Lifestyle Choices

What if you have made it to the end of week three, can see improvements but you are just not losing weight. What has gone wrong?

I can understand how frustrating this must feel. No single diet works for everyone, as there are many different causes of weight gain. The possible reasons below may explain what is holding you back.

Are you losing inches rather than weight?

This is good news. It means that you are making lean muscle, which is heavier, but has the capacity to burn more fat. Keep going. The weight loss will follow.

Are you are still drinking alcohol, sugary drinks and/or caffeine? If you are and you’re not losing weight, it is time to bite the bullet and give them up. (more…)

Your body is designed to move, and a certain level of exercise is needed just to keep it working healthily. However, it’s all too easy to develop a couch-potato lifestyle, or simply to run out of time to exercise. This is bad news for your long-term health as well as your weight. Low activity levels exaggerate your appetite, slow your rate of metabolism and interfere with your body’s ability to keep blood glucose levels stable.

GET THE EXERCISE HABIT

Combining diet and exercise is the best way to lose weight: that way you lose fat, not lean muscle when you diet.

Muscle burns up more energy than fat, so the less muscle you have, the slower your metabolism.

Aerobic exercise (such as brisk walking, jogging, cycling, swimming, dance, skiing, circuit training) increases your heart rate and is ideal for fatburning, whereas anaerobic exercise (using weights or resistance) builds lean muscle and improves body tone. (more…)

Now that you understand the core principles of low-GL eatingand have decided on your personal goals, it is time to take a closer look at what you can eat, and how much you can eat, on the Alford Low-GL Diet. You won’t need to worry about rigid discipline, hunger pangs, expensive foods or excluding foods. Just focus on eating low-GL foods and the rest will take care of itself.

There are two main stages to the Alford Low-GL Diet:

Stage one The weight-loss diet will take you to your target weight.

Stage two The maintenance diet is a diet for life.

And there are five main rules for the weight-loss diet:

1 Eat no more than 40GL a day (or 55L on the maintenance diet).

2 Have an additional 5GL for drinks and desserts for 10 GL on the maintenance diet). (more…)

We could not function without water. It helps detoxify thebody effectively and is essential for all your body’s vital organs to work well. Water is also one of the secrets of having healthy skin.

However, the body does not always store water in the right place. If you suffer from unexplained puffiness or bloating, especially on your arms, around the eyes, on your abdomen, or if your fingersor ankles swell, you may be suffering from water retention. Other common signs are dry skin, dandruff, sudden fluctuations in weight, breast tenderness and a tendency towards allergies. (more…)

All diets focus on weight loss, and there is general acceptance that the closer you are to your ideal weight, the healthier you will be, with less risk of life-threatening and debilitating diseases.

However, your weight is only a part of the picture. Your lean muscle tissue is important as well. Vital body organs, such as your heart, liver and kidneys, need to be supported by lean tissue, as does your whole body. That is why fitness is so important. When we exercise we shape up on the inside as well as the outside.

Muscle uses up more glucose, and therefore calories, than fat meaning that muscle (or lean mass) helps you burn fat. This means that if you are heavy, but fit, your weight may not be as much of a problem as you think. On the other hand, if you are thin, but lightweight and lacking in muscle tone, you may not be as fit as you suppose. How can this be? (more…)

3 ELIMINATE ALLERGIES

Weight gain is a common reaction to foods we’re intolerant to. Most of us have intolerances or allergies to certain foods, but few of us are aware of it. Eliminating the food that you are unknowingly allergic to can lead to highly dramatic weight loss.

Water retention, bloating and puffiness are all common allergic reactions, and they make you feel and look fatter. Once you’ve singled out and eliminated the foods that are triggering your allergic response, you are likely to see dramatic changes very fast. It’s not unusual to lose up to 7lb (3.2kg) within three or four days.

Food allergies also cause other problems, such as aches and pains, headaches, fatigue, mood swings and annoying skin and digestive conditions. These also go when you identify and avoid what you are allergic to. (more…)

2 ID FAT AVOID BAD FATS

Some fats are essential to health, which is why we have an instinct to eat fat. The body’s ‘fat sensors’ are in your mouth - and we are instinctively drawn towards the creamy texture of fats, sauces, cheese and cream. That’s why fat-free diets are such a struggle for most of us. There are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ fats in food. Only when you eat the right kind of ‘good’ fats will your body stop craving that smooth, creamy texture.

GOOD FATS

The ‘good fats‘ are essential fats (listed on packets as polyunsaturates) found in seeds, grains and oily fish. They include the essential fatty acids (EFAs) such as omega-3 and omega-6. These fats are essential to health and can help you lose weight. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, your body actually craves essential fats. Secondly, they help your metabolism to work properly: they improve the effectiveness of the brain and the nervous system, they boost immunity, balance hormones and create healthy skin. (more…)

There are five core principles at the heart of the Holford Low-GL Diet. Each of them is a positive guideline in its own right, and each supports the others. All five are easy to follow, and essential if you are serious about achieving permanent weight loss and 100 per cent health:

1 Balance your blood sugar.

2 Eat good fats; avoid bad fats.

3 Eliminate allergies.

4 Supplement for success.

5 Exercise for at least 15 minutes a day.

The 21 days of menus listed later articles do all the initial meal planning for you. You can use the recipes as part of your weight-loss diet, or follow the recommendations to modify them for a maintenance diet that will keep you at your ideal weight. (more…)

This is a complicated subject because mild depression can make you fat, severe depression can make you thin, while being thin or fat can make you depressed.

Occasionally, weight gain can be due to a particular medical problem (see, for example, Hypothyroidism, opposite), which also causes a depression. (more…)

Total fasting is dangerous as are crash (fast) diets. Crash diets that bring about weight loss by dehydration of only 5 percent in forty-eight hours have been shown to reduce the individual’s working capacity by as much as 40 percent. The practice of making weight in athletics, whether by dehydration, induced vomiting, or starvation diets, is dangerous to health and should be condemned (see Concept 13 on weight control and Concept 19 on dehydration). Much of the weight lost on such fad diets is valuable lean muscle mass.

Pill popping, hormone injections, and powder and liquid diets havt little value in long-term weight control programs and present many health hazards. When in doubt, avoid diets that: (more…)

Moderation is a good general rule of nutrition.

Too little of important nutrients can lead to health problems. Excluding entire food groups can cause problems and is not advised. People who restrict or eliminate meat from the diet must be sure to carefully select other foods to insure a healthy diet. Just as too little food can cause problems, excessive intake of various nutrients can cause problems. More is not always better. Moderation (neither too much nor too little) in choices of foods is advised.

It is not necessary to permanently eliminate foods that you really enjoy, but some of your favorite food may not be among the best of choices. Enjoying special foods on occasion is part of moderation. (more…)

The first step in fat control is establishing realistic goals.

Too many teens and adults, both men and women, establish unrealistic goals for their physical appearance. Fat weight, and body proportions are all factors that can be changed, but people often set standards for themselves that will be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. It is important that goals be set for fat and weight control that can be accomplished for both the short term and the long haul. This necessitates developing an understanding of your own body proportions as well as your body fatness. Unrealistic goals may result in eating disorders (see Concept 20), failure to meet goals, or the failure to maintain fat loss over the long haul. The measurement procedures used in Labs 13A and 13B should help you establish realistic goals.

Goals that emphasize the behavior of eating less and exercising more are more effective than those emphasizing a specific outcome such as weight or fat lost (or gained).

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The support of family and friends can be of great importance in fat control.

In Concept 18, the importance of family and friends to successful exercise adherence was emphasized. Family and friends can also help you in changing and adhering to healthy eating practices. It is known that parents who overeat have children who eat more than normal. In these cases, it is important for the entire family to participate in a program to control fatness. Family and friends should provide support for the person trying to gain or lose fat by helping them follow the guidelines presented in this Concept, rather than tempting the person to eat improperly. (more…)

There are some guidelines for controlling the work environment to aid in fat loss.

• Take food from home rather than eating from vending machines or catering trucks. Even snacks should be brought from home where they can be prepared based on guidelines listed above.
• Avoid the use of snack machines. Most snacks from machines are high in calories and low in nutritional value. Fresh fruit from machines is an exception.
• If you eat out, plan your meal selection ahead of time. Write it down and know its calorie content. Be aware that many fast foods are high in caloric content and fat.
• Do not eat while working.
• Avoid sources of food provided by co-workers; for example, food in work rooms such as birthday cakes or candy in candy jars.

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1. Diabetes

Insulin is a hormone that controls the provision of blood sugar (glucose) to the tissues of your body where it’s used for energy. Diabetes is a metabolic disease that affects your body’s ability to make or respond to insulin. Type 1, or insulin-dependent diabetes, is an inherited disease that affects your pancreas, destroying its ability to make insulin. Type 1 diabetes usually occurs during childhood or adolescence.

Ninety per cent of people with diabetes have type 2 (or non-insulindependent) diabetes. In this type, your body cannot use the insulin properly. Type 2 diabetes usually occurs after age 30.

Take charge, take care, take action

A. If you have a family history of diabetes, watch out for any signs or symptoms. (more…)