How to control your weight at Christmas

WELL, it’s almost Christmas and that time of year when everywhere you look is wall to wall party food, mince pies, chocolates and booze. It’s really easy to overeat and SO many people really pile on the pounds and regret it afterwards.

I bet you didn’t know that a large portion of people’s YEARLY weight gain happens in the next couple of weeks!

Watch my Vlog and find out how you can you can stop those mince pies going on your waistline and make sure your jeans still fit comfortably in January!

Please leave a comment below – I love reading them.

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Confidence, self-esteem and weight loss

HERE at Slimpod HQ we’re often talking about empowerment, confidence and choices and in this video I discuss the importance of having that inner confidence DURING the journey to lasting weight loss  – and not just when you stand on the scales.

There’s also a special mention for a very lovely lady on her birthday – and her story is sure to inspire you! She hadn’t been to a work Christmas “do” for 12 years until Slimpod gave her the confidence to go out and enjoy herself.

PS: If you have any questions you’d like to ask me – or any happy messages for the birthday girl – please feel free to leave them below.

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Food to eat for better health, great advice from the Medicinal Chef

WHEN I asked people if they had any health-related questions for Dale Pinnock, the Medicinal Chef, I was swamped with replies – so thank you to everyone. Dale’s working with us to guide you on food to eat for better health and specifically advise on food which will help you lose weight and/or help to heal any underlying conditions which may be preventing weight loss.

This week I had an hour-long video call with Dale when he answered the first of your questions about food to eat for better health!  Here’s the video, which provides some fascinating insights into how our bodies work and what we should be eating.

Dale also has some great advice on little treats like a piece of cake every now and then!

I’ll be interviewing Dale again next week and if you want to ask any questions or add comments about food to eat for better health then please do that below the blog.  Enjoy!

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Healthy chicken stew is the perfect winter comfort food, says Dale

FANCY a healthy chicken stew? I do! Since I teamed up with the Medicinal Chef, Dale Pinnock, I’ve been getting lots of lovely comments and feedback about his recipes.  Several people have asked if he could share a “healthy comfort food” recipe.  So your wish is my command and this week he’s produced his fantastic chicken stew recipe just as the weather is getting a little colder here in the UK!  Perfect timing!

Dale will be recording a Q&A session with me next week which I’ll be sharing with you. We’ve had lots of questions already, which is very helpful, so if you have any further questions on specific food to eat to improve any health conditions you may have, please do let me know in the comments below and I’ll chat it through with him.  Enjoy the recipe!

Dale tells me: “This dish is winter time comfort food, done healthy, at its very best. Why not have an enjoyable culinary experience and do ourselves some good at the same time?

“There’s no reason at all why we can’t tick both boxes. This particular dish proved very popular on my TV series Eat Shop Save and if you try it, you’ll see why.

“From a nutritional point of view healthy chicken stew ticks a lot of boxes. Low glycaemic, high fibre, high protein, keeps you full for HOURS and is rich in many micronutrients like zinc and B vitamins.”

Dale’s healthy Chicken Stew recipe

Ingredients for healthy chicken stew

1 Large red onion, finely chopped

3 Garlic cloves, finely chopped

Olive oil

2 X 400g cans of cannellini beans, 1 drained, 1 with liquid retained

4 Chicken breasts, diced,

200ml vegetable stock

1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon mixed fresh herbs

Salt

Cooked greens or salad to serve

Method for healthy chicken stew

In a pan, sauté the onion and garlic in a little olive oil, along with a good pinch of salt, until the onion has softened.

Add the beans, including the retained liquid. Simmer for 7–8 minutes, stirring often.

Add the chicken and the vegetable stock. Allow to simmer for around 20 minutes, stirring regularly. Add a little water if it starts to dry up.

At the point where the sauce has thickened to a delicious creamy texture and the chicken has cooked, take off the heat.

Add the grated Parmesan and mixed herbs and stir well.

Serve with cooked greens or a salad.

 

Dale’s book Healthy Every Day is packed with yummy recipes that are bursting with healthy ingredients. You might also like this recipe from Dale: Healthy whole wheat spag bol

Please let me know how much you liked Dale’s healthy chicken stew recipe by leaving a comment below. And please leave your questions for Dale here, too.

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Change one thing at a time for major wellness benefits, says Dale

AS I excitedly announced a couple of days ago, we’ve teamed up with the Medicinal Chef, Dale Pinnock, the leading nutritionist, author of 14 books and a TV regular. When I met Dale at a conference in the States a couple of weeks ago, it was obvious our values were aligned.

We’re both passionate about helping people live healthier lives and I knew instantly that if he agreed to partner up, it would be a match made in heaven!  He did and it is!

One of the most important things that makes lifestyle change sustainable is doing it in small steps.  This is a core principle of the Slimpod programme.  And as you’re about to see, it’s what Dale advocates on the food side of things, too.

I said a couple of days ago that Medicinal Chef Dale would be giving you a series of challenges to help you drop a size and get into your party gear for Christmas.

Here’s Dale’s first challenge – please let me know how you get on with it by leaving a comment below. And if you’re part of our Slimpod community I look forward to seeing pictures of the dish you’ve cooked up!

Over to you, Dale:

“One of the big issues so many people have when they begin to eat healthier is that they try to change everything all at once. They try to do a complete overhaul of their habits in one go and shift themselves into a whole new way of eating overnight.

“Now for 99.9 per cent of us that just isn’t the way forward at all. In fact, it’s the road to ruin. They key for real long-term change, as you know, is by changing your habits, and the way that you eat is a series of habits all built one on top of the other.

“We need to change things bit by bit to completely shift our lifestyle over time. This is why I always use the rule of ‘change one thing’.

“As the name suggests, this means finding one single thing that you can change straight away – then change just that.

“Keep this up for a few weeks until it is a habit, then make another goal and make that simple change. Keep this up and after six to 12 months your lifestyle will be drastically different.

“So where to start? Well, that’s up to you but one of the most fun things is to ‘give your favourites a facelift’. Start with what you already enjoy eating and your favourite foods.

“Learn how to give them a bit of a facelift. You like pizza? Amazing! Have a go at making one yourself.

“Use a multigrain bread mix to make the crust. Top it with loads of vibrant veggies like spinach, red onion, fresh garlic, artichokes, maybe some goat’s cheese or feta on there.

“Why this change? The multigrain bread base is much higher in fibre and will keep you feeling fuller for much longer and stabilise your blood sugar levels. which in turn will reduce your desire to snack, reduce overall calorie intake, and majorly improve gut health.

Small simple swap, major benefit

“The toppings deliver far more micronutrients, antioxidants, and beneficial phytochemicals. Small simple swap, major benefit.

“You like spag bol? Excellent, swap the pasta over to the brown variety and bulk up the ragout with red lentils to raise the fibre content.

“The wholewheat spaghetti again keeps you feeling fuller for longer, keeps you satiated, and stabilises blood sugar. You get the point.

`’If you think eating healthy is about self-deprivation, denial and self-punishment then man alive have you missed the point! Enjoy the food you love but at the same time get educated about what healthy actually looks like and why, and bring the two worlds together so you have something that is both sustainable and thoroughly enjoyable for life!!

“Over the coming weeks I’m going to be giving you small tips and challenges so you can begin to adjust your diet and lifestyle to not only help manage your weight but improve many aspects of your health.

“It’s a complete dietary overhaul that’s simple, enjoyable, fad free and not a calorie or set of scales in site. My tips and challenges will build on each other to really step up your healthy eating game!”

Here’s Medicinal Chef Dale’s super-healthy Spag Bol recipe

Spag Bol’s a real family favourite up and down the country – and one that can be a monumental calorie bomb if we aren’t careful. This one will go down an absolute storm. The changes aren’t huge – just a couple of tweaks and this dish becomes so much better for you. By swapping white pasta for brown we up the fibre, and adding the lentils means extra protein, fibre and B vitamins.

Ingredients

180g dry red lentils

1 large red onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 red seeded, finely chopped and deseeded

Olive oil

500g lean minced beef

1 tablespoon tomato puree

2 X 400g cans of chopped tomatoes

250ml beef stock

500g wholewheat spaghetti, mixed leaf salad to serve

Method

Place the lentils in a saucepan, cover with boiling water and simmer for 15–20 mins until soft, then drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a pan sauté the onion, garlic and red pepper in a little olive oil, along with a pinch of salt, until the onion and peppers have softened.

Add the mince and gently fry for 7–8 mins, until it’s cooked through. Stir in the tomato puree. Add the lentils, chopped tomatoes and stock and simmer for 10–15 mins, until the sauce has thickened.

Finally, cook the spaghetti until al dente or according to the packet instructions.

Serve with a mixed leaf salad.

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Medicinal Chef Dale will reveal which foods make us healthier

YOU’VE probably seen Dale Pinnock, the Medicinal Chef, on TV or read one of his 14 books. He’s been on Lorraine, the Alan Titchmarsh Show and the series Eat, Shop and Save explaining the science of how food can make us healthier. Well, here’s the exciting news: Dale is teaming up with me to give Slimpodders expert advice on how to eat for good health and what to eat to lose weight more effectively.

He’ll be joining us on Facebook for a live session in a week or so, and today in this blog he’s giving you an introductory insight into the invaluable guidance he’s going to be sharing with you. I’m SO excited!

Over the next four weeks Medicinal Chef Dale will be showing you that if you just change one thing in your diet it can make a big difference to your weight and your health.

He’ll be showing you how you can give your favourite food a facelift and also how you can eat to help underlying medical conditions, like under-active thyroids, and other health related issues that might be preventing you from losing weight so far.

He’ll even be helping you to make healthy comfort food during the winter months and sharing some great recipes! Dale and I met in October at a conference in California and I knew right away that he’d be just the man to give podders expert help with nutrition and health.

Dale has degrees in human nutrition and herbal medicine and is completing a master’s degree in nutritional medicine. Don’t worry that he’ll be baffling you with science – Dale has a remarkable knack of putting everything in a down to earth way that’s great fun.

His book The Medicinal Chef is packed with recipes that prove how easy it is to use seemingly humble ingredients which have been shown to have beneficial effects on a range of medical conditions – as well as helping you to shed pounds.

You can find out more at Dale’s website. Today the Medicinal Chef has this advice for you to set the scene for the amazing stuff he’ll be sharing:

“How many of you were on the diet hamster wheel for years and were involved counting or recording something? A lot of you, I would guess. For decades we’ve been taught the concept of diet that revolves around counting calories, counting points, or syns, or all manner of different things.

“Yet the more of us that do this, the more of us that fail. We focus on all of the things we shouldn’t do, and arbitrary numbers that in theory, if the maths add up, take us to health and fitness Utopia.

“However, the health of the nation is in crisis. That is undeniable now. Here in the UK between 2005 and 2015 the percentage of adults that were overweight or obese rose from 60.5% to 62.9%. We are WAY over the halfway mark!!

“We are in an age where we know so much about the way that our bodies work, and there is so much information at our fingertips, yet the scales keep going up. I believe there are two things responsible for this. Environment and misinformation.

“The first, we cannot easily control. The second, well that very much influences our choices. If we tackle that, we can determine how we respond to the first.

“So what is this misinformation? Well, I’m going to tease you with it here, and make a very controversial statement…

“The biggest piece of misinformation is that weight management is simply a “calories in” versus “calories out” equation. Burn more calories than you consume, and you will lose weight.

“OH IS THAT IT?? That’s all I need to do then…if only!!! Millions of people have been doing this and just continue to pile on weight or struggle to lose a pound. In my clinical practice I have worked with thousands of patients over the years and I have NEVER met ONE single patient that strictly adhered to a calorie counting diet and managed to maintain it and to successfully keep the weight off for more than two years.

The Medicinal Chef says you’re not to blame

“This is the norm. We are taught this, we put it into action, and we fail. Then, even worse we believe that it’s US that’s to blame. We feel like a failure and we beat ourselves up. We get disheartened and we give up and stop our efforts to live a healthier life.

“Our bodies are not a mechanical engine that runs at a set rate on a single standardised fuel. We are biological systems. We break down, absorb, metabolise, respond, react, adapt.

“We are an incredibly complex and beautifully orchestrated sea of interconnected biochemical processes and interactions. We are regulated by hormones, by cross-system communication and it is understanding this, our very nature that holds the key to getting free from the dieting trap for ever.

“Understand exactly how your body works, how the food that you eat influences the myriad of control systems, hormonal responses and biochemical interactions, and how to put this knowledge into action when you eat, then you will finally have the map out of the woods.”

And I’m delighted and excited that’s what Dale the Medicinal Chef is going to be showing us all! So look out for my blogs in the weeks ahead. Please leave a comment below with your food questions and to give Dale a warm welcome to the Slimpod community.

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Quit sugar and this is why you’ll look younger and feel better

WANT to look younger, feel more energetic, lose some belly fat and improve your health? Of course you do! But you don’t have to buy any expensive “magic” potions or book into a swanky health farm – just give up sugar for a month and you’ll notice some great changes to the way you feel and the way you look.

As this is Sugar Awareness Week I thought you might like to find out the benefits to you if you quit sugar. I don’t just mean the spoonful you add to your tea or coffee, by the way.

I mean being totally aware of the hidden sugar in everyday food and drink and steering clear of it.

You can find out more about hidden sugar in some of my earlier blog posts.

More sugar in ready meals than in Coke

Think you’re eating healthily? Think again 

Jamie Oliver’s shock food video 

But here for the first time are some of the scientifically-proven benefits of a life without sugar.

Younger-looking skin

Research suggests that high blood sugar hinders the repair of your skin’s collagen. So a poor diet can make your skin less elastic and bring on premature wrinkles. Studies show that if you quit it can help reduce visible signs of ageing.

Lose that belly fat

Cakes, biscuits and fizzy drinks pile on the pounds around your middle. This is because high blood sugar levels release a flood of insulin through your body and over time make fat build up around your belly. This is especially dangerous because these abdominal fat cells release hormones that bring on the kind of inflammation that can cause heart disease and cancer.

Keep diabetes at bay

For greater protection against type 2 diabetes, you should quit sugar (or at the very least cut down on it). When you eat a lot of sweet carbohydrate the pancreas releases huge amounts of sugar to cope. Repeat this day after day at every mean – and between meals with snacks – and the cells which produce insulin can get tired and stop working, eventually leading to diabetes.

Protect your heart

A research project shows that people who get between 17 and 21 per cent of their daily calories from food packed with sugar had a 38 per cent higher risk of dying from heart disease than those who kept their added sugar intake to below eight per cent. So stay away from ready meals, junk food, pizza, sauces and all processed food in tins and jars. Their sugar content is huge.

One man in Holland who quit sugar and alcohol for a month for a TV documentary lost 8lbs, saw his blood pressure fall from 135 to 125 and got his cholesterol level to drop by eight per cent.

But going “cold turkey” wasn’t easy. He felt “cranky” and was constantly hungry. This is because sugar is like alcohol – it makes you feel tired, dehydrates you and sucks the vitamins out of your body.

The Dutch guinea pig said he felt much fitter at the end of his month being forced to live on fruit, yoghurt and salads. But it took three weeks for the sugar cravings to finally disappear.

What really grabbed my attention was when I discovered what happened when he started eating sugar again. “I got arrhythmia [irregular heartbeat] twice,” he said. “I also had trouble sleeping. I couldn’t fall asleep before 3am or 4am. My body wasn’t used to sugar any more and it came in like a drug.”

That’s precisely the problem we face in our sugar-laden world today. Sugar is like an addictive drug – and it’s hugely powerful.

Is sugar a problem in your life? Could you challenge yourself to quit sugar for 21 days? Please leave a comment below – I read them all with great interest and they really help me to help others.

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How daily small wins magically lead on to achieving a big goal

HABITS give us the results we want but the real reason habits matter is that each action you take is like a vote for the person you want to become. And we become what we repeatedly do. Small daily actions and small wins take you towards your goal, enabling and empowering you to form good eating and lifestyle habits which will result in sustainable weight loss.

And this is where the importance of small wins comes in. Small wins help you feel like you’re accomplishing something. Focus too much on the big goal and you’ll feel like you’ll never get there. Small wins motivate you to keep on going – and eventually that big goal is reached.

I always tell people on my Slimpod programme to jot down three small wins at the end of the day that stand out as being a bit different and could be attributed to their Slimpod.

I call this a Success Log and I’ve made mine out of a lovely journal I’ve kept over the years. The differences can be improvements about your eating, your movement or the way you’re feeling. How you’re feeling is fundamentally important to your weight loss journey because that’s what’s going to give you the fuel to keep going!

An inspiring Success Log

The Success Log is based on a psychological principle called priming and this is about letting your brain know you have something important for it to notice.  So by writing down the good things that are happening in your day, this encourages your brain to notice more of them.

It’s one of the golden rules of the brain.  The more you notice, the more you will.  Think about this for a moment.  If you’re thinking about changing your car and getting a new one in red, suddenly all you see every day is red cars.

What’s on your mind is brought to mind.  Same with food.  If you’re spending your day thinking about your next meal, food is what occupies every waking moment.

So you have to retrain your brain to notice things that will move your focus of attention to things that are healthier for you and the Success Log is part of that process.

We all lead such busy lives and unless you stop and think about your wins and positives they’re likely to go unnoticed.  Seeing is believing!

Do let me know about your small wins by leaving a comment below. I love reading about all your successes!

 

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Join my new 30-day challenge for a fitter, healthier and happier you

TODAY, Wednesday September 26, we celebrate National Fitness Day!  Its aim is to inspire the UK to move for one day because exercise has so many health and wellness benefits that extend far beyond just weight loss. That’s me in the picture, by the way, doing my morning workout on my uncle’s farm in Ireland during the summer

The benefits of regular exercise are fabulous: As well as controlling your weight, it cuts your risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. It also strengthens your bones and muscles and improves your mental health, confidence and mood.

However at Slimpod HQ we’re going one step further than a fitness day and I want to inspire you to move consistently for a month!

Today I’m launching a new 30-day fitness challenge and I’d love you to be part of it!  If you’re in our Slimpod Club private group on Facebook you’ll know we’re in the last week of a 70-day fitness challenge and there’s been some amazing transformations from people who have simply been consistent with their exercise.

Watch out for the new Slimpod Club accountability thread for the 30-day challenge.

If you’re not in Slimpod Club then please use this blog post as your accountability thread. Post a comment every day to share your progress with others – and I’ll monitor how you’re getting on and hold you accountable.

It’s easy – just set yourself a daily goal. It could a be distance to walk or run. It could be a number of strength exercises to achieve, such as squats, press-ups or sit-ups.

Set an alarm on your phone every 50 mins to remind you to get up and move for the next 10 mins, even if it’s walking round the kitchen or your office desk.

Remember the Slimpod message – all movement is exercise!

To give you motivation, here’s a video from Caroline, one of our lovely ladies.  She’s got a very inspirational message for you.

And here’s some inspiring words and pictures from Slimpodder Janet: “Eighteen months ago I wasn’t very active, just a bit of Zumba for a wiggle and a giggle. Then I started Slimpod…

“Straight away it encouraged me to move more. I started walking, doing two to three miles a couple of times a week – plus the Zumba.

“This summer I took up the Slimpod 70-day Challenge and with a friend from Zumba I started hill walking. What an amazing change!

“We do up to 15 miles a day and it challenges my legs, heart and breathing. I love it! I’m fitter, healthier, stronger and happier.

“I’ve dropped two dress sizes and my body is more toned, flexible and supple. When I’m out on the hills I feel good, happy and relaxed all at the same time.

“I have loved every challenge I’ve set myself. So do take up the new 30-day challenge, even if you only start by walking to the end of the road. Gradually build things up from there. Come on – let’s do it!”

Let me know with a comment below that you’re getting involved in the new 30-day challenge. Let’s smash this together

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You just gotta have faith if you’re going to achieve your goals

Do you believe in your weight loss goals? Do you believe you’ll achieve them? How often do you set off wanting to drop a size or two but deep down inside you feel it’s a lost cause?

In this video I explain why so many people have no faith in their goals and how that limiting belief may be preventing you from losing the weight you’re so desperate to shift.

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Don’t panic! Keep calm and carry on losing weight

WE’RE approaching the end of the Summer in the UK and I know it’s probably been one of the worst times of year to stay on track with weight loss goals – apart from Christmas!  I’ll bet anything that routine has gone out the window and you’ll be panicking because you think you’ve lost the plot yet again!

But hold on!  This is TOTALLY normal and you need to know that you’re not alone.  I’ve had a ridiculously busy August too and I know exactly how you feel. I seriously do!

I’ve had so much going on during the holiday season and August is also full of birthdays, anniversaries, cake and alcohol! I’ve let normal routine and habits go a bit and my trousers are probably a little tighter than when the Summer began.

BUT the difference is – I don’t panic.  I know I can get back to my normal eating habits quite easily when I set my mind to it – and more to the point, for me August is just an obstacle that gets built into my life.

It isn’t a normal month! So my brain knows how to deal with it and I don’t panic about gaining a few lbs because I know they will go as quickly as they came.

But this attitude and mindset has come with time, consistency and practice.  It’s not because I’m any different to anyone else, or I’m superhuman.

My eating habits are not perfect, but most of the time I eat healthily and I don’t panic if I overdo it for a few weeks.  I certainly don’t think I’ve blown it and all is lost!

I look to the future and work out my next goal.

That goal for me happens to be to fit comfortably in my size 10 trousers by the end of September and I know I will.

So how do you feel about joining me?

Start with re-setting your goal.  Make it a small one – say 21 days or max 30 days.  Set a goal that’s totally achievable – like feeling more comfortable in something that’s become a bit tight.

You know what you have to do but If you need help, ask below or if you’re a member of Slimpod Club take part in the community challenge that will begin on Monday September 10.

To help with your motivation and to give you a boost, I thought I’d share a lovely story with you that really made me smile.

I’d like to introduce you to Wendy who sent me a little note with her progress after seven weeks on her Slimpod Programme. This is what she wrote:

“I was hooked on day one and from the very next day I have not eaten any snacks or sugary foods, I have not weighed myself and never will.

“I have eaten healthy and not dieted. I have exercised about four times a week at the gym and when on holiday I walked or had a little run. 

“I have stayed away from anyone who I think will try and sabotage me (drains) and stayed close to my radiator friends who encourage me.

“The first 10 days were not so much hard with willpower but more about the voices of Angel and the Devil getting along with each other and helping me.

“These chats would be quite frequent as I started to retrain, but after 10 days I seemed to settle and not be reliant on listening to them.   

“Now all three of us are getting to used to this new life of mine of thinking slimmer, eating healthy and moving about. 

“I have sent a photo from July 3 when I started and a photo from six weeks (half way). The difference is profound.

Wendy’s selfie on Day One

Wendy on Day 42 – “profound difference”

“I know it’s only week seven but I feel so grateful , this is a life saver for me and next week I go back to the doctors to see if my blood pressure has reduced.

“I could write a huge list of this journey so far like the help, videos, pods and programme –  it’s so clever. My only downfall is the success log, which I will pick up again as it is useful.

“My advice to people is you have to WANT to lose weight and you have to be READY, if you don’t have this then the pods get blocked in the brain.   

“If you follow the rules it really works but you must WANT to and not expect a magic wand

“Thank you, thank you. I am looking forward to the next five weeks :)”

How wonderful is that?  If you’ve got a similar story that would help motivate others in our community please do let me know below.  Would love to hear from you.

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Summer eating and drinking – hot tips for staying cool about it

WE’RE seven days into August and the holiday season has well and truly started (unless you’re reading this in Australia, New Zealand or South Africa!) I’m constantly hearing people say “I’m a little bit worried about how I’m going to cope with food when I’m on holiday – I usually pig out and I love having a cocktail or two in the evening.”

So I thought it might be a good time to give you a little help on how to get through all the temptations of Summer and stay in control of your weight.I’m sure you know the story – it’s almost as if your mind is saying “Woo hoo we’re on holiday and that means I have permission to eat anything you want to eat – and lots of it!”

Then you get disappointed because you feel like you’ve fallen off the wagon and you beat yourself up.

This time of year can be really difficult and create all sorts of challenges, concerns and anxieties about food and your weight. Most people coming to my Slimpod programme 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 (and do let me know below if you recognise it!).

In January the media lures you into the latest “amazing” weight loss revelation (it’s a diet).  You are into it for four to five 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 holidays isn’t it?!

All those nice things you’re depriving yourself of while everyone else is having fun and enjoying themselves. So rather than feeling rubbish you break the diet and blame your Summer eating 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,” the headlines shout!  You hop on because basically you’re losing it to put it all back on again over Christmas…and so it goes on!  Nightmare!

If you’re on a Slimpod programme, this may well have stopped already and you’re noticing you’re far more in control.

You’ll also be noticing you don’t want much of the sugary stuff – which is great. However I do know that dieting behaviour is really hard to shift and can sometimes be triggered if you’re not aware of it.

Summer eating and drinking – how to handle it

So here’s a few tips on Summer eating which will give you a boost!

ONE: Summer puts 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. “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 don’t need to eat for Britain this month!

TWO: You can still ENJOY the summer AND lose weight. Just be in the right mindset.. The CRUCIAL thing is to build little rewards into your life over the next four or five weeks and don’t let ice-creams, cocktails etc become obstacles to your success and derail you. Lots of people think they’ve blown their healthy eating regime just because they’ve had some ice-cream. This then becomes a very useful excuse to eat, too.

The important thing to remember is this is an automatic pattern of behaviour that’s been running in your life for quite a while and you need to be aware it’s happening before you can do something about it. So if something like this is happening now – chill!. Stop thinking it’s the end of the world because it isn’t! Recognise it’s happening and do something about it.

Use the treats to help with your success instead of letting them make you feel guilty. It’s all in your head after all! Use the treats as a little reward for reaching a mini goal – which could be anything you choose.

If you’re going on a trip then rather than feeling bad after having an ice cream, give yourself permission to have one. It’s truly not going to be the end of the world and when you do this you change your mindset from throwing in the towel and “struggling” to being kind to yourself and honouring the time of year.

Summer eating and drinking really is that simple. If you want a cocktail, have one. You may be surprised and one might be enough. It’s really all about flipping your mindset from “I’ve blown it and I don’t care” to “I’m going to have these little treats but I can still be in control.”

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 Elaine, one of our Tameside nurses, recently came back from holiday and was so happy because she put no weight on.

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! This will really help to manage the treats too!

So have fun and enjoy your holiday and your Summer eating without worrying!

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Like Helen, let your Slimpod unlock the secret of the Power Within

I’VE been so blessed over the past week to have the privilege to watch lots and lots of videos that Slimpodders have sent me. Believe me, I’ve had a few teary evenings because it’s the most amazing feeling seeing the astonishing difference in people in the space of just seven days.

We all have a very special power within our minds and  all we really need is the key that will unlock it.

Over the years I’ve noticed that the first big step for most people is making a decision to do something about their weight.  They’ve often had a long journey of failure and set-backs and they really don’t start with much enthusiasm.

Then when they do get going and make the decision to take action,  confidence and self-esteem levels can be at their absolute lowest and the thought of sharing their journey on video would most probably be the last thing on their mind!

However, one of the most powerful ways to motivate yourself to reach your goals is to share your daily progress and also witness how other people are getting on.

Seeing how others who started off like you have progressed, overcome obstacles and changed their lives is a powerful emotional incentive.

That’s one of the reasons I started our Video of the Week challenge. And I know from the many comments I’ve had that it’s really paying off for so many people.

I’m really grateful to lovely Helen Martin, first winner of my Video of the Week award, for allowing me to share two of her videos with you. She’s only been on the Slimpod programme for two weeks and already she’s noticing wonderful differences.

In the first video, as you’ll see, she was very emotional about her weight and the way she felt about herself. In the second video, which she shot the next day, she’s very happy about the way her attitude to food is changing.

 

By the end of the week Helen was even happier and more confident – so much so that she’s talking about becoming a Zumba instructor! Amazing!

Helen says she now has a different mindset and has  learned an important lesson about herself by completing her daily video blogs. “It’s not just about losing weight, it’s also about gaining self-respect,” she says.

“We should be kinder about ourselves, learn to love ourselves more for who we are. Life is for enjoying, not for blaming ourselves.”

Isn’t that so true? I’m sure Helen is going to inspire many, many people with her success.

So it will be wonderful if lots more of you can share daily videos in Slimpod Club or with a friend if you’re not in the group.

Imagine if one person saw your progress and used that to take action to change their life. How would that make you feel?

Then imagine if hundreds of people saw that and took action. How would that make you feel??

Inspiring others is the one of the most rewarding feelings and is one that can then be used to encourage you even further than just your physical and emotional journey.

Please leave a comment below to let me know about your video diary and to tell me what you think about Helen’s success.

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70-day challenge will keep you on track through the summer

JULY and August can be really difficult when you’re trying to eat healthily and lose weight – because these months are full of temptations and distractions. So I’ve been giving a lot of thought about how I can help you stay on track.

Last week I told you I’d been speaking at a conference in Manchester to mark the 70th anniversary of the NHS, where a 70-day Ditch Sugar challenge was issued to 250,000 people in Tameside. One of my fellow speakers was the leading cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra, an expert on healthy sugar-free eating, and as we chatted during a break I had a light bulb moment…

Why not issue a similar challenge to all my Slimpodders and readers of my blog! So that’s what I did and here’s the details of what you have to do.

If you’ve been listening to your pods for a few weeks or more, chances are you’re already being nudged away from sweet things. But you’ll no doubt be grateful for some extra motivation and guidance.

If you’re not on my Slimpod programme, here’s your chance to experience the remarkable benefits of healthy eating.

Towards the end of this blog I’ll be giving you a link to an article about the foods that can give your body an amazing boost as well as helping you to be in control.

Aseem and I at the conference

But first here’s how the 70-day Ditch Sugar challenge can give you extra motivation to keep you on track through the summer.

A project I’m doing with the Channel 4 programme How To Lose Weight Well has got the staff at Tameside hospital recording a short video each day and uploading it to their own private FB group.

This was originally so the programme’s producers of the programme could track progress but it’s had a whole host of other benefits too which have been quite remarkable.

One thing it has done is hold the group members accountable. They’ve really got into the habit of doing their daily video because it helps them to reflect on the positive things in the day.

Crucially, they can hear themselves speaking the positives out loud and just like seeing, hearing is believing. This really is fabulous for self-esteem.

One of the best things is it helps you to focus on the process NOT the scales. As you know, it’s the repetition of small daily actions which creates the results.

And finally, it’s truly inspiring for the people watching and creates a lovely positive effect all round!

So to help you be truly successful and to help motivate you during the 70 days of the Ditch Sugar challenge, four members of staff at Tameside hospital have agreed to lead the challenge in our very own Slimpod Club group.

They’ve been posting videos for the past four weeks in their Channel 4 group so they’ll lead by example by posting in Slimpod Club and I know they inspire you with their success so far!

Here’s all you have to do:

STEP ONE

Make a short video every day on your phone (it doesn’t have to be too long!) telling everyone about your positives, how you’re cutting down on sugar and what healthier eating is doing for you.

STEP TWO

Post your video up in Slimpod Club if you’re a member. Add the hashtag #70daychallenge

STEP THREE

Sit back and bask in the praise you’re bound to get from other Slimpodders!

I can’t wait to see all your videos. It should be great fun – and hugely valuable.

Now, as promised, here’s some expert guidance from Dr Malhotra’s ground-breaking book The Pioppi Diet, which I’m always raving about.

The simplest way to ditch sugar is to stop buying processed food such as ready meals, takeaways, things in tins and packets.

Buy fresh food and cook it yourself so there’s no danger of hidden sugar creeping in, which is the real danger with non-fresh food.

You might be surprised how good you feel after just a day or two on healthier food because it creates a virtuous circle in your body and your mind.

Once you start to get your buzz from eating fish, lean meat and vegetables instead of pizza, pasta and curries it just becomes easier and easier to keep up the good work for yourself and your family.

Ten Great Foods To Boost Your Healthy Lifestyle

Do leave a comment below this blog to let me know how your videos are coming along. And how your healthier eating is going this summer.

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Will you ditch sugar for 70 days to celebrate the NHS’s birthday?

JUST over a year ago, I launched my Slimpod programme at Tameside hospital in Manchester with high hopes that it would spark off an eating revolution in the NHS. It has been more successful than I dreamed – and next week, to mark the 70th anniversary of the NHS, the hospital is issuing a challenge to the 250,000 people it serves to Ditch Sugar.

I’m very excited because I’ll be speaking at a symposium in Manchester next week to explain how the Slimpod programme has helped 100 Tameside staff including doctors and nurses to change their eating habits with dramatic results.

I’ll be highlighting the success stories of two of our own long-standing Slimpodders, Darin McCloud and Sammie Axton, and I’m delighted Sammie will be in the audience as living proof of what a Slimpod can do.

Also there will one of the 20 Tameside nurses who have recently gone on the Slimpod programme as part of the Channel 4 series How To Lose Weight Well.

Sarah Moody is a Gastroenterology Nurse Specialist and lives in Stalybridge with her husband and dog. She’s 46 and weighs almost 19 stones and wants to lose six.

Tameside nurse Sarah Moody, left, with colleagues Angela and Elaine

She says: “I’ve been there so many times. I lose weight only to pile it back on again. I like how I look at 13 stones and my body feels best at that weight. I love a glass of wine after work. This prompts me to eat more. Disaster.”

Leading experts will explain to the 100-strong audience the dangers of sugar in our diets and how we can adopt a sugar-free diet and lifestyle. Among the speakers will be leading cardiologist, health campaigner and author Dr Aseem Malholtra, whose book The Pioppi Diet I am constantly recommending to people.

Will you ditch sugar for 70 days?

Working with the community newspaper and radio station, Tameside hospital will issue a 70-day sugar free challenge – one day for every year of the NHS – a call to arms to the people and organisations of Tameside and Glossop to cut down on sugar and ultra-processed foods with an aim to rapidly improve their health and weight.

Through the borough’s network of over 1,000 voluntary organisations and charities, and local schools and GP surgeries, it will offer advice and support, simple tips and suggestions on healthy alternatives.

I’d love all of you to join the 70-day challenge too. All you have to do is commit right now to seriously reducing the amount of sugar you consume – not just in your tea and coffee but also in sweets, cakes, chocolate, biscuits and importantly, in processed foods such as takeaways and ready meals.

I’m confident you’ll find that after a very short time you’ll be able to Ditch Sugar completely. You’ll be surprised how rapidly the body responds to sugar-reduced eating and how much more energy you have.

Leave a comment below to tell me you’re accepting the challenge – and keep posting regular updates.

By the way, there are still a few tickets available for the symposium at Hyde Town Hall, Manchester, on Wednesday July 4 from 12.30 to 3.30. You can get a ticket here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ditch-sugar-tickets-46679745375

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Dare to believe like Sammie and you really can achieve anything

INSPIRING can be a very over-used word but there’s no other way to describe what Sammie Axton has achieved and the way she has turned her life around. Six years ago, in her own words, Sammie was “a rather large lady” who’d tried every diet under the sun and had convinced herself that as nothing had worked she was condemned to a middle age of unhappiness. Boy was she wrong!

After losing 70 lbs and keeping it off ever since, she suddenly discovered she had a real taste for life. She took up karate to get herself fit enough to keep up with her young son Bobby – and as the weight stayed off, Sammie’s strength and ability went through the roof.

Last week she won a bronze medal in her class at the world karate championships. That’s her above in her white karate gear.

That’s an amazing achievement for a 50-year-old mum who once thought her greatest physical achievement was trying to chase her son round the park.

Sammie, from Denton in Manchester, is such an amazing lady that I asked her to describe how she felt about winning her medal.

“When we went to the trials I really was going as support for Bobby but joined in and worked hard as always. At the end when they were calling out the names for the ones who were chosen, I sat down with the parents not even thinking my name would be called.

Bobby shows off mum’s medal

“I was waiting to hear Bobby’s name called and when it was I was so proud. Then my name was called but I just sat there and thought they were calling someone else. They had to call me twice before I realised it really was me.

“I was shocked, amazed and proud. I couldn’t believe it. I got up and collected my badges and sat with my squad and my son – it was an amazing feeling.

“While we had our pictures taken all sorts of stuff was running through my head – how, why can I do this? And yes I can, I’ve trained hard I love my sport, yes I can do this.

“Never in a million years did I expect a medal – I was there to support Bobs. When I stood on that podium and accepted my medal I felt like all my hard work had paid off.

“I’m here at the world championships and this woman I’ve become is amazing and worthy. I realised my journey to completely re-invent myself wasn’t over, it’s just beginning.

“The pride for my country, for my squad, for my child, for my club and for myself was overwhelming. The opening ceremony was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

“I could never in my wildest dreams see myself at the age of 50 – a once rather large lady – walking through with all these different countries. And yet I was there, right in the middle of it all. Wow! Just wow.”

Aren’t those just the most emotional and wonderful words you’ve ever read?

 

Sammie before…

…and after

Sammie never dared to believe she could achieve this. Like so many overweight people, she couldn’t see past the limitations of the scales and her waistline.

But it IS possible to turn your life around. Sammie is living proof of what can be achieved.

What could YOU do if you saw past your self-doubt and dared to dream?  Let me know below!

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Why that ‘healthy’ baked potato is actually a sugar timebomb!

I HAVE to admit that sometimes the research papers I read really surprise me. Recently I discovered that it’s now been proved that type 2 diabetes can be reversed in as little as three weeks. Not by some new wonderdrug but by something much, much more simple: healthy eating and a little bit of exercise.

For those people who are on the verge of diabetes, the findings are even more exciting. Professor James Barnard at UCLA, who has written more than 200 studies on the relationship between lifestyle habits and chronic disease, recently wrote: “There is much we can do with a healthy lifestyle alone, no medications needed, to prevent diabetes.”

In fact, a healthy lifestyle where you consistently eat good food has proven more effective than medication in staving off diabetes.

So at the start of Diabetes Week, I delved into the research into what kinds of foods are healthiest for us. You won’t be surprised to know the answer is whole foods that are naturally rich in fibre and low in fats and sugars and haven’t been refined in a factory.

That means vegetables, whole fruits (not juices), whole grains, legumes such as peas and beans, non-fat dairy products, and lean meat such as fish and skinless chicken breast.

What will surprise you though is research I discovered that shows the amazing way common carbohydrate foods that we think are healthy contain a lot of glucose which seriously affects our blood sugar levels.

For example, how many people trying to lose weight eat a white baked potato? In fact, a baked potato is converted by the body into the equivalent of eight teaspoons of sugar!

The biggest offender is boiled basmati rice – a 150 gram serving converts into 10 teaspoons of sugar. Boiled sweetcorn converts to seven teaspoons, spaghetti converts to just under seven and a banana converts to almost six.

So what foods convert to the smallest amounts of sugar? According to Dr Aseem Malhotra in his ground-breaking book The Pioppi Diet, a raw apple converts to just over two teaspoons, a helping of frozen peas to just over one teaspoon and boiled broccoli to 0.2 teaspoons. Best of all are eggs – which don’t convert to sugar at all.

The conclusion, backed by worldwide medical research, is that eating hardly any processed carbs produces important health benefits – and also helps you to lose weight very effectively. Remember, the key to positive wellbeing is consistent healthy eating.

By the way, if you’re wondering what Pioppi means, it’s a village in Italy where the healthy lifestyle of natural, unprocessed food means people live active, disease-free lives well into their nineties. The oldest inhabitant is 107 and the community is called The Village Where People Forget To Die!

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Fish curry in coconut milk – healthy home-made ‘takeaway’

FRIDAY night is takeaway night for many of us – but unless you’re really careful, what you order can be a bit of a threat to your waistline! So this week Simon Smith, our NHS hospital superchef, has come up with a delicious alternative which is wonderfully healthy. “You can cook it in about 20 minutes and you’ll find that not only is it healthy, it leaves you feeling good, too,” he says.

“Cooking in coconut milk adds a whole new dimension to a curry and brings out the full flavour of the fish. By the way, you don’t have to have rice with a curry – there’s plenty of fresh veg in this dish and the protein in the fish will leave you feeling satisfied. Try a curry with a side salad like they do in Thailand!”

Simon is head chef at Tameside hospital in Manchester, where the staff love his Slimpod Specials.

 

Fish curry in coconut milk

Ingredients

2 tablespoons sesame seed oil

1 red onion, sliced

2 red peppers, sliced

50g mangetout

50g sugar snap peas

1 courgette, cut into batons

4 fillets of white fish

600 ml coconut milk (tinned)

3 teaspoons fish sauce

juice and rind of 2 limes

4 tbsp massaman curry paste (found in most supermarkets)

Large handful coriander leaves

Basmati rice to serve four (small helpings!)

Method

Heat the oil in a large, deep frying pan.

Once hot, fry the onions for 2 minutes and then add the red pepper and cook until onions have gone slightly brown.

Add the curry paste and stir to coat the pepper and onions. Season to taste.

Add the coconut milk and stir. Add the lime juice, and fish sauce, stir well.

Place the fish fillets into the sauce flesh side down, and scatter the rest of the vegetables around the pan.

Poach the fish for 5 minutes and then turn over so that the skin is facing the pan.

Cook for a further 5 minutes or until the flesh is fully cooked – flesh becomes flaky and glistens.

Serve with fresh coriander leaves and small helpings of basmati rice – leave out the rice if you’re into no-carbs or low-carbs. Try a side salad instead.

Please let Simon know what you think of this super dish by leaving a comment below. He loves reading them all!

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Another hospital changes over to healthier Slimpod Special meals!

IT’S really well documented how our NHS hospitals need to clean up their act over the food and drink they provide to patients and staff.  NHS Chief Exec Simon Stevens has issued directives to his managers to reduce sugar and focus on the health of the staff. Last year, with our help, Tameside hospital in Manchester did something radically different and started a programme to change the eating behaviour of the staff.

They had magical results and now Fairfield Hospital in Bury has become the second hospital to start the Slimpod programme.

I’m thrilled that 100 nurses and staff have joined the Slimpod family in the past week as part of my mission to make the nation healthier and happier! So a big welcome to everyone.

Many of you will know it’s long been my dream to put the Slimpod programme to work in the NHS, where its potential for helping people transform their lives is enormous.

Now, hospital by hospital, that dream is coming true.

What’s most exciting is that Fairfield is going to follow the lead set by Tameside and change the food served in its restaurant, cutting down (possibly cutting out one day) sugary snacks and desserts and providing super-healthy Slimpod Specials for lunch.

This is the real key to tackling the obesity crisis. Change the food environment and the behavioural change needed to make healthy eating a permanent habit becomes so much easier.

One thing that alarmed me when I met the lovely people at Fairfield was how many of them had been on more than one diet and had lost the same two stone over and over again. They were bigger than they’d ever been.

Coincidentally, weight loss and the NHS  was also the subject of a  fascinating debate in Slimpod Club last week which raised some crucial points.

It was prompted by a post from Stephen D, who’d watched Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s TV programme Britain’s Fat Fight and wrote: “It was great to see what he is doing to tackle obesity, but one thing stood out for me; it was when he was working with GPs and putting scales in the surgery to help initiate the discussions about weight.

“Firstly I’m not sure this is the answer as per the advice from Slimpod (ditch the scales), but the main thing I took issue with was GPs saying a commercial weight loss programme like Weightwatchers or Slimming World is proven to be the best way to lose weight.

“I totally disagree and don’t think this should have been stated as fact on TV. We all know these don’t work in the long term. Anyone else agree?”

Wow! The comments flooded in, almost all backing Stephen’s point of view. Here’s just a tiny selection:

Lana wrote: “Totally agree! I also think people need to recognise that being overweight is more complex then just ‘you are a stupid person who doesn’t know what to eat.’ This is where Slimpod is great, it tackles self-esteem and emphasises health rather than a number on a scale.”

Karen wrote: “The problem we have in the Western world is grazing … breakfast, snack, lunch, snack etc . Our insulin levels never have the chance to lower. I am not just doing Slimpod. I am combining it with intermittent fasting and low carb.”

Tony wrote: “My close friend has lost 2.5 stone with SW and kept it off for 3 years. She’s a success story. But for everyone like her, I know dozens more who (including myself in the past) lose, gain, return, lose, gain, return…for years.

“That’s not good, unless you work for SW or WW! So much money spent on these organisations, chasing a dream. The other objection I have to SW, is that the friend still talks about milk, for example, as healthy A and cereal as healthy B.

“For goodness sakes, they’re cereal and milk! Food!!! And as for syns…that makes me so angry. How can anyone actually have a normal healthy attitude towards food if they don’t call it by it’s real name!

“And worse, labelling stuff as full of syns. Who can fail to see negative connotations in that??? And the altered spelling is no excuse! Makes my blood boil!!”

Carol wrote: “Some doctor’s surgeries actually give free Slimming World to overweight patients. Unfortunately it doesn’t help people to change their lifestyle.”

That last point sums up the work I’m doing with the NHS. Losing weight and keeping it off is all about lifestyle change.

The lovely staff at Fairfield and Tameside are really lucky that their employers recognise the important role management has to play by creating a healthier food environment.

Do please leave a comment below as I’d love to know what everyone thinks about the great debate that Stephen has sparked off.

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How a Slimpod and exercise help lift the dark cloud over Darin

MENTAL health problems and obesity are very much linked . Depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder are common among people with obesity although it must be said that not all overweight people suffer from these issues.

However, doctors warn that the stress of being obese in a size-obsessed society can undermine the wellbeing of even the most psychologically-sound minds.

But the important thing for sufferers is that there is hope – and to mark Mental Health Awareness Week, here’s one of the most inspiring stories you’ll ever read of triumph over adversity.

In January 2010 Darin McCloud was in despair. At close on 20 stone (280lbs) he was obese and had diabetes.   He was in such a terrible place mentally and thought his only hope of losing weight and having any sort of life was to have gastric surgery.

But incredibly, he didn’t qualify for the surgery because the rules said he wasn’t fat enough.  Darin decided he would take on the health authority and that’s when his life changed. Here’s Darin’s story in his own words – and a picture of us together when he won Slimpodder of the Year to show there’s a really happy ending!

“Because of the depression I was never making any choices that could be described as right or anything other than totally selfish.

“The depression just slowly engulfed me. My life was full of self-loathing and self-pity. For decades I hated myself, I hated being me.

“I just existed, I had no life to speak of. I would just feed the depression by eating rubbish and doing no exercise. My life was get up, go to work, come home, sit in front of the telly, eat rubbish and drink a litre bottle at least of Coke Zero (like the zero made a difference).

“That was my life for many years. At some stage I realised I was suffering from depression and went to see my GP (what a disappointment that was). I was put on anti-depressants and told I could have six sessions with a counsellor.

“That was it. I just kept going back month after month and was given more tablets and no other help or advice. I felt deflated, useless, a burden to all. There was no help. I was living under a big black heavy cloud.

“When I started to try and do something to get help – whether or not it was right or wrong – whatever my thought process was then the me today does not understand it. But I didn’t know any better back then.”

Darin trying to put on weight

Darin decided to eat junk food so he could pile on even more weight and force the health authority to give him gastric surgery.

“I don’t know what the trigger was to want to get help. I investigated a lot about bariatric surgery and I pinned all my hopes of help on this, bearing in mind the help I didn’t get with my mental health issues.

“This process gave me a purpose and helped lift the depression a little. I remember speaking to my GP to reduce the tablets as I had realised they were making me worse, not better. Whilst the year I spent challenging the health authority was hard work I believed that this was a route that could save me.

“This is the crux of the matter: I wanted help to break the cycle I was in, that was why I did what I did. I just wanted help and support. As I’ve said many times I do not regret anything that happened because I found and got the help I needed through Thinking Slimmer.”

Happy Darin’s before and after pictures

Darin took part in our Slimpod programme and gradually found his eating habits improved, he started to lose weight and to his amazement he discovered he had a passion for exercise.

At first it was brisk walks, then jogging, then running – and finally he ran a 10K race before building up to the London Marathon, triathlons and a cycle ride across the island of Cuba.

Darin runs the London Marathon

He went down to 14 stone (168lbs) and his waist shrunk from 48 inches to 36 inches. Eventually he was able to come off all medication and now lives a happy and contented life which he never dreamed would be possible.

Learn more about the Slimpod Darin used

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Please join the Jamie Oliver kids junk food campaign and save lives

SO why did my favourite celebrity chef send me this tweet about the Jamie Oliver kids junk food campaign the other day? Because he’d like me to ask you for your support with something we’re both passionate about – unhealthy food being marketed to children.

Children are heavily influenced by what they see on TV, in advertising and on social media. Like Jamie, I believe if we can stop the junk food companies from marketing directly to impressionable young people, it will go some way to helping them change their behaviour.

That’s how we can start reversing the obesity crisis among kids, which really concerns me. The latest figures I’ve seen from the House Commons Library are that in the UK one in 10 children is obese by the age of five and one in five by the age of 11.

We’ve all got work together for their sakes to change this horrible situation. It makes me weep.

More shocking figures are contained in this report.

Here’s Jamie’s tweet to me:

 

This is not a political issue. Successive governments have failed to tackle childhood obesity and prevent millions of children from suffering what experts say are “appalling life-long consequences” from being brought up on junk food.

Jamie has launched a brilliant campaign on social media called We’ve #AdEnough Of Junk Food Marketing. He says: “Kids are bombarded day-in, day-out with adverts for food and drink products that are high in unhealthy fats, sugar and salt. They’re online, on TV, on the streets and all over public transport.

“If they are constantly being targeted with cheap, easily accessible, unhealthy junk food, just think how hard it must be to make better, healthier choices. We have to make it easier for children to make good decisions.

“It’s time we put child health first. I’m calling for the Government to introduce a 9pm watershed on junk food advertising on TV and for proper controls on what ads kids see online, in the street and on public transport.

Here’s what you can do: Show your support for the Jamie Oliver kids junk food campaign by posting an image of yourself hiding your eyes on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook with the hashtag #AdEnough.

Make sure I see your pics by copying me in : @ThinkingSlimmer

Here’s the picture I posted of myself which led to Jamie tweeting me.

You can find out more about the great work Jamie is doing here: We #AdEnough

Please leave a comment below when you’ve posted your pic on social media. Thanks for supporting the truly worthwhile Jamie Oliver kids junk food campaign.

Let’s hope it is as successful as his sugar tax campaign.

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If you were a baby, would you feed yourself the way you do now?

MOST people dream of a healthy food relationship. So here’s something that will stop and make you think. I want you imagine yourself as a baby that needs nourishing and love. Would you feed that baby the same way you feed yourself as an adult – sweets, sugary snacks, fizzy drinks, massive meals? I don’t think so.

The key thing if you want to develop a healthy food relationship is to love and care about your body and your health as if you’re feeding a new born baby.

So you must ask yourself: what exactly does food mean to me? Do I see it as nourishment and fuel because I care about your body and health? Or do I use food to make myself feel better or as a form of reward? Just reflect on your answer for a moment and ask yourself if you really have a healthy food relationship.

After 10 years of working with overweight people it’s become clear to me they have a different relationship with food compared to those who are slim.

Most slim people regard food as a source of nutrients to fuel and nourish their bodies. Their pleasure comes from the feeling that they’re caring for their bodies by doing healthy things. Of course, slim people have times when they enjoy food and drink as a reward, but it’s not a constant emotional thing. They’re in control of their food choices.

Sadly, so many of overweight people I have a relationship with food which is far more emotionally driven by pleasure, reward, stress, comfort or boredom. Occasionally, something that happened as far back as childhood has altered the meaning of food.

Healthy food relationship – how to achieve it

Many of us associate food with love and warmth because it reminds us of family dinners with everyone around the table.  I was rewarded with chocolate and sweets if I was a good girl and did my homework.

When you’re used to having a food reward as a child, in adulthood it then becomes the thing that makes you feel better about yourself.  This can often get out of control because you’ve triggered dopamine, the pleasure hormone, and the more you get the more you want.

The great thing is that you can change and influence this. If you make poor food choices based on immediate gratification and immediate reward, you can do something about it.

One of the ladies on my Slimpod Gold programme recently told me it has really helped her to change her focus so she now looks at food only as nourishment and fuel. She says she’s no longer “mindlessly eating for Britain!” I’m so excited for her!

It’s life and bad habits that have changed things for YOU. Your brain has taken you down the road to being overweight and your brain can just as easily do a U-turn and take you down the road to being slim and a healthy food relationship.

It’s the same brain after all. To make this change of direction you only need to be in tune with your body and be able to eat in a way that gives it the nourishment it needs.

Do let me know by leaving a comment below if you identify with any of the food reward stuff or if you want a healthy food relationship.

 

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Fat around the middle – the surprising cause and the simple cures

HAVE you got fat around the middle that’s been there for years and just won’t shift?

Maybe you’ve been on countless diets and lost weight in various other parts of the body but the tummy fat won’t go. Here’s what you need to know: Getting rid of the fat around your middle is not simply about your diet or lack of exercise. It’s much more to do with the stress hormones in your body, especially cortisol.

So as it’s Stress Awareness Week in the UK I thought I’d explain why this is. Because once you understand the cause of fat around the middle, it’s much easier to do something about it.

When your brain thinks your life’s under threat it becomes stressed and releases the hormones adrenaline and cortisol. This fight or flight survival mechanism dates back to caveman days.

The hormones released instantly create a number of physical changes. Your heart beats faster, you breathe faster, and your entire body becomes tense and ready to take action. Fight or flight is clever and very, very efficient and it provides everything your body needs to react to the stress of dangerous situations.

Once the danger’s out of the way the adrenal glands stop pumping out hormones and your body returns to normal. The problem with modern life is that many of us live under constant stress – it comes from deadlines, traffic jams, managing homes, children and elderly parents.

The effects of stress on the body

The body can’t distinguish between day-to-day stress and exceptional life-threatening stress so it reacts in exactly the same way it’s always done, which is fight or flight.

Let’s look at what happens when you’re stressed. The adrenaline helps you to be alert and focused while cortisol increases the levels of fat and sugar in the blood stream to form glucose, which provides instant energy.

However unless you do something physical, which is what your body is programmed to expect, then all that extra glucose has nowhere to go. It simply becomes fat which is stored round your middle so it’s close to your vital organs, such as the liver, for the next time it’s needed.

Fat around the middle – the refuelling problem

After a stressful event adrenaline levels return to normal and the body becomes calm. But the level of cortisol often remains higher, maybe for a few days, because your brain thinks you should refuel your body. So cortisol increases your appetite.

Now you can see why people who are under constant stress often feel hungry all the time. The body is getting them to stock up on the fuel it thinks could be needed again.

What’s most useful to it is carbohydrate and fat.  And those are the last things you need to consume if you’re trying to lose weight. In the modern world, when we spend so much time sitting at desks, in cars or in front of the TV, refuelling just isn’t necessary.

Now you know what’s going on, the question is: what can you do about it?

Find time each day to relax. Just 10 minutes of “me time” can make a big difference. If you’re on my Slimpod Gold programme, make full use of the Chillpod download which has undergone clinical trials and is unlike any other relaxation download.

The other thing you can do is exercise. This is proven to release feelgood hormones that counter stress.

Get moving to manage stress

Leave a comment below and tell me how stress affects you and what you’re going to do to relax more.

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How you lose body fat – the answer is C55H104O6+78O2→55CO2+52H2O

ONE of the trickiest questions I’m asked is this: “When somebody loses weight, where does all the fat go?” You know what – I wasn’t too sure myself the first time this cropped up. Luckily, I spend a lot of time studying research papers from around the world so thanks to an article in the British Medical Journal I was able to give a definitive answer. And you might be very surprised when you discover what that answer is.

Almost all the fat we lose is breathed out through our lungs as carbon dioxide. The rest is lost through sweat and urine.

I’m indebted to Dr Ruben Meerman and Dr Andrew Brown from the University of New South Wales in Australia for solving this important mystery – even if they did have to come up with this as their answer C55H104O6+78O2→55CO2+52H2O+energy

Once you understand the link between breathing and losing weight, you see life in a very different light.

How you lose body fat

Here’s the simple science: Every carb you eat, most of the protein and nearly all the fats are converted into carbon dioxide and water. If you don’t get rid of it all, you put on weight.

Now for the maths: The average person consumes almost 8lbs of food and drink a day (3.5kg) and breathes in about 21 ounces (600g) of oxygen.

So if less than 9lbs comes out (that’s 4kg) you’re going to put on weight.

How can you make sure that more comes out than goes in? Sadly, it’s not as simple as eat less and breathe out more. And no pills and potions will help either.

Of course, you’ve got to make sure you eat good, healthy food. That’s a given.

But just as important you need to increase the amount of carbon dioxide you’re breathing out – and the only effective way you can do that is to raise your metabolism by moving your muscles more.

Going for a walk triples your metabolic rate, and (sadly) so will Hoovering and sweeping. Even standing up can double your metabolic rate.

Read the BMJ research findings in full

How you lose body fat

Eating less obviously helps but consider these basic facts: We have to eat to survive and our daily intake has to be burned up. Metabolising 3.5 ounces (3.5oz) of fat intake uses 10 ounces (290g) of oxygen and produces 9.8 ounces (280g) of carbon dioxide plus 3.8 ounces (110g) of water.

Now let’s look at weight loss: To lose 3.5 ounces (100g) of fat a day, you have to exhale 9.8 ounces (280g) of carbon dioxide IN ADDITION to what you’ll breathe out while metabolising your daily food intake.

So you can see you’ve got to double your output of carbon dioxide every day to lose weight. One bit of good news is that we breathe out 7 ounces (200g) of carbon dioxide while we’re asleep at night, so that’s a quarter of your daily target gone before you get up.

But during the day, you’ve got to make sure you make healthier food choices (which is what a Slimpod is designed to do) and then be more active to lose weight. It’s why I swim, work out, play tennis or walk my dogs every morning and it’s why I’m a size 10 after having three children.

I’m luckier than most, I suppose – I’m my own boss so I can decide when I want to exercise and when I want to sit at my desk. But everyone can decide to stand up and walk around the office for a few minutes every hour.

Everyone can decide to talk a walk in their lunch break. Everyone can decide to walk up stairs and not take the lift. And everyone can decide to get moving more before or after work and at weekends.

What can YOU do to move more every day? Let me know by leaving a comment below. I look forward to reading them all – and I know they will inspire others.

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Are your beliefs about yourself sabotaging your weight loss?

THERE are many reasons why people find it hard to stick with healthy eating and good lifestyle habits – and more often than not the biggest problem is what’s going on inside their mind. We all know how powerful the mind is and the stories you tell yourself and the things you believe about yourself can really have a massive impact on your life, both positive and negative.

There is a direct link between our beliefs and our behaviour and of course this includes the way we behave towards food too. If you believe you CAN lose weight your actions every day will reflect those beliefs.

And likewise if you’ve given up believing losing weight is possible, you’ll behave very differently.  This can mean you don’t care any more because you’re resigned to being fat all your life and there’s no motivation.

It can also mean you do care but you are full of fear and anxiety about yet another failure, so your heart isn’t in it.  I come across a lot of people who are full of fear and find it much easier to believe they can’t lose weight and this then becomes a subconscious protection tool so that they don’t get disappointed.

Dr Carol Dweck, a psychologist at Stanford University in America, is famous for her research on two different types of mindset, the fixed mindset and the growth mindset.

Here’s a really cute video that explains her research in nice simple terms:

The big thing about Carol’s research is that it talks about the connection between what you believe and how that then translates to what you do.

For example, if you believe things about yourself like “I can’t lose weight” or “It’s hard for me to lose weight because I’ve got a disability” or “I’ve got no willpower” – that’s the fixed mindset.

It means you’ll avoid doing things where you might feel like a failure and as a result you prefer to stop the healthy eating regime, and this will inevitably mean you self sabotage.  On the other hand, someone with a growth mindset tends to overcome challenges rather than avoid them and learn from comments and criticism, seeing them as inspirational and even motivational.

One of the limiting things about having a fixed mindset is it causes you to avoid experiences where you might feel like a failure. As a result you have a reluctance to learn and you avoid personal development because it’s too much of a risk.

I notice fixed mindsets nearly every day with people I serve. In so many cases they’ve come to Slimpod when everything else has failed.  They’ve been on 20 or 30 diets and have just given up believing it’s possible to change. They may not even have been that type of person before they started dieting.

So what can be done about this?  How can you change the things you believe about yourself?  How can you kick out the fixed mindset and achieve your goals?

How small daily actions can change your beliefs

Once you’ve identified that you have a fixed mindset and you would like to change the things you believe about yourself, the most important thing is to do something about it and take some action.

You can change your self-limiting beliefs by thinking of yourself as the person you’d like to become and getting there with small actions repeated every day.

When you enjoy the process of getting to the goal, this begins to change the way you think of yourself and will also start the process of changing your perception of yourself at an  identity level.

This is crucial because it’s at the identity level that real change happens.  If you want to lose three dress sizes and become a UK size 12, you MUST believe you can do it and then start becoming the person who IS the size 12.

This will help you to not only believe it’s possible but behave like a size 12 person.  It totally shifts your mindset.

The way of achieving this is to start with small steps.  You definitely need the goal in mind but that big hairy goal is not going to be achieved tomorrow so you can put it to the back of your mind right now.

The important thing is to start with the small steps and enjoy the process.  The process will then become a habit and you’ll gain loads of confidence along the way because you’ll start seeing results and begin to believe you CAN DO IT!

You’ll start to think of yourself as someone who CAN lose weight. So let’s break this down into small chunks, too:

1. Set the big goal/intention.
2. Set yourself a small action each day – this can be to eat protein three times a day, or reduce your full fat sugary lattes from three cups to one cup. Or plan your lunch and dinner in advance so you’re not grabbing the processed convenience junk. Or do a Hiit session three times a week.  Then DO THIS EVERY DAY!
3. The thing that will make a difference is your dedication to the daily practice of your small action.  This will change everything because the process will help you form different beliefs about who you are. It will help you become a person who believes they CAN DO.

Too many people think that the result will define who they are. “If I’m a size 12 it will transform my life and make me happy.” But this is not the case.

It’s your daily behaviour and actions that will change what you believe about yourself and the size 12 person you become. It’s all about focusing on the everyday process of eating healthily rather than constantly worrying about the number on the scale.

Are you a person with a fixed mindset and if so, what small daily actions can you perform to start changing your beliefs?  Do let me know in the comments below –  I look forward to hearing from you!

There are quite a few videos of Carol Dweck on YouTube, by the way. Take a look for yourself:

If you want to delve deeper into Carol’s work, she has a fascinating book which I often dip into called Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. You’ll find it on Amazon.

 

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