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Expert Advice Articles Healthy weight loss
Expert Advice Articles Healthy weight loss
Healthy weight loss
Diets come, diets go! But my Healthy Weight Loss section gives you practical information to put into practice for the long term, not just a week. I know as I struggle with my weight! Check out my posts below, but don't forget these free downloadable fact sheets:
- Diet secrets for busy bodies
- Sugar - are you sweet enough?
- Portion caution
- Dining out on a diet
- A salad a day keeps the kilos away
- 12 Steps to Healthy Eating
And take a look at my Everyday Diet Secrets Motivator pack. It will help you to reaffirm your goals and overcome those times when your willpower drops.
Don’t scuttle healthy weight loss with super-sized portions
Whether you're at a local café, fast food outlet or supermarket, I bet you've noticed how big the portion sizes of food have become. I'm talking about whopper-sized burgers, buckets of juice, pizza that no-one can finish, huge choc chip cookies and raisin toast so thick that you're eating the equivalent to two slices of regular bread.
Assess your weight
Wondering how healthy your weight or shape is? Here are the two most often-used ways to assess your weight and body shape - the Body Mass Index (BMI) and the waist circumference, which is used as the basis of the current 'Measure Up' education campaign run by the Australian government.
Soft drink and sugar warning
Trying to eat light and cut back on sugar? Then watch what you drink. Soft drinks, juices, flavoured mineral waters, fruit-based drinks and sports drinks are the major source of sugar, according to CSIRO who analysed the Australian diet for sugar intake. Collectively these drinks supply 30 per cent of the added sugar adults consume but as much as 47 per cent in teenage boys who have a sweet tooth and are the biggest consumers of sugar.
A balanced diet - my 90:10 rule
Balanced eating means just that, balancing the must haves and the like to haves. And that means allowing yourself the odd treat or comfort food.
7 reasons why you MUST eat slowly
Everything in our lives is fast - fast cars, fast trains, fast lanes, fast money, fast broadband and of course fast food. There's lunch on the run, dinner in under 30 minutes, 2-minute noodles, take-away to grab and run. Life is rushed and stressful. When we finally grab a moment to eat, we bolt it down as quickly as we can. And multi-tasking whilst eating is the norm - we munch a sandwich at our desk, catch up with the news over dinner or read the paper over coffee and a muffin.
Weight Watchers & McDonalds diet meals
In New Zealand you'll soon find the Weight Watchers logo on McDonald's menu boards and tray mats, a great irony considering the many warnings about the obesity-inducing effects of fast food in general with its greasy offerings that are notoriously high in saturated fat, high in salt and lacking vegetables or fibre.
Top 10 weight loss secrets of highly-successful 'losers'
Want to lose weight? Drink water before a meal
"Drink lots of water" has always been standard diet advice. I thought the reason was simply kilojoule subtraction - replace soft drink, juice or alcohol with water and you save kilojoules. And it can be a considerable saving. Drink 600ml water in place of a 600ml Coke ‘buddy' (now the most popular single serve size at supermarkets) and you cut back on 1080 kilojoules (258 calories).
10 tips to help you shed fat
Fat or weight? Today nutritionists talk of "losing fat" rather than of "losing weight". This is because your aim is to shed body fat, not fluid or lean muscle, as commonly happens if you fast or embark on a strict diet. Yes, the weight comes off, but most of it is fluid which is quickly regained once the diet is over.
Meal replacements for weight loss
People often ask me about meal replacement shakes (Biggest Loser, Kicstart, Optifast, Celebrity Slim, Betty Baxter, Tony Ferguson, Cambridge Diet) to aid weight loss. Are they safe? How long can you use them? Are you missing out on anything?
7 diet secrets that are staring you in the face
Losing weight is never easy. It takes time, patience and know-how. Food and exercise aside, there are things you can do to make it easier for you to get into a 'weight loss mode'. Some are simply bad habits; others are how you view your world. If you can adopt these 7 simple diet secrets, you're on the way to better eating habits and a healthier shape.
10 things I learnt from The Biggest Loser
Now that the 2009 series of The Biggest Loser has finished in Australia, here's my take on the third season ...
6 steps to eating mindfully
My friend Michele Connolly, who runs the Get Organised Wizard website, said on Twitter the other day: "Did I really eat that entire 200g bag of cheese and onion chips during Grey's (Grey's Anatomy TV show)?" I half-jokingly tweeted back: That's mindless eating for you!
Light foods - do they support your weight loss efforts?
‘Light' or ‘lite' foods seem to be the answer to our diet prayers. You eat - and enjoy - the same food but you end up consuming less fat and fewer kilojoules (calories). To a dieter (and I'm always watching what I eat), it sounds just perfect!
When light foods first started appearing on our supermarket shelves way back in the 1990s, they were quite simple. They had less fat than the regular version, but the drop in fat was one you almost couldn't notice unless you compared the two versions mouthful by mouthful.
Fad diets - false promises and magic bullets
Many people turn to fad diets either in desperation or looking for a quick-fix to their weight loss problems. In this article I'll show you why the only "diet" you need is a healthy eating plan and why fad diets in general are counter-productive. Take a look!
Counting carbs for healthy weight loss
Fuel for the body or fattening stodge? Confused about carbs and weight loss? How helpful are bread, rice, potatoes and pasta in a diet? Should you eat less of them if you want to lose weight? Read on to find out the truth about carbohydrates.
Boost your metabolism for healthy weight loss
Many people complain they can’t lose weight simply because they have a “slow metabolism”. And they think this is just them, something they have to live with. Is this fact or fallacy? And can you do anything to speed it up? Here’s the real story.
The soup diet – can you lose weight on it?
Every winter or so, the soup diet reappears. One winter, it was part of the infamous "Kickstart Diet" made famous by a television current affairs program. Another winter a few years ago, it was big as the "Cabbage Soup Diet" - the only difference being that the soup contained lots of shredded cabbage.
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