Dieting: The facts uncovered

Low calorie, low nutrition diets 

When you restrict your calorie intake you will lose weight. But if you consume your entire days worth of calories from a fast food meal, and eat nothing for the rest of the day your body’s going to suffer. Skipping meals like this plays havoc on your energy levels and your blood pressure, causes mood swings, as well as hunger pangs and cravings. Not only this, but it can also cause your metabolism to dip, as your body goes into starvation mode and tries to preserve every calorie that you’ve eaten.

A poor diet also causes your skin to suffer, and your hair and nails will weaken. It’s much better to replace the junk food with regular, balanced meals and snacks throughout the day to look and feel your best.

Low fat diets are the best way to lose weight

Fat has the highest calorie content of all the food groups, with 9 calories per lb compared to just 4 for protein and carbohydrates. So removing fat from your diet is the quickest and easiest way to shift the pounds. However, your body needs some fats to function properly. Your brain needs fat for memory and recall, as well as to regulate your moods. Your body’s cells also need fat to build new cell membranes, your immune system needs fat to stay healthy and your heart needs fat for a regular rhythm.

Instead of removing fat entirely from your diet, you should remove all the foods which contain unhealthy saturated fat. Foods high in saturated fat are chocolate, fast food, cheese, cakes, crisps and biscuits. In addition to this, butter, sausages and pies are full of fats.  Instead, replace these with foods rich in healthy unsaturated fats such as eggs, nut butters, olive oil and oily fish such as salmon and sardines.

Late night eating = weight gain

Whether you eat your dinner at 6pm or 8pm it doesn’t make a difference to your weight. What matters is the amount of calories you eat over the month, and your total energy expenditure. Any excess calories you’ve eaten will be stored as fat.

Eat ‘diet and ‘light’ versions of food as it’s better for you

With diet foods, any naturally occurring fat is taken out and is replaced with fillers, thickeners, sugar and artificial sweeteners to make it more appealing to eat.  For example a Muller Light yoghurt has 13 different ingredients including colours and sweeteners compared to Fage Total % fat-free, plain Greek yoghurt which contains just cow’s milk and live active yoghurt culture.

Skip breakfast to lose weight 

Overnight your body fasts, which causes it to store additional fats. Once your first meal of the day has digested, your body will switch to fat burning mode.  Eating breakfast boosts your metabolism, so you will actually burn more calories throughout the day when you eat breakfast.

Many breakfast skippers start eating breakfast and lose weight without even trying. Healthy breakfast choices include porridge with dried fruit, bran flakes, Greek yoghurt and fruit, or for lazy weekends, beans on toast with scrambled eggs and grilled mushrooms are a good choice. Eating breakfast will also help you stay feeling full until lunch, reducing the urge to snack.