1) Know yourself: it will help you plan ahead. Planning is the secret of success. Are you the kind of person who enjoys food preparation, cooking shows, shopping for food and all aspects of the culinary art? Do you hate anything that has to do with cooking? Or are you somewhere in between? Do you like big family gatherings and large shared meals, or do you prefer snacking at home in front of your computer or television?
Depending on what type of person you are, it may not always be advisable to follow the common wisdom of five or six small meals instead of three big ones. A lot of people are healthy while sticking to the traditional three square meals a day. Just make sure you don’t end your day with a huge dinner, and plan small snacks during the day before a dinner party.
Knowing yourself also helps counteract behaviours that may be detrimental to you, like too many sweet treats at work or at home. Know your weak moments and plan ahead, by packing nutritious foods such as fruit, carrot and celery sticks if you feel like munching on something. Do this instead of heading towards the vending machine! If you need to lose weight, just eat a little less every day, instead of going on a drastic diet.
2) Find out what sort of ‘greens’ you like. If you haven’t eaten a vegetable since you were ten years old, it’s time to do some personal research regarding your taste. You may think you don’t like beans, broccoli or cabbage, but preparation makes all the difference. Surf the net for easy, tasty recipes. If there is only one vegetable you like, stick to it for a while; it is better than nothing. Progressively introduce different vegetables into your diet. Have your weekly supply home delivered, if you don’t have time to shop.
Vegies are extremely versatile: you can add them to salads, soups, stir-fries, stews, curries, bakes, and so on. They give your meals more bulk without adding extra calories, while also making them more nutritious. The fibre in vegetables is particularly valuable, as it keeps you clean from the inside, and helps your body eliminate toxins and extra fat. Vegies are ‘low GI’, so they are also great at regulating blood sugar levels.
Fruit is extremely versatile too, and a simple apple can take away sugar cravings. If you can’t easily obtain fresh fruit, look for frozen raspberries for example, and make an energising smoothie with them, with some banana and low fat milk, soy milk or yoghourt.
3) Eat less animal foods like meat or chicken. Make the bulk of your diet consist of grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, fruit and vegies, rather than meat. Whole grains like in oats, or in wholemeal breads, wholemeal pasta and brown rice are full of fibre, B vitamins, and will make you feel energetic, while stimulating your metabolism. They also make you feel full. Nuts and seeds are a great source of protein and other nutrients. Legumes are full of fibre, protein, iron, folate and loads of other nutrients. You can replace meat with legumes as it is an excellent source of protein. Open up a can of beans or chick peas and add them to your soups, curries and pasta. Add seeds (e.g. sunflower or sesame seeds) and nuts (e.g. chopped almonds) along with berries to your breakfast porridge. You will be one of the few people (less than 5 %) in Australia who are getting enough vitamin E!
4) Know your fats. Not all of them are necessarily bad for you, and fat is actually essential for good health and adequate functioning of your organs. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are the ‘good’ guys. You’ll find them in nuts and vegetable oil and oily fish, such as salmon, trout and herring. They are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids. The problem with vegetable fats, including olive oil, is that high temperatures affect their chemical nature, and they can become harmful if used for frying or cooking. The only stable oil that can be heated without changing its chemical composition is coconut oil. Olive oil should be drizzled over your food, after you’ve steamed it or cooked it in a bit of water.
In her fascinating and controversial book, ‘The Big Fat Surprise’, Nina Teichholz debunks the myth that saturated fats are bad for you. They have always been an integral part of our traditional diet, and people did not gain extra weight for consuming them. Moderation seems to be the key with these fats found in meat, chicken, dairy products (milk, cheese, cream, butter), fish and coconut oil.
Trans fats are definitely the ‘bad’ guys, but it’s fairly easy to avoid them, as they are mainly found in processed supermarket foods like cakes, cookies, crackers, potato crisps, chocolate, frozen meals, and take away burgers, chips and so on. Some of these products can be high in hidden sugars too, so it’s best to avoid it. Stick to fresh produce as much as you can, but don’t become paranoid about these fats as you probably won’t be able to avoid them completely while living in modern society. Again, moderation and self-control is the best strategy.
5) Reduce your portion sizes. The stomach is the size of a fist, not a wheelbarrow. If you habitually eat big portions, it will get stretched beyond its normal size, and the pituitary gland in your brain won’t register the fullness signal unless you’ve gorged yourself. Once you begin to eat smaller portions, you may still feel slightly hungry after a meal, but after a while, your body will adjust to these portions, and you will feel satisfied, even though you’ve eaten only half or a third of what you used to eat. To find out what a normal portion looks like, put your hands together to form a ball. This is the ideal portion size! Cut down your portions progressively and eat more slowly, savouring every bite, chewing and swallowing mindfully. You will find it more enjoyable than gobbling down your meal without appreciating it.
6) Reduce your sugar intake, especially in ‘liquid’ form. No soft drinks or sodas! Watch out for hidden sugars. Around 80 % of supermarket processed foods contain sugar in one form or another. Sugar has many different names, such as maltose, dextrose or fructose. Molasses, syrups, fruits juices and honey are just as harmful, even though they may look innocent. Something marketed as healthy like a breakfast cereal or muesli bar can actually be loaded with sugar.
Too much sugar in your diet puts you at risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, fatty liver, obesity and ‘metabolic’ syndrome, a group of risk factors including high blood sugar, high ‘bad’ cholesterol, high blood pressure and accumulation of fat around the abdomen.
If you follow all these principles as much as possible, you will remain healthy and in good shape, especially if you devote some of your time to regular exercise too!
With my best wishes for your success,
Bella
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