any sort of diet, with anything you need to learn how to include these foods into your diet and eat them in moderation as part of a healthy, balanced diet, so it’s all about portion control
H: I think that’s also something you’ve got to remember when you’re cooking for your other half, because I always forget when I’m cooking for me and my fella that I put the same amount on my plate that I put on his, and you know I don’t need to eat as much as he does, but it’s just very easy to do
F: We all like to see a full plate, there’s nothing worse than a little lettuce leaf and a mung bean on your plate. Dieters you know, vegetables are absolutely their best friends, so fill your plate full of veggies and then keep the other stuff reasonably modest portions. Now you know for anyone who enjoys cooking there’s loads of recipes on the Slimfast website, slimfast.co.uk, and they’re all 600 calories or less
H: Ok, well that’s definitely something to look at, obviously once you’ve finished watching us here! We’ve got one from Jerry and he says “my wife is obsessed with these diet bars, are they actually beneficial?” so you know that’s what we’ve just been talking about
F: Yes I mean again one of the things that we encourage as part of the Slimfast program is that people eat regularly, they eat 3 meals and they eat 3 snacks, and we like people to eat 6 times a day
H: 6 times a day? Ok
F: And this is important, up to 6 times a day, this is important because it helps balance blood sugar levels, it’s when you get over-hungry that you lose control of your appetite, you’re much more vulnerable to making poor food choices
H: And binge
F: And binging. Now the worst time for many women is when they get back, if they’ve been working and they get back and they think I’m hungry, I’m tired, I have to cook a meal – I’ll just have a biscuit or two before I start cooking, before you know it, half a packet of biscuits have gone. If you have a snack, be it one of these bars or be it a smoothie or something like that, or a piece of fruit, a yogurt, small, healthy snack before you leave the office or before you start cooking, you’re much less likely to nibble when you’re cooking
J: There’s another important point about the question of the meal bars, is that where a lot of us go wrong is convenience. First of all almost all women now work outside of their home as well, and you’re busy, you’re running here, you’re running there, and if you don’t have, if you have to make a choice, you’re out, you’re hungry, you have to make a choice, you’re going to grab the first thing that you can see, and that’s where you get into trouble, because trouble is a very slippery slope, once you start you just sort of go tumbling down, and so if you carry, you know carry a bar in your bag, a handful of nuts, a piece of fruit, that way when you’re out and you get hungry you can reach for something that isn’t against whatever program you’re trying to do
F: That’s a really good point, be prepared, golden rule
H: I was just about to say actually is it – on a similar strain, my problem is not so much that I grab the first thing that I see but I grab one of the quickest things, that’s why you know takeaways often happen because I can’t really be bothered to you know prepare some three course meal, so how quick are the Slimfast meals to make, are they nice and easy, you don’t have to think about them too much?
F: All the recipes on the website are quick and easy to make, you don’t need 101 different ingredients, but you know for days when you haven’t really got time or the energy to cook, there are things like the meal replacement soups or even the drinks, so you know we all get back sometimes and you think you know what, I just can’t be bothered to drag myself into the kitchen, something like that is the perfect solution
J: And some of the things that you can make, which is something that I do, is you can make a double portion and you can freeze –
H: Back to the freezer again
J: Exactly and you can – when you come home from work you just stick it out and there you go, you’re all sorted
H: So you could just on a Saturday or a Sunday afternoon, if you do have some free time, you could prepare your whole week’s meals if you want to –
J: Exactly
H: And put them in the freezer
F: One thing that I find really helpful, to help people eat healthily and to be prepared is to get them to sit down at the weekend and think about what they’re going to eat for the next week. Write a menu so to speak, make sure you’ve got all the food in, so then when you get back and you’re tired and you think what am I going to eat, you’ve got the basics there
J: You don’t reach for the phone!
H: Exactly. But also I suppose it makes you not get quite so bored with your food either, so if you’ve planned your week ahead, you know you’ve got something different for every day rather than thinking oh not fish again, or chicken again
F: That’s a really good point because we all tend to get stuck in a bit of a food rut, and particularly when we’re dieting we think “oh it’s got to be fish, it’s got to be chicken, if you can try some new recipes, you know once or twice a week, you’ll really be pleasantly surprised, and it helps to keep you motivated if you, you know if you have a variety of different foods in your diet
H: Ok, we’ve got a question from Selina and she says “what role does your attitude take in the diet process?” I think this is one for you Jenny
J: Well your attitude is everything, you know it’s like I was saying earlier, how successful you are depends on how you approach it, so if you go into something thinking this will never work, this is going to fail, I’ll never do it – it’ll fail, no it won’t work, no you won’t do it and so it’s about going in with a positive attitude is part of it, but you also need to be reasonable, and that’s where a lot of us go terribly wrong, you know that’s the old “oh I gained 8 pounds over the holidays so I need to lose it by January 15th! –
H: That’s not going to happen
J: well that’s not reasonable, you know or –
H: It’s not good for you is it?
J: No it isn’t, and you know I’m going on holiday in two weeks, so let me lose 2 dress sizes by then – well that’s not sensible. So you need to go into it with a positive attitude, and a reasonable, sensible goal
H: I think that’s one of the things that makes it difficult for us is that so many magazines, women’s magazines as well, you know will do these page spreads of you know some celebrity, and their diet, which probably isn’t even their diet anyway, and say you know “how to lose a dress size a week before the party season, or after the party season” – and you’re thinking you can’t do that and it’s not good for you, and I don’t think it’s really practical, I don’t think it really works either
J: Well the problem is also, as long as you know I tend to be a bit of a maverick about this, but as long as we keep buying into that, is as long as they will keep doing it, you know because one of the things that is really important to me and I just go on about endlessly is you need to be – it’s like, I interview men a lot for different reasons, and when you ask men what they’re looking for in a woman, they will almost to a man tell you they want a woman who is comfortable in her own skin, whatever her skin looks like, and so we just need to develop an attitude that we’re happy with who we are, we’re comfortable with who we are, and then you take it into ok I want to lose some weight so that I can be healthy, so that I can run up more stairs – whatever it is. But in other words you separate the losing weight from the “I am a horrible person because I need to lose weight” – you’re not a horrible person because you need to lose weight, you just need to lose weight
H: And you’ve just got to set those realistic goals
J: Exactly
H: There we go. Heather says “is breakfast the most important meal of the day, and if so why is that?”
F: Well if you’re trying to lose weight all meals are important, but breakfast is a really important meal. We know that people who skip breakfast in the morning tend to be heavier, are more likely to be overweight than people –
H: Why do you think that is?
F: The reason is because after 10-12 hours overnight without food, our body needs fuel. If we skip breakfast what happens is we get hungry mid-morning, and then we look around for a snack, and unless we’ve planned ahead –
H: Vending machine at work, yes
F: It is – packet of biscuits, bar of chocolate, packet of crisps – something like that, so a good, healthy breakfast gives you a good start to the day
H: Isn’t it true also that if you miss meals your body will start to store fat won’t it because it’s almost like a panic
F: Yes it goes into almost sort of survival mode –
J: And that’s the whole problem behind dieting, that’s the whole problem behind going on a diet where you’re having 400 calories a day or something, because your body absolutely panics and thinks that you’re trying to starve it to death, and it goes into a fight with you once again. It’s learning to work with your body instead of against your body
H: There we go, good tips – I hope you’re writing them down! Lena asks, “I’m following all these rules but do enjoy a couple of glasses or so of wine in the evening. Is this a real problem?” I think this is an issue for a lot of people
J: It’s a problem for many reasons!
H: So do we have to cut it out, because I think that would be the one thing that I’d get really upset about, I love my glass of wine in the evening
J: You don’t need to cut it out but what you do need to do is – how often do you meet someone who says that they have a glass of wine of an evening, and I sometimes wonder what are those glasses?
H: Exactly – a bucket!
J: You know like the washing-up bucket, just pour the wine in that – that’s my glass! That’s my lot! You know it doesn’t work that way. If people really did have a glass of wine, that would be one thing, but most people don’t, and I figured it out once that the average glass of wine is usually between 2 1/2 -3 glasses –
H: Wow, because I think a standard glass is 125mls which is actually quite small isn’t it?
F: Yes
J: Yes and so you have, and people top it up, or it’s like oh we can’t put this back in the fridge, you know that kind of thing, and those calories are one thing. Also alcohol is a depressant, what that means is, it doesn’t mean that alcohol makes you depressed, although some people it does, but it means that it slows down your body function, and so therefore things like digestion and things like that will operate slower, so having a big meal or having any kind of meal and then having a huge amount of alcohol after it – am I not right, that it then slows down the digestion process and that causes another problem
H: So you’re making it even harder for yourself to lose weight
J: Exactly. So you’re eating a big meal, at night, and then retarding the process by having copious amounts of alchohol
F: But I do have some good news for Lena!
H: Ok good
F: Alcohol isn’t forbidden on a diet, nothing is forbidden
J: Moderation
F: It’s moderation
H: What about a spritzer? That makes it bigger, makes it feel bigger
F: One thing that I find that’s quite helpful, those little mini bottles of wine that a lot of the supermarkets sell now, I think they’re 175mls so it’s just over the –
H: Measure that –
F: The normal measure, yes you know have a glass of wine at night, if that’s your treat, but don’t have a glass of wine and a packet of crisps –
H: And a pudding –
F: And a packet of chocolate biscuits.
H: I suppose you could choose that treat each day couldn’t you, or maybe every other day – I don’t know how good we’re going to be!
F: I mean ideally from a health point of view as well, we should be of course drinking in moderation, but looking to have at least 1 or 2 alcohol-free days a week. Now this time of year we probably all drank more than we should over Christmas –
H: It’s so easy to do
F: So it’s not a bad thing to sort of say you know what, I’m not going to drink anything in January, or I’m only going to drink at the weekend
H: And again it’s that panic, it’s that mental attitude where you go “right I’m cutting it out” because the first thing that I think is when I cut something out is, I want one, I want it now – you know because you’ve just told yourself no and straight away it’s like a child isn’t it – no you can’t have a cookie “but I want a cookie”
J: Yes but it comes back to the thing that I was talking about about focusing, and so you take the exact same situation, it’s like is the glass half empty, is the glass half full? So instead of looking at it as “this is something that I want and it is being taken away from me” look at it as this is something that I’m giving myself, you know for example I don’t know –
H: A reward
J: Exactly and you do it that way and it makes you more inclined to carry it through
H: And then you really appreciate that treat that you’re getting as well
J: Exactly
H: There we go. Right Poppy has said “I hear that eliminating carbohydrates after 6pm is the best way to lose weight – is this true?” Now we were actually talking a bit about this before, at the chat weren’t we? So what are your opinions on these –
F: Well there’s absolutely no scientific evidence to show that calories eaten after 6 o’clock at night are any more fattening than calories eaten during the day for instance. A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. You know whatever time of day you eat it at. The reason many diet plans forbid you to eat after 6 o’clock or after 8 o’clock or you know, don’t eat carbs in the evening, it’s because it’s in the evening that we’re much more vulnerable to overeating because we’re tired. We eat for all sorts of reasons which Jenny will tells us more about later I’m sure. When we’re tired, when we’re bored, when we’re unhappy, but when we’re tired we’re much more vulnerable to overeating
H: And do you end up eating more carbohydrates and things like that as well and eat more of them –
F: You can yes
H: To fill up your plate or –
J: Have you ever seen anyone say “I’m really depressed, give me a head of lettuce!”
H: Exactly, it’s not going to happen is it?
J: Give me some carrots, please! I’m down!
H: When you said Jenny would tell us a bit more about that side of things, what is it that makes us overeat or – you know because obviously there’s lots of various reasons, if you could just touch on them
J: Well it’s really really important. If have for example a substantial amount of weight to lose, say if you have like my kind of weight to lose, the first thing that you do is you sit down for two days and every time you eat you write down – not what you ate, nobody cares about what you ate – how were you feeling when you ate
H: Oh ok
J: You see, and because for a lot of people it’s intimidating to write down what they’re eating and they won’t do it, so just first ask yourself why – how was I feeling when I ate? And you will then find that sometimes there’s certain times of day that make you feel a certain way, and you reach for food. And there are people who eat when they’re happy, there are people who eat when they’re sad, there are people who eat when they’re angry. What it is is you’ve developed a coping mechanism for whatever reason –
H: People might not even have noticed that they do it
J: Exactly, which is not a good coping mechanism. And so first you find out what it is that presses your buttons, because you know what it is that you do, you reach for food, so what was going on in your life at the moment that you decided that you had to get in the car and drive to the shop and buy a chocolate cake and eat the whole thing in the parking lot? What happened right before that, you know. And more people do that than you would think
F: Yes
H: I think that mine would say “bored” a lot of the time – I’m bored, I’ll have another packet of crisps, I’ll have a toasted cheese or something
F: I think you need to ask yourself is this a real physical hunger that I’m feeling, is this my stomach saying to me “hey you haven’t eaten for a while, you’re hungry” or is this my brain saying you know it’s an emotional hunger, or you know another sort of hunger, and you can use other techniques or other rewards to you know –
J: Absolutely
F: Divert those feelings
H: Talking about feelings actually, it’s kind of linked here, Lucy says “whenever I’m hungover I always crave stodge. Apparently I should be cutting out the fat and switching to protein. Is this true?” Is protein better than fat when you’re hung over, does it make a difference?
F: Well it’s January Lucy, you shouldn’t be hungover in January! I think there are several questions there, or several answers to this question. In terms of dieting there is some evidence that protein foods, protein-rich foods are more sasciating, they tend to be more filling, so low fat dairy products for instance, lean meat tend to be more filling. And fat is worse for dieters because fat contains twice as many calories as protein or carbs, which is why foods that contain a lot of fat also contain a lot of calories. But we’re not talking about cutting out fat completely, we’re talking about trimming the fat wherever we can and upping the protein slightly. Why do you crave stodge when you have a hangover? Well I think it’s all down to comfort, something that makes me feel better, you know you’re feeling a bit wretched, you’ve got a throbbing head –
H: We all think it’s going to soak up the excess alcohol in your body
F: Not that I’ve ever had a hangover obviously!
J: You know the funny thing is that I know, I recently started – I will poach chicken breasts and put them in the fridge and sometimes if I’m hungry and I’ve had you know as many – because the thing is to, for someone like me I go on a diet, I’m not going to be on a diet for two weeks, I’m going to be on a – you know changing my eating program drastically for months, and then for the rest of my life, and so you want to space it out so you have a choice of things, and I find that if I have a little bit of chicken, that gives me an enormous amount of energy, you know so that I’m not always eating the same things
H: And you know if you’re going to do the hangover food, I mean eggs and bacon, they don’t have to be fattening, you don’t have to fry them, you can cut the rind off and you can still have that hangover meal but you’re able to cut some of it out, just keeping to the protein again
F: Absolutely, again it goes back to what we were saying earlier, making small changes like grilling your bacon, like choosing lean bacon, lean back bacon rather than streaky, you know those sorts of changes can all add up to make a real difference.
J: And simple things like I used to be addicted to coffee that could be bought at a popular change, I’d get in the car and drive down there to get, you know a grande latte, and then I found that the Slimfast has something called café classic which is a coffee flavoured meal replacement, and if you have that cold over ice, it beats the pants off –
H: Like rice pudding or –
J: No no over ice
H: Oh sorry I thought you said over rice –
J: Coffee over rice pudding – mmmm
H: I was thinking that sounds great!
J: No you just have it over ice, and that’s now what I have in the morning and it has completely completely readjusted my energy levels, and it keeps me going until lunch time, I have energy, I’m in a good mood, I’m fine, and I haven’t started on that slippery slope, you know –
H: The snack slope
J: You know that’s hard to get back from. And I save my snack for the afternoon
H: Although again with the snacks at least we do have these, I’m very happy with the chocolate bars that again, just because you’re doing –
J: Well you feel like you’re being wicked when you’re not! It’s lovely
H: Yes exactly, only 99 calories, loving it! Ben says “
Happyvisor, Jenni Trent-Hughes, is an expert in women’s psychology and has some great advice on how to make dieting an enjoyable experience rather than a chore, laugh through the bad times and make 2007 a magical new world for slimmers. Noshtritionist, Fiona Hunter, is an authority on dieting issues and is great at dishing out advice on controlling food cravings, nutritional needs and cooking light. She has a great supply of tasty recipes – all of which are less than 600 calories! Ben says “January is such a miserable month, how can I stop being sad and be happy?” How are we going to do that then, our Happyvisor Jenny Trent-Hughes should answer this one!
J: Well we have a book called “Happy 365” which is actually a daily diary full of wonderful ideas and interesting facts to sort of keep you in a good mood. It has recipes in the back, and just helps take you through the year, so this is what one needs –
H: There we go
J: Happy 365 and of course you can find it on our website
H: Brilliant, which is?
J: www.slimfast.co.uk
H: I hope you’ve all got that. So there we go, a nice diary to keep you happy through 2007. Right now we’re going to squeeze one more question in, it’s from Peter and he says “my wife gives me grief for not doing faddy diets with her, how can I make her understand that slow weight loss programs are longer lasting?”
J: All she has to do is go to www.slimfast.co.uk you know and really she will there learn – first of all she’ll have a chance to look at Happy 365 which is a diary that Fiona and a group of us worked on, which is tips and recipes and things to take you through the year, and also you’ll get information. The same way that you didn’t know that women’s bodies you know hold fat in a different way –
H: Hold fat longer, yes
J: There’s lots of things that you can find out that will help you understand what you’re doing, because once you understand what you’re doing it makes you more inclined to actually do it
H: Ok well we have covered a lot of areas, but if we could squeeze in a few more tips before we finish – Jenny what would you, have you got any – maybe the top 3 tips to get you through January?
J: Oh goodness, well take it slowly, remember that you’re changing for a lifetime, and think of it as something that you’re doing for yourself, so reward yourself
H: So keep the treats, that’s my favourite one, I’m holding on to that one, keep the treats and Fiona what would you suggest for your top 3 tips? Or top few tips
F: Well firstly I’m going to finish where I started, don’t panic, don’t be tempted to try any of those crazy fad diets or detox diets, choose a plan that’s simple that’s flexible, and that’s nutritionally balanced. Eat regularly, eat healthily and drink plenty of water
H: There we go. It always comes back to water as well doesn’t it?
J: It certainly does
H: I think what we need to remember from this chat today is that it is a lifestyle choice, it’s not a fad diet, you don’t want to do crash diets you’ve got to think about your year ahead, not just January, and hopefully we’ll be able to look after our bodies and be a bit more healthy, and actually have more energy as well, I think thats just as important, because you know when you are getting lethargic with all the fatty foods you feel lower. So let’s get happy, and let’s hopefully lose a few pounds as well, those 8 pounds that we’ve possibly put on over the festive period. Well I want to thank you very much to my Noshtritionist Fiona Hunter and our HappyVisor Jenny Trent-Hughes – thank you so much to the both of you for joining us today.
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