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.

The post Another hospital changes over to healthier Slimpod Special meals! appeared first on Slimpod.

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

The post How a Slimpod and exercise help lift the dark cloud over Darin appeared first on Slimpod.