As you'll have increasingly seen in local supermarkets, specially designed drinks and foods from companies like Slim-Fast and WeightWatchers are every where. But are they the only slimming foods and drinks that you can trust?
So what about everyday ways you can help your new diet? Discovering new naturally low fat food products (foods and drinks that don't contain 8 spoonfuls of sugar and call themselves 'diet') is a great first step in changing your habits and aiming to reach your ideal weight.
The place most of us spend most of our time - and the biggest hurdle to most in the slimming stakes.
Replacing some of your everyday fare with low-fat food, low sugar or low salt products can reduce a range of effects these have on your body (water retention, fat intake, sugar intake) especially if this is maintained over weeks and months.
But a low fat food diet on its own is not the path to take to get slimmer. Likewise, drinking diet soft drinks is a great way to cut down on calories, but guess what, the added flavourings and sweeteners bring their own problems. Try water!
Eating less and consuming less calories is one part of losing weight a change in mindset and simple actions like walking to work are a great and safe way to help you to lose weight. Consuming a fat-free diet means that you have to make some choices to get alternatives to your everyday foods. For example a very simple one is to change the milk from full-fat to skimmed milk. This can act to decrease your cholesterol levels and reduce the overall amount of fat going in to your body. But remember that you need good fats for your body to work efficiently (more on that coming soon).
Please do not think that starving yourself is a cunning plan to reduce fat or to slim quickly. Ultimately this could lead to you putting on weight over a longer period of time as your metabolism may change.
Similarly, you should be aware that eating low fat alternatives to everyday food doesn't mean you can eat twice the quantity you would otherwise! You should be able to select foods and drinks that comprise of three meals a day (although eating smaller quantities of food over the duration of the day is preferable to eating three large meals only!) for only a few hundred calories each!
yes you can devise diet plans that utilise low-fat, low-sugar and lo-salt foods that will allow you to eat exactly what you want but once or twice a week. Check out the labels on products to find out how much fat they contain and limit the fat you consume to unsaturated fats wherever possible. Try and reduce the amount of salt you eat and decrease your alcohol consumption.
You can use fruits as substitutes for sugars and skimmed milk to reduce your fat intake. There are recipe guides to help you to use the right foods in the best combinations for a healthy and tasty diet. Healthy eating and exercising can be enjoyable. With the right attitude towards weight loss and sustainable weight control, you'll fin it that much easier to succeed in your efforts to reach and maintain your ideal weight and have a healthier, fitter lifestyle. Lose weight and get fit now!
We'll go into this in more detail in specially written pages. But in a nutshell, whilst they can help, unless you change your eating habits and portion control, you may be simply spending a lot more money to gain no real advantage. This is especially relevant if you pile on salt and still drink fizzy drinks.
The money involved can quickly mount up as with Slim-Fast, it's not just about a shake any more. On the 3-2-1 Plan you now take two meal replacement shakes and three 100-calorie snacks and only then can you sort out your own 500 calorie meal. That's 5 products from Slim-Fast on day 1! It does claim to help you lose 1 - 2 pounds a week, but you will pay for it.
NHS Eating Healthily - http://www.nhs.uk/LiveWell/Goodfood/Pages/Goodfoodhome.aspx