How Long Does It Take To Stop Craving Sugar?

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Why the road to happiness should not be rushed

I WAS at Tameside Hospital in Manchester on Monday visiting people who are on our  NHS/Slimpod programme and got very emotional when I heard the changes a lot of people are experiencing.  Yes, there’s weight loss, but it’s much deeper than this for so many.

One person has completely taken control of the chocolate habit that’s been controlling her for years (and she’s dropped a dress size) another is in control of her diabetes and another has described the last seven weeks as “life-changing”.

However, there are also a few people who are not progressing as quickly as others and I was there to offer my help and guidance.  One of the questions was “Why are some people doing better than others?”  This is such a great question so I decided to write a blog to explain.

We all know that Slimpod programmes are nothing like diets – in fact the exact opposite.

Slimpods create change from the inside and even though it’s a generic recording it works on the individual mind.

This is what makes it so special.  You see, no two people or no two minds are the same.  We have all had a different journey in life, different relationship with food, different beliefs and values, and different emotional triggers.

A study in Australia last year revealed a whopping 83 per cent of overweight and obese people are emotional eaters.  Negative emotions surrounding lack of control over food – shame and guilt being just two of them – are magnified and develop into low self-esteem.

Research has shown that a problem with managing your weight is ranked as one of the most shameful experiences you can have in your life.  When you feel shame, invariably you comfort eat.

So for many people, one of the solutions to their weight issues lies in the way they think about themselves because it can be THE root cause of emotional eating.

On Wednesday evening, in my live chat in our Facebook group, I asked people if they know they overeat because they don’t like themselves and the way they look and feel.

Unsurprisingly there was a big discussion with so many people agreeing that their emotional eating is connected to the way they feel about themselves.

If this is you then you’re in the right place because one of the functions of the Slimpod is to empower you to feel happier about yourself and your body image. When you feel happier about yourself it helps you to be in control of the emotional eating.

I find that dealing with the root cause of the emotional eating is the catalyst for major lifestyle changes.

Of course, this is the major difference between Slimpods and anything you’ll have done before, but it’s not instant.  As I’ve already said, no two minds are the same and no two people will have had the same experiences with their body or weight throughout their lives so far.

The Slimpod magic has a lot of unravelling to do in a lot of cases and if this is you, then patience and perseverance are the key words.

Our clinical trials were conducted over six months and it was established that a lot of people lost weight in the first half of the programme, but some lost most of the weight in the second half.

I hope this helps to explain why the process of losing weight varies from person to person.

Borrow my belief in the system – weight loss will happen at the fastest, safest rate for you.

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Healthy recipe: Summer spiced salmon and king prawns

ANOTHER fabulous fish recipe from Head Chef Simon Smith at Tameside Hospital, Manchester. Simon says: “Here we are cooking for the summer weather. This lightly grilled salmon, marinated in a spiced oriental sauce is quick and easy to prepare and cook. Perfect on those summer lunches with a salad or in the evenings with crisp mangetout.

“Salmon is in that league of round fish that is a good source of nutrition. A 115g portion of salmon provides over 20g of protein, omega-3 fatty and a variety of minerals and vitamins and once again zero carbohydrates. Please enjoy the recipe.”

I cooked this over the weekend and it tasted divine.  The sauce was such a refreshing change from others that usually accompany salmon. Enjoy! And please do leave a comment below so Simon can see how much you enjoyed his dish.

Summer Spiced Salmon and King Prawns

Serves 2
Preparation time: 5mins
Cooking time: 10mins

Ingredients:

2 x 115g (approx.) Salmon Fillets (skin off)
150g King Prawns
100g Mixed Fruits of the Forest (frozen)
1tsp chopped Garlic
½tsp Fresh Chopped Chillies (seedless)
½tsp Five Spices
½tsp pureed Ginger
1 stem Spring Onion
10g Butter
2 tbsp. Sesame Oil
Squeeze of Lemon
1tsp Honey
Small bunch of Fresh Parsley
½tsp chopped Dill
Seasoning

Equipment needed:
Frying pan
Small Mixing bowl
Chopping board
Small Vegetable Knife

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160oc / Gas Mk 4
2. Place the fruits of the forest into the mixing bowl and defrost in the microwave until soft.
3. With a fork mash the fruit lightly and set to the side.
4. On the chopping board finely chop the spring onions and add to the bowl. In addition to the spring onions add to the bowl the garlic, chillies, ginger, five spice, squeeze of lemon and honey. Also add a teaspoon of sesame oil to the bowl and stir into the marinade.
5. Add the salmon and king prawns to the marinade and leave in the fridge for 5 mins.
6. Heat the frying pan with the butter and 1tsp sesame oil on a medium heat. Place the salmon in the pan with the skin side on the bottom of the pan. Into the same pan add the king prawns.
7. Allow the two fish to cook in the pan for 4 mins on a medium to low heat, making sure not to burn the pieces, and then place the pan in the oven for an additional 4 mins.
8. Check the salmon and if the fish is firm to the touch it will be cooked. Remove the pan from the oven and place back onto the cooker top.
9. Transfer the salmon and the king prawns to a small tray and return to the oven on a low heat to keep warm.
10. On a medium heat add 100ml water to the pan, and then stir in the teaspoon of fish sauce and any marinade that is left in bowl. Increase the heat to high and allow the jus to boil and reduce to a thickened sauce that coats the spoon.
11. Place the salmon fillet and a few of the king prawns on to a plate and add a coating of the sauce to top of the salmon. Finish with a pinch of chopped dill and a sprig of parsley; serve with a light crisp salad.

Bon Appetit!

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Boot Camp 6 – keep repeating those new good habits

MY Boot Camp over the past six weeks has been helping you stay on track and I know so many of you have been noticing how things have changed and have had significant WOW moments!   There was a lovely post in Slimpod Club yesterday and here it is:

Last night it was our village cycling club’s Summer BBQ and I can’t say I was really looking forward to it to be honest.
When the food was ready I went up and scanned the table expecting a bit of a battle with myself over burgers and sausages – you know that little voice in your head “go on, one won’t hurt, you know you want one really” that sort of thing.

Much to my amazement (and more so on reflection during the morning after the night before) that dialogue didn’t even happen! I didn’t give the burgers/sausages a second glance, just picked up a chicken skewer and some lovely Italian pasta salad.

Without a thought I even spread that round my plate so that there wasn’t room for a piece of quiche! I am bowled over really. Having been in a bit of a wilderness since Christmas I’ve thrown myself into Boot Camp and I feel properly back in control now.

Oh and the two glasses of wine and the gin and tonic were delicious and completely guilt free. Happy days

Sustaining healthy behaviour change long-term is the holy grail of successful weight loss and that’s what the Slimpod helps you do.  Your unconscious mind is responsible for your automatic behaviour and gradually changes your attitude to food.

So now, moving forward you need to continue to build on all the great work you’ve done over the past six weeks because sustainable weight loss can be yours if you want it!

If you think about your eating habits over the past 10 or more years, they’ll probably resemble something more like a rollercoaster ride rather than a cruise!  Yo-yo dieting in itself becomes a bad habit and something that’s really difficult to stop doing.

So what’s the definition of habit?  Habits are the repeated small decisions you make and actions you perform every day. Your life up until now is basically the sum total of your habits because research shows habits account for around 40 per cent of your behaviour on any given day.

Nearly every habit you have today, good or bad, is the result of many small choices and decisions made over time. That might be a bit of a scary thought for some!

So it’s clear that if bad habits can be created it’s the repeated pattern of small healthy behaviours that will lead to long term weight loss.

The best way to start new habits is to start with something small and you can build it into your life without too much effort.   During the past six weeks of Boot Camp you’ll have been listening to your Slimpod every day and hopefully that will now have become a habit because it’s this small, effortless act that’s going to make the biggest difference to your life

Just a little reminder:  It’s the repetition of the language in the Slimpod that makes the changes and then repeated listening continues to reinforce those behaviour changes so they become automatic.  The secret of success is in changing the things you do daily and repeating that new behaviour change over and over again.  This is crucial to habit change mastery.

 

 

Check in with the goals you set yourself in June and if you haven’t quite reached your target, treat it as feedback NOT failure. Life is a journey and obstacles get in the way.  Treat these obstacles as a small hill you can easily climb, rather than an impossible mountain that stops you in your tracks, then reaching your goal becomes inevitable!

Re-set those goals for the next six weeks now to keep the momentum going – and use your groups or the people in Slimpod Club to keep you accountable.  If goals cause you problems and have a negative impact then continue listening and take every day as it comes.

So continue to do what you’ve been doing while having a great summer.

Please leave a comment below and tell me what you’ve found most valuable about Boot Camp, what difference it has made to you and what topics you’d be interested in covering next time.

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Healthy recipe: Smoked finney haddock with two-cheese sauce

OUR super chef Simon Smith has done it again! This week’s recipe is more than delicious – it’s absolutely packed with goodness. Simon, head chef at Tameside hospital in Manchester, says: “With this dish I want to show how a popular fish can be made into a tasty meal with little effort and the dish is once again packed with great flavours and aromas that will stimulate any palate.

“Smoked haddock, like most round fish, are nutrition heaven. A 115g fillet of smoked haddock contains a variety of positive nutrients. The fillet contains over 30g of protein which is vital to muscle growth plus omega-3 fatty acids that are used in the body for brain growth and maintaining a healthy heart.

“There’s also a myriad of vitamins, minerals and zero per cent carbohydrate content which make the smoked haddock a favoured fish of mine. Please enjoy the recipe.”

Smoked finney haddock in two cheese sauce

Serves 2

Preparation time: 5 -10 mins

Cooking time: 10 – 13 mins

Ingredients:

2 x 115g (approx.) smoked haddock fillets

half medium onion (diced)

300ml / half pt semi skimmed milk

15g butter

100ml water

5g chives (chopped)

2.5g / half tsp English mustard

20g Cheddar cheese

8g fine grated Parmesan cheese

15g plain flour

10g single cream

Squeeze of lemon

Sprig of parsley

Seasoning

Equipment needed:

Roasting / poaching tray, spoon and whisk

Small saucepan

Chopping board

Small vegetable Knife

Preparation:

Pre heat the oven to 190C / Gas Mk 5

On the chopping board peel and dice the half onion. Place the onion into our poaching / roasting tray.

Take the haddock fillets and fold in half and place into the tray. Pour the milk and water into the tray and squeeze a little lemon over each fish.

Lightly season, cover with foil and place into the oven. Reduce the heat to 180oc / Gas Mk 4 and allow to cook for 10mins.

Remove tray from oven, and if the haddock feels firm then it is cooked. With a fish slice remove the haddock from the tray and carefully pour the milk mixture into the saucepan. Cover the haddock fillets and return to the turned off oven to keep warm.

Add the mustard to the saucepan and whisk into the mixture. Place the sauce pan on the cooker on a low heat and allow to come to a slow simmer.

While waiting for the milk, microwave the 15g butter and melt. Add the 15g plain flour to the bowl and mix to a paste.

When the milk mixture begins to simmer add the flour paste a teaspoon at a time. Whisking the mixture after each spoon.

The sauce should thicken and be smooth. Reduce the heat more and add the cheddar and whisk into the mixture, then add the parmesan, chives and finally the cream. Stir these into the sauce so as not to scrape the bottom of the pan.

Remove the haddock fillets from the oven. Serve on to a plate and nape the haddock with the cheese sauce. Finish with a sprig of parsley and a lemon wedge.

Good Appetite! And please leave a comment below so Simon can see how much you enjoyed his dish.

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Boot Camp week 5 – changing your Summer mindset

SO here we are at the last-but-one week of my Boot Camp and I thought it would be useful if this week we focused on the holiday season because I know this time of year  can throw up all sorts of challenges, concerns and anxieties about food and your weight.

This is hardly surprising since most of the people who come to our Slimpod programmes do so after years of unsuccessfully trying to lose weight and have almost been conditioned to what I call “seasonal dieting”.

Here’s how it goes – let me know by leaving a comment below if you recognise it:

In January the media lures you into the latest “amazing” weight loss revelation (diet).  You’re into it for 4-5 weeks, lose some weight and then lose motivation – because willpower doesn’t last, sadly.

Then you’re feeling a bit rubbish for the next few months until May/June comes and yes, you guessed it – the next revolutionary, all singing all dancing, Summer bikini diet is launched!

You’re on that until your summer holiday (around now) and then you just can’t keep it up because it’s summer and dieting is miserable and boring in the summer holidays isn’t it?!

All those nice things you’re depriving yourself of when everyone else is having fun and enjoying themselves. So rather than feeling rubbish you break the diet and blame it again on your own lack of willpower!

Then you limp along and around October time the media starts up again!  Lose two dress sizes in time for those Christmas parties shout the headlines!  You hop on because basically you’re losing it to put it all back on again over Christmas…and so it goes on!  Nightmare!

Well, the GOOD news is – If you’re on my six week Boot Camp and reading this you’re not on that seasonal rollercoaster any more!

What you’re doing with Slimpod is enabling your eating habits to stabilise after years and years of lurching from one diet to the next.  You’re creating a lifestyle change and enabling healthy eating to become an automatic everyday habit.

However!  I absolutely know that for many of you the dieting behaviour is never far away and the summer diet mindset will be lurking in the background, so I thought I would help you get through summer without putting any weight on – and hopefully even lose some!

1. First thing to remember is that you are NOT ON A DIET and there’s no wagon to fall off!! This is crucially important.
2. Summer will put a lot of you into what I call a “Summer diet trance state” – in English, this means you’ll be out of routine and be in a very different state of mind as I highlighted above. “l’ll just put my weight loss on hold and enjoy myself for a few weeks” kind of trance state!!  If you feel this is you – and I know I’ll get lots of comments saying I’m reading your minds – PLEASE PLEASE wake up from that trance and shake yourself off!  You’re not on a diet and you don’t need to be taken over like this.  
3. You can still ENJOY the summer AND lose weight. All you have to do is continue to listen to your Slimpods and let your subconscious (or automatic brain) take the strain.  It really is simple. There are people coming back from holidays and rejoicing in the fact that they’ve enjoyed themselves and put on no weight when they would ordinarily have pigged out and be at least 8lbs heavier. The lovely Lynn from Slimpod Club just came back from three weeks away and LOST 3.5 lbs! Well done Lynn! 
4. Keep  up your activity because in the summer we tend to be a bit lazier if the weather is hot. Raise your heart rate for just 15 minutes a day! Research has shown that brisk walking four times a week reduces food consumption, cuts down body fat and lowers insulin resistance

So that’s your task for the NEXT six weeks!

Just listen and do some exercise every day. Exercise  should be something that is automatic now any how. This means you won’t have to feel rubbish, you won’t have to ‘start again and you’ll continue the good work you’ve been doing up until now.

Next week is the final week of Boot Camp so make sure you’re there with me at the end! I’ll be doing a roll call!!

 

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Simon’s tasty and nutritious Thai chicken satay

What healthy healthy recipe has Simon Smith, the head chef at Tameside hospital, cooked up for us all this week? He’s whipped up some highly nutritious and quick to cook Thai chicken satay.  It serves 4 and preparation time is only 8 mins. Cooking time is 10 mins. What’s not to like!!

Thai Chicken Satay

Ingredients

2 medium Chicken breasts (cut into strips)

1 bag ready prepared Stir Fry Vegetable mix.

1 tin Coconut Milk

2 tbsp. Crunchy Peanut Butter (leave this out if you have a nut allergy – you’ll get a lovely chicken stir fry)

1 Chicken Stock Cube

2tbsp Fish Sauce

½ Fresh Limes

1tbsp Ginger Puree

1tsp Five Spice powder

20ml Sesame Oil

2 cloves Garlic (chopped)

250g Fresh Coriander (optional)

2 heads fresh Chillies (optional)

Equipment needed:

Wok & Spoon

Liquidiser / Blender

Chopping board

Small Vegetable Knife

Method:

This recipe is SO quick and ideal for busy people.  Even though it’s quick it still provides great taste, aromas and flavours and includes your daily nutritional dietary requirements.

In this type of flash cooking preparation is paramount, so a good “prep” is essential.

1. On the chopping board peel and chop 1 clove of garlic and place into a bowl add 1 tspn of the ginger, 2 tspn Sesame oil, 1 tspn fish sauce and a squeeze of lime juice.

2. Add the chicken and lightly season, then stir together until the chicken is coated.

3. Next cut the fresh chillies (if using) and remove the seeds and discard (these carry all the heat in the chillies). Place the deseeded chillies into the blender with one clove of garlic, ½ the fresh coriander. The rest of the ginger, five spice and fish sauce, also add the tin of Coconut milk, the Peanut butter, the ½ stock cube.

4. Pulse for a few seconds then blend on high until all ingredients combine into a marinade.

5. Place the Wok on to a high flame on the cooker. Allow the wok to heat for a few seconds (for the brave and best results the wok should be very hot, but safety must come first).

6. Add the chicken to the hot wok and allow to fry for approx. 3 min. Keep stirring occasionally to allow all the chicken to cook. When the chicken is cooked place into a bowl and set to the side.

7. Place the wok back on the cooker and add the remaining sesame oil. Heat the oil for a few seconds then add the stir fry vegetables. Stir the vegetables while they fry so they don’t stick and burn in the pan.

 

8. The dish is best served on a bed of fine egg or rice noodles which can be cooked in 4 min in boiled water.  Enjoy!

Please leave a comment below so Simon and I can see how much you enjoyed his super recipe.

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Boot Camp week 4 – limiting beliefs and self-doubts

 

MY Week 4 Boot Camp video is about limiting beliefs and self-doubt – how they sabotage lasting weight loss (and what you can do about it). This was in my Boot Camp last January and it resonated with so many people so I thought it was important to include it now, too.

If you’ve seen it before then it will serve as a great refresher and if it’s your first time then I’m sure you’ll find it really useful.

I’ve been helping people lose weight for almost a decade now. Every day I’m in contact with people who struggle to believe they will ever reach the size they desire. They’ve been on the diet-fail-diet-fail cycle so many times they just can’t imagine themselves succeeding with anything.

They’ve been disappointed so many times it’s now become very emotional – and there’s real anxiety attached to the whole subject of weight loss.

The thing is, if you fear that you won’t lose weight, then you’ll never do it.

The more time goes on the more you’ll continue to believe that you can’t lose weight and you’ll start finding lots of reasons to back up those limiting thoughts.

As time goes on you then find yourself in a pattern and patterns keep repeating themselves. Things get worse and worse until you feel useless and helpless.

You must face this self doubt because otherwise it will control you for ever.

Your life is merely the story you’re telling yourself day in day out and the narrative can change – if you realise it’s happening and take action.

So if this is you, and you’ve given up on many weight loss attempts before you found Slimpods, take a moment to reflect and think about why this is happening.

Is it because of past failures?

Is it because someone once told you that you’ll be fat for ever?

Is it because your partner isn’t supportive of your latest weight loss attempt which makes it doubly hard to be motivated.

Or it might be because you always give up and that’s become a habit – now you doubt whether you can change that habit.

Don’t let the self-doubt hold you back any longer.

M video will help you discover discover how to break through the self-limiting beliefs and succeed!

Please leave a comment below and let me know how the video is going to help you change!

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