Here are some quick tips that can help you tweak your diet and loose weight with minimum effort!
1) Speed up your metabolism by eating often. Forget starving yourself all day and only eating one big meal, even forget having three main meals a day. The best way to lose weight is to have five or six smaller meals throughout the day. Try thinking of yourself as a fire that needs to be fuelled so as not to burn out, so you ‘add a little fuel’ every so often.
After eating it actually takes your brain twenty minutes to register with your stomach that you are full, hence the fact you should not have huge meals in one sitting!
2) Make sure to eat a healthy breakfast. I know you are probably sick of hearing this slogan but… it is the most important meal of the day! Remember what I said above about ‘the fire’, well breakfast ‘lights’ the fire’! Porridge is a great breaky as the oats are slowly released as energy and therefore you are fuller for longer.
3) Little changes make a difference too! Change full fat milk for low fat, change white bread for wholemeal, swap the buttery mash or chips for a baked potato! Just be sensible about what you eat, it will make a difference. Try to include protein rich foods like chicken or beans with your baked potatoe at protein will fill you up and it’s healthy.
4) Don’t neglect yourself of treats, if you do this you will ‘break’ and give up on the ‘diet’! You can however make those treats a little healthier: Instead of a small bar of dairy chocolate swap it for a plain dark 70% chocolate bar, or snack on fruit and nuts or a natural yogurt. Instead of eating half a packet of biscuits with your coffee, try a yogurt rice cake or a chocolate topped rice cake. (Trust me I don’t like plain rice cakes at all, but the yogurt ones are delicious and don’t taste of cardboard!)
5) Try and eat as much ‘real’, home cooked foods as possible. Choose nutritious wholesome foods and try and limit your intake of processed foods with added chemicals, because at the end of the day if you cook it yourself you will know what’s in it!
Below are a few healthy snack ideas to get you started:
Popcorn – As long as it’s not soaked in butter or salt this is a very healthy snack, it’s high in fibre and low in calories.
Peanut Butter – It has many of the same great qualities as regular nuts and it is great because it will fill you up quickly. You can eat it straight from the jar or add it to fruit, crackers or wholemeal toast etc. Just make sure not to over do it though as it is a high calorie food but it is full of protein which is good and filling.
Hard Boiled Egg – A quick high protein snack on hand at anytime! With only 76 calories and an excellent source of protein you can’t go wrong with this snack. Have it with wholemeal toast or just on it’s own.
Olives – Yummy! Olives have many numerous health benefits, including being rich in Vitamins, Minerals, Monounsaturated fats and Antioxidants. They also help to fight against a number of critical diseases, Cancer being one so get munching on olives.
Tuna – A quick and easy high protein snack to make at anytime. You can mix a can of water/brine-based tuna with a tablespoon of low-fat mayonnaise and you have a snack that contains over 30 grams of protein! For a main meal grill a tuna steak and have it with a salad… MMmmmmm. Don’t over do it if you are pregnant though, I think the most you should eat it is once a week if you are.
I’ll leave you with an unusual treat to try:
Banana Nut Pop – Dip a banana in plain organic yogurt and roll
in walnuts or coconut. Freeze. Yummy!
i have started eating more regularly during the day (between breakfast and lunch). I find that works to both keep your appetite down and stop the binge eating! No snacks tho – only fruit
well power is an important ingredient for maintening your healthy weigth.