Obesity is an ever growing problem that causes heaps of health problems and we should all try to lose weight! OMG! I'm so sick of hearing that! It seems like everytime I read a paper, magazine, turn on the tv, or surf the net, there it is - more info
about what we should and shouldn't be eating, doing, saying and talking about - and it's all conflicting. Every week there's a new exercise machine to buy, a gym to join, a new diet to try, a product to buy, and they all cost money, take time, and require a total overhaul of our lifestyle.
So many people worry about diets and exercise, weightloss programs, and what the scales have to say about them. There are a few tips that are all too often totally overlooked, that can be used to aid in weight loss or weight control, that won't cost you excess money, won't require a huge amount of effort, and won't require you to make major changes to your life style. Here's some that are specifically diet related:
You love water.
...whether you like it or not! Really? I'd be lucky if I drank 3 glasses of water a week! You don't need to drink 8 glasses a day like some fad diets claim. You actually get quite a lot of water from the food you eat, and every liquid you consume counts. However, when thirsty, it is best to drink water in preferance to anything else.
Of course this doesn't mean you have to give up everything you like to drink. You can still have a cup of coffee, just don't have too much and go easy on the milk and sugar. Fruit juice is okay, just be careful not to fall for the fad that because it's fruit juice it's healthy. Many fruit juices on the market are full of sugar. Go for ones that are low in kilojoules and have no added sugar, and the fewer preservatives the better. Again, consume it in moderation.
As for softdrinks, don't drink ones that are loaded with sugar at all if you can, but if you really want a softdrink, go for a diet version. Again, be wary as some diet softdrinks can have almost as much sugar as a normal softdrink. Just because it's called "diet" doesn't mean it's good, it just means that it has less sugar than the regular version. Be very aware that alcohol is full of empty kilojoules, which means it has no nutritional value and will pack on the weight.
97% Fat Free is not healthy.
If it's 97% fat free it means that it has 3 grams of fat in every 100 grams of the stuff, and in many cases it is full of sugar. Nutella has provided the best example of this marketing scam. They claim that Nutella is healthy because it has less fat than most peanut butters and less sugar than most jams. Does that make it healthy? Like hell it does!!! Most peanut butters have as much as 43% fat and about 12% sugar, and most jams have as much as 65% sugar and no fat. Nutella has "only" 31% fat (less than peanut butter) and "only" 55% sugar (less than jam). However, add the sugar and fat together and you'll find that Nutella is 86% stuff that you don't want to eat. Jam has 65% rubbish, and peanut butter is 55% rubbish. Even if you add the jam and peanut butter together in even quantities, you still come out better off as it comes to 60% rubbish - still less than Nutella!
Vegemite is the lowest in fat and sugar of all the spreads I've ever found, but the pay off is that it is extremely high in salt. When buying anything, be very aware of what the product contains. Read the nutritional info, in particular, the column that is for the PER 100g. That will give you the percentage of what you are eating. 3g of fat per 100g is 3%, 45g is 45%. Makes for a nice easy comprehension of exactly how much stuff is in it.
Add the total fat content and total sugars content together and you'll be surprised how much rubbish is in all those "healthy" foods. Also, be aware that although some foods may have low fat and low sugar, if the kilojoule count is extremely high, it may still put weight on. This energy boost usually comes from complex carbohydrates, and although they are good for you in that they give you a prolonged energy to keep you going between meals, too much of it can still land on the hips.
Health Foods are not healthy.
Most of those health bars full of nuts, seeds, and dried fruits are so full of fat and sugar that you may as well eat a chocolate bar - in fact I've seen healthier chocolate bars than some of these health bars! Most "healthy" breakfast cereals - especially the musli style ones - are so full of sugars and oils (coconut oil is a common favourite) that you would be better off eating a bowl of Fruit Loops. Best are the simple and plain wheat based cereals, such as wheat flakes.
Fresh doesn't mean fresh anymore, it just means that the food is full of chemicals (some of which are actually quite toxic in high enough doses) that stop the food from spoiling as quickly. Generally speaking, if it is made by someone else, processed and pre-packaged, it's usually not worth putting in your mouth. Always remember that "Light" and "Diet" simply means it has less fat and/or sugar than the regular version - sometimes it's not much of a difference. And the classic "weight loss" brands aren't always the best anymore either. Weight Watchers is a classic, but there are now many cheaper diet versions of the same products that they produce that are actually better. ALWAYS read the Nutritional Information box on the packet.
Cook as much as you can from scratch.
This is the hardest part as this does actually require a change of lifestyle for some people - and cooking classes for others! But if you're really desperate to go the whole way with trying to lose weight, every home cooked meal can help, even if it's only one a week it's better than nothing!
When buying meats, try to stay away from processed stuff like sausages, and prepared stuff like marinated and crumbed meats. Try to avoid any food that comes pre-packed with sauces and gravys. Avoid tins and jars of stuff. All these things have a nasty tendancy to be full of nasty preservatives, flavourings, and colouring chemicals, as well as often having added salt, sugars, and fats that you could easily avoid simply by making your own sauces and gravys, crumbing and marinating meat yourself, and using fresh fruits and vegies. Plain frozen vegies with nothing fancy added to them are okay as well.
Think about all the things you can substitute.
For many things, cream cheese makes a good substitute for margarine and butter. It has a lot less fat than margarine and butter, is tastier, and you use the same amount. It's especially good for savory sandwiches and for mashed potato. Instead of using oil to cook a roast or stir-fry, put some water in the pan and flavour it with herbs and spices. When wanting to use mince meat, try using (human consumption) kangaroo mince instead of regular beef mince. It's also possible to get kangaroo sausages, roasts, and steaks. It has a lot more iron and almost no fat, and is the healthiest red meat that can be eaten. (Personal recommendation, it's best with garlic and sweet paprika.) Forget about putting sugar on breakfast cereals and instead, use sultanas or other dried fruit to sweeten each mouthful.
Then of course there is always the age old switch regular milk for skim milk. One thing I found interesting, with the exception of the caffine, Feel Good Iced Coffee has just as much of the good stuff - like calcium - as any other skim milk, and in most cases, it actually has less of all the bad stuff - like fat and sugar - than most skim milks. I'm not promoting that drink and saying we should all go and drink it, I personally can't stand the stuff, I'm just using this as an example of how we can so easily over-look the packaging rather than the content.
Instead of using white wine in cooking, use lemon juice. Replace red wine with balsamic vinegar. Can you use a teaspoon of powered parmesan cheese on your pasta instead of a handful of grated tasty or monserella cheese? Forget about bottled salad dressings, instead use a small amount of lemon juice and fresh herbs. No matter how strict your diet may be, you can still enjoy jelly! Yes, Jelly! Disolve a satchet of pure gelatin in 100ml of hot water, and add pure fruit juice for flavour. Sticking watermelon in a blender and adding that to the geletined water makes an interesting jelly, as does almost any other fruit.
Be fussy with fatty meats.
Junk food aside, meat is the next biggest contributer of fat and high cholestrol. When preparing any meat, before cooking it, cut off every tiny ounce of fat that you can see. Chicken is good, but don't eat chicken skin - or pork crackling. In fact, limit the pork as much as you can, as it is the fattiest meat and is the lowest in iron of all red meats - hence why it is more pink than red. Fish is very good, but again, remove the skin when possible. When cooking meat, if it can be stir-'fried' or roasted with water, boiled, nuked, steamed, or grilled, do it. Try to aviod frying with oils and fats as much as you can.
Don't fall for the fad diet propaganda.
Some fad diets will tell you that you can't eat a whole host of things that you should in fact be eating. Potatos are good - in moderation - just like most other similar vegatables, and it's usually more the things that are eaten with potato - such as potato salad dressing, cheese, etc, that is the biggest problem. Salmon, and other such fish that are rich in fatty acids, are one thing many diets tell you to avoid. In actual fact, they are the best fish you can eat. Fatty acids are actually good for you. Just because it says "fat", it doesn't necessarily mean it's bad.
Eggs are high in kilojoules, but they actually have healthy cholestrol that actually strips your body of saturated fats and the unhealthy cholestrol that clogs up your arteries. Fruits are high in sugar, but they contain good simple sugars that are easy for the body to digest and burn. It's the complex sugars (such as from sugar cane) that are the problem. And brown, raw, or white sugar? Not enough of a difference to warrent making any fuss about it - unless you are consuming kilograms of the stuff. Brown, white, wholemeal, or wholegrain bread? Most white breads nowdays are just as good as any other with all the added fibre they put in them, however, be very aware that many contain chemicals to keep it "fresh" longer. Generally, wholegrain or wholemeal bread that has no numbers listed in the ingredients are the best.
And sure, some Subway sandwiches have less than 6 grams of fat. Can you make a sandwich at home with less fat, for less money? Probably. People rave on about how we all have to drink skim milk because regular milk has 4 grams of fat. Yet we have to also eat Subway because it has only 6 grams? Do the math, it just doesn't add up. Lastly, just because it's a "diet" cake produced by a company that specializes in weight loss or health foods, that doesn't necessarily mean it's healthy to eat... though it may be an option to look at if you need to get it for a special reason, such as a birthday cake or something.
All things in moderation.
If you eat enough of almost anything you will put on weight. There are a few exceptions, things called "negative energy" foods (lettuce, cabbage, and celery are some of them) that have so few kilojoules that it actually takes more energy to eat and digest them than what you will get out of them. But otherwise, just because skim milk is better than regular milk, it doesn't give you a licence to consume 10 times more than you normally would.
With regards to cheese, which is a great source of calcium, you can still eat it, but ask yourself, can you eat it less often and when you do eat it, can you slice it a little thinner? Can you have one sandwich and some salad instead of two sandwiches? And watch out for side dishes!!! Two little pompadoms can have just as much fat in them as a chocolate donut. Garlic bread is rich with fats and oils from the butter/margarine on it. Little things like that all add up.
Think, Why?
Lastly, before you stick anything in your mouth, ask yourself, "Exactly what am I eating and why?" If you are eating because you are stressed, upset, or bored, get rid of it and do something energetic instead. If you find yourself about to eat a serving of shop prepared lasanga, ask yourself if you'd be better off eating a - properly fresh and chemical free - low fat homemade one yourself, or having a sandwich instead.
And I type this as I much on a packet of salty chips because I need to get my blood pressure up! Your diet needs to be tailored to you, your needs, and your tastes. I personally belive that if a short fat happy life is better for you than a long healthy miserable one, live it! Life is meant to be enjoyed, we only get one life, make it what you want it to be.
(September 2007) (
