Here's some ideas for
you about how to sort out your food problems:
Try keeping a food diary for 3 days, including a weekend day.
Everything you eat and drink - EVERYTHING - goes on that list,
together with the quantity and the time of day. Also write down
how you felt - were you actually hungry? Or maybe just bored and
a bit fed up? Did you eat that slice of cake just because it happened
to be there? Be honest - the Food Police aren't going to come crashing
through your kitchen window just because you've pigged out a bit!!
After the 3 days, have a good hard look at your list. Can you
see any pattern emerging? Do you skip breakfast every morning
because
you're too busy and then grab a latte and a Danish at 10am? Do
you gobble half a sandwich at your desk at 1.30, then succumb
to the lure of that KitKat at 3 because you feel faint with
hunger?
Then, when you get home, you're hungry enough to eat a horse
and chase the rider halfway to Paris. And you're tired and
probably
stressed out. You just can't face cooking, so you order a takeaway,
succumb to a few glasses of wine and before you know it you're
sitting on the sofa chomping your way through a family - size
bag of Maltesers. Sounds familiar? Well, believe me, you are
not alone!
It's habits like these that you're trying to pinpoint. Sugary
snacks and pastries add calories without nourishing you, and most
takeaways are fat-laden processed junk. You wake up next morning
feeling absolutely grotty, and it starts all over again!
Your body is a machine. Cleverly designed and perfectly engineered.
And you only get one! This wonderful machine deserves five-star
fuel, surely? You wouldn't run your precious new car on poor-quality
petrol, would you? So why do that to your infinitely-more-precious
body?!
Here are some ideas for changing your eating habits to make them
healthier. No, that doesn't mean you should live on beansprouts
and tofu. Trust me - I love food. Unlike many Personal Trainers,
who eat to live, I live to eat!
- If you can't resist snacks like crisps and chocolate, simply
don't have them in the house. The same applies to alcohol. When
you find yourself walking a mile to the shops in a thunderstorm
just to get some booze and a bag of Cheesy Wotsits, you're beyond
any help I can give!
If you keep them in for the kids (do you really want them eating
that rubbish??), have them in just one cupboard. Buy a very small
quantity once a week, and when it's gone, it's gone. I find I'm
reasonably safe as long as I keep away from that particular cupboard.
When my daughter opens it to get her "ration", I can
smell the chocolate from 3 rooms away!! (You think I'm joking??).
As to the small amount you allow yourself, enjoy every mouthful.
- Never allow yourself to get mega-hungry. Eat 3 or more SMALL
meals a day and snack in between on a piece of fruit or a handful
of dates or similar. You should go no more than 3 - 4 hours
at the most without food.
- ALWAYS eat breakfast. Your mother was right! It doesn't have
to be complicated. Oatmeal porridge with semi-skim milk, or
wholewheat toast, or just yoghurt with fruit if you can't face
anything else.
I have friends who take wholegrain cereal, milk, bowl, the
lot to work with them.
- Plan your meals in advance and shop for what you need. So
that you've always got something that's easy to put together
for a healthy,
tasty meal. Things like chicken breasts, pork fillet, salmon
steaks. Have a selection of veg in your freezer; potatoes, rice
(brown
or Basmati), wholewheat pasta, and couscous in your pantry
and you have the basis of several easy, healthy meals. Use spices
and
herbs for flavour as opposed to salt.
- Remember - if you eat as you should for 80% of the time, you
can eat as you like for the rest. Trouble is, most of us do it
the
other way around!
Happy munching,
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