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Transcript
In this video I want to run you through a few things I often show my patients.
In the past activity we did on counting calories over a day or two, this activity had the aim of helping you become aware of what you are eating and what small changes could yield large results. Now I want to show you some of the really simple ways we can take control and do a bit of prep to find options for those small changes. Remember we are aiming for healthier quality and quantity.
First step is identify the least healthy and highest calorie areas of your general eating. Next cut them or find better replacements. And only have them as either smaller portions or as treats or never.
So I can’t go through every problem food but I will cover a few of the culprits I have seen repeatedly. You have to make all of these but the point of this activity is to simply make you aware of options and how you can search in the shops, markets or online to find better options.
So let’s take sugary drinks which I discussed in a past video.
- Cordial, Soft drink, milks- see my past videos on this
- High yield – curry sauce – Valcom is a better brand
- Oils in salads and foods – be wary as a little oil is a lot of calories
- Stevia – better than sugar IF you desire sweetness
- Then let’s take the classic meat and 3 vege dinner plate – the distribution of the plate and even plate size itself – reduce meat and carb portion and increase portion of non starchy vegetables and if relevant lentils/chickpeas/beas
- And ice cream which I don’t recommend but in the real world I have had plenty of people tell me they just won’t stop it yet. – Healthier than normal ice cream options include – Halo Top, Streets blue ribbon, peters no sugar, and Fropro. You can google these.
- Salty treats – salt and vinegar fava beans, salted nuts etc
So whilst some of these foods and drinks are not “perfect”, I am not sure it matters that much because this is the real world. And the main point of this video is to show you that if you know how and where to look you can normally find good replacements if you cannot cut them out all together or you want to phase them out over time.
In later videos I will cover affordable meal options but this one I just wanted to highlight to you can constantly use this technique to refine and improve your eating over time.
In the next bunch of videos I am talk about the different diets out there and in the last video I summarised the common ground – mostly real food, healthier attitude and options to snacks. Now the trick is for you to find which of these options work best for you and your life. And remember that may change with time. If you are busy, then fasting, if you love variety then the mediterranean, if you feel better on a paleo then good for you and if you have heart disease then predominantly plant based. Remember the studies in weight loss repeatedly show that whilst everyone can lose weight some respond better to certain styles of eating than others. This was really evident in the DIETFIT trial comparing healthy lower carb to healthy lower fat – both diets reduced sugar and refined carbs and increased veges and so on but differed in the amount of fat and carbs. When comparing both groups overall they lost the same amount of weight, but within in group there was a variety of responses, meaning some people lost 30kg and some people put on 10kg, hence some responded better than others to the same diet. My point here is that means if you are not getting the results and don’t feel it is sustainable or right for you – then change it up but just stick within the principles of high quality food and a healthier overall quantity. Have fun, explore the videos, recipes and options.