We are told by many ‘experts’ that we all need to eat well.
If you eat a balanced, healthy diet then you will feel better, have more energy and likely to lose weight (fat) in line with a smart and progressive training programme.
We all know this.
If I gave a list of foods to 100 people and asked them to categorise the foods into healthy and unhealthy, I would gauge most of the 100 would make similar choices.
So why are we getting it so wrong when we try?????
There are a number of reasons for this, but my opinion is that the main culprit is how so called ‘healthy’ products are marketed and thus sold to us.
Companies may not be lying to us…
But they are certainly confusing us and making it difficult to know which way to turn.
They design and name products to make us think it is made of natural ingredients and good for you and key to help you to lose weight.
This is why we are all so confused…
Admit it, you are confused about all this stuff right?
So how are they doing it?
Wheat free, gluten free, high in fibre, have ‘super seeds’ in them and are high in protein…they must be good for us right?
On looking at the ingredients you notice that it is flour after flour after flour, with yeast extract…wait a minute…this is still bread.
Now, bread isn’t necessarily bad for you, but it shouldn’t be deemed as healthy so we can eat lots of it, thinking we will lose weight.
It still needs to be factored into your daily intake and accounted for. If you consume too much of it, then you will not lose weight.
How about these then??
I am NOT saying that these products are unhealthy by any means but let’s look more closely at them.
In my opinion, they are certainly promoted and advertised as ‘good for you’.
Regardless of natural ingredients, gluten free, organic etc etc….chocolate is chocolate and sugar is sugar.
The trouble is that when we think something is healthy, we automatically think we can eat more of it (i know i am guilty of this).
But calories are calories and this is what is important when losing weight/fat.
Let’s look at the popcorn:
A tiny serving size of popcorn is 140 calories and there are 5 servings in the bag.
I know for a fact that I would probably smash the whole bag (it isn’t that big at 140 grams).
Thats a whopping 700 calories!!!
And that is from a snack…
Add that to everything else you are eating and drinking that day and you likely have the reason why you are not losing any weight.
So how do you get round this?
Here are a few tips:
- The majority of your food should come from what we now call ‘REAL’ food. Stuff your ancestors would recognise and stuff that doesn’t come in brightly coloured packets that are designed to attract children’s attention.
- Rather than buzz words like Organic, try locally produced. Locally produced means it has travelled less and should have retained more goodness. Frozen stuff (such as veg) is also good as it was frozen at source and still full of goodness.
- Snack on fruit and veg or make a smoothie (homemade rather than shop bought) to take with you.
- Monitor HOW MUCH you are eating! The number one factor in weight control or losing body fat is the number of calories consumed against the number of calories expended – Consume just less than your body needs and you will lose weight.
- Make your own snack treats.
This is just one example of homemade alternatives.
You control the size of portions and can partition them off accordingly.
If you want a snack treat then have it and don’t ever eliminate things from your diet. Just do it in moderation.
And this appears to be another major issue without eating habits and one I will talk about at another time.
What is moderation and what is a serving size??
Until then, take on board the points above and open your eyes to the tricks you are being played at.
Speak soon,
Gaz
