#1 “You’re doing excessive research”

Individuals, who are trying, but not losing weight, often do a lot of research about successful weight loss and end up being exposed to all sorts of  unhealthy trends like, the sometimes dangerous, quick weight loss pills or pseudo-scientific-sounding diets, such as the HCG diet,  that genuinely have been proven not to work in the long-term and may even lead to more weight gain.  The over-riding message from halls.md is to get back to basics.

Sometimes I play hide-and-seek with my kids just so I can relax for a few minutes while they’re hiding.

#2 “You’re not reading the fine print”

It’s It is easy to be misled by food labels. When you’re busy grabbing boxes in the grocery store, you notice the large letters that say ‘all natural’, ‘low-carb’, ‘sugar-free’, etc. The nutrition panel, however, can tell a different story. That’s where you’ll see that the product is high in sugar, high in salt and low in fiber. Check out the ‘per 100g’ column in the nutrition panel for foods that are:

Total fat – less than 10g per 100g
Saturated fat – less than 3g per 100g
Sugars – less than 15g per 100g
Sodium (salt) – moderate = less than 400mg per 100g – low = less than 120mg per 100g

Hector! What are you doing?!

Ummm.. Just grabbing a box of Cheerios. Why???

You didn’t even look at the nutrition panel! What’s wrong with you?

Nothing? I love Cheerios?

Just because it says ‘fat-free’ doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily true and everything else is healthy and great… You have to also keep an eye out for the grams in fats, sugars, sodium, etc.

#3 “You only hear what you want to hear”

We’ll often only hear one message about a food and then disregard the other properties of the food. Nuts are an example. Yes, they’re full of healthy fats and fiber and can be a great healthy snack in a diet, but you have to sometimes watch how many you eat because some will whack your caloric intake right up.   Stop thinking about foods in scientific terms, such as healthy fats, and consider them as foods.  Take your time to savor the flavors and you will find that you naturally regulate your intake. Eat food slowly and you won’t over-indulge on avocados or nuts.

I never make mistakes. I thought I made a mistake once, but I was mistaken.

#4 “You probably don’t need to go gluten free”

A lot of gluten-free food has a high GI and tends to be lower in B vitamins, iron, and fiber compared to wholegrain foods. The solution is, unless you’re certain you have a problem with gluten, you’re better off choosing low-GI whole grains which have been proven in studies to aid weight loss.   These will leave you feeling fuller for longer, and won’t give you the roller coaster blood-sugar levels that high-GI foods can cause.  The less processed foods are, the lower the GI would usually be.

There is still no evidence to believe that having carbs in the morning is bad for you…

If anything, it just leaves you unsatisfied and ready to snack after dinner.

But I’m still hungry. I like going to bed full.

#5 “You’re still not eating carbs after 5pm”

It doesn’t really matter what time of day that you eat but you don’t need to sit down to a huge bowl of anything. If you’re concentrating on fat loss, follow a low-carb plan but cut out refined carbohydrates, and switch to small portions of low-GI carbs; sweet potato, brown rice, or wholemeal pasta are some great examples.

Dating should be like buying a car… You should get to talk to the previous owners!

#6 “You drink your dinner”

Unfortunately, drinking alcohol on an empty stomach destabilizes blood sugar levels, saps B vitamins from your body and if you are not eating, you are lacking the nutrients, such as zinc, to help you process the alcohol.

The solution is to try and fit in a meal. Four glasses of wine is the equivalent of 1500 kj. Abandon two of those and you can spend 750 kj on a thai beef salad, four large sushi rolls, cheese and salad, one taco with meat, or a bowl of chicken and sweet corn soup. Drink two large glasses of water with dinner and you’ll wake up feeling a lot better in the morning.

I don’t think you’re supposed to have that…

Why not?

Man, the girls are going to lose their mind if they find out your sneaking sodas into your diet…

But it’s diet…. It can’t hurt me.

I don’t know much about this, but what I know is that it’s horrible for you, diet or not. Here, I found this for you to read…

#7 “You’re drinking a lot of diet soft drinks”

The acid in these drinks damages the enamel and can age your teeth prematurely. Researchers found that phosphoric acid that are in cola drinks, containing diet drinks, can decrease bone mass, increase your belly fat and lead to weight gain.   Three diet cola drinks per day can diminish your bone mineral density by up to 5.1%. The explanation is that the most excellent drink for your smile, your weight, your bones, and your hydration levels is water.

I’m on that new diet where you eat everything and pray for a miracle.

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• How to lose weight fast: 8 step plan for quick weight loss. Top tips on how to reduce refined carbohydrates (known to slow down your metabolic rate), eating regularly and what physical exercise is best to lose that body fat.

Recent Diet Posts

• Eating like a caveman: The Paleo diet: Find out about the ultimate hunter-gatherer diet that is a mainly plant-based diet. NO junk food here it is back to the stone age.
• The Atkins Diet (Round II): The ultimate and infamous ketogenic diet. This low-carb diet has done the rounds – some still swear by it.
• The HCG diet: THE biggest fad diet of all times. Hormone injections and a huge calorie deficit make this one expensive and questionable.
• The Military Diet: You’re almost in starvation mode with this extreme low-calorie diet. Find out what Moose and Doc think of this one before you decide to give it a go.
• Dashingly good: The Dash diet: This is a healthy weight loss plan to achieve a healthy weight. Ranked #1 diet on all levels for six years in a row. One to try!

I love to exercise! Just not as much as I love wine … or chocolate … or my friends … or sitting on my ass … or any combination of the above. Oh!… never mind.

References

1. Andrade AM, Greene GW, Melanson KJ. (2008) Eating slowly led to decreases in energy intake within meals in healthy women.J Am Diet Assoc. 2008 Jul;108(7):1186-91 (Retrieved January 15^th 2016) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18589027
2. Katcher HI, Legro RS, Kunselman AR, Gillies PJ, Demers LM, Bagshaw DM, Kris-Etherton PM. (200) The effects of a whole grain-enriched hypocaloric diet on cardiovascular disease risk factors in men and women with metabolic syndrome. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Jan;87(1):79-90. (Retrieved December 22^nd 2015) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18175740
3. Kramer FM , Jeffery RW , Forster JL , Snell MK (1989) Long-term follow-up of behavioral treatment for obesity: patterns of weight regain among men and women. International Journal of Obesity [1989, 13(2):123-136] (Retrieved January 12^th 2016) http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/2663745
4. Neumark-Sztainer D, Wall M, Haines J, Story M, Eisenberg ME. (2007) Why does dieting predict weight gain in adolescents? Findings from project EAT-II: a 5-year longitudinal study. J Am Diet Assoc. 2007 Mar;107(3):448-55. (Retrieved January 11^th 2016) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17324664
5. Pietiläinen KH, Saarni SE, Kaprio J, Rissanen A. (2012) Does dieting make you fat? A twin study. Int J Obes (Lond). 2012 Mar;36(3):456-64. (Retrieved January 11^th 2016) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21829159
6. Yang Q (2011) Gain weight by “going diet?” Artificial sweeteners and the neurobiology of sugar cravings. Yale J Biol Med. 2010 Jun; 83(2): 101–108. (Retrieved January 11^th 2016) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892765/