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Hi there
Please have a look at my latest new video post about how to deal with the pressures at Christmas.
A problem human beings share is a tendency to fall for the ‘see food’ diet. Our primitive genetic coding sometimes tells us when food’s available, just incase there’s a shortage tomorrow – and if crispy, golden, succulent goodies confront us at every street corner, we don’t always stop to ask our stomach if we are genuinely hungry.
Of course this weakness has been fully exploited by the big diet companies and the supermarkets too. The shops are full of products claiming to be low fat or low calorie, but they aren’t really the slimming solutions that they appear to be.
How do you define slimming food? An orange? An avocado? A chicken salad? Or is it a pre-packaged ready meal with low-fat written all over it that looks very much like high-fat, deep fried product we’d actually prefer to eat? Are we really going to change our eating habits permanently by drinking three imitation chocolate milkshakes everyday for a month? Or are our bodies going to be even more confused when we finally give up the pretend party food and start introducing weird stuff like fish and tomatoes and brown rice?
Another problem with special diet foods is that, in order to make them taste as good as real food, a lot of sugar or chemicals have to be added. So a low-fat label often means high sugar. A Sunday Times article in February 1999 by Steve Farrar and Tom Robbins revealed that many leading slimming products (including diet drinks) are simply loaded with sugar which can be addictive as well as harmful; according to the same article, refined sugar consumption could be responsible for the deaths of 3000 British women a year with heart disease.
And for chemicals, well, that’s a controversial subject and the jury is still out on a lot of them. But in the meantime it’s safer to stick with the simplest and most natural basic ingredients instead of putting stuff in our bodies that we haven’t learned to deal with.
So, weighing up the evidence, it seems that the best thing about diet meals is that they are much more expensive than real food so you probably can’t afford to buy as many of them.
The great thing about banging your head on a brick wall is that it’s so wonderful when you stop. Of course, you may already have caused yourself a permanent injury…
People with problems are anxious and afraid that things will get worse – so the one thing they are reluctant to do is change, which, of course, is exactly what they most need to do.
In spite of the fact that dieting makes them miserable and doesn’t provide a permanent solution, it’s familiar territory. It can also be expensive and difficult, and that gives them confidence. Desperate people will believe anything – and if nothing’s worked in the past it’s reasonable to assume that they have to try harder and spend more money next time round. Of course, this opens the door to a lot of bizarre and even fake diet plans, as well as the usual calorie cutters.
What do you think?
Hi everyone
In this pod-cast I talk with Health and Fitness Professional, Ben Pratt about what is the difference between a good, great and an exceptional diet.
To find out more about Ben and his products and service then have a look at his web site
Please make a comment if you find this pod-cast useful
Hi there
Click below to read a great article that I wrote with personal trainer Susan Cass, called Dietary Snakes and Ladders.
Snakes and Ladders is a game that we may have all played. You know where the game starts on the board and you know where the end is, but there are many different routes you can take and an infinite number of outcomes. The same can be said for weight loss
Please make a comment below about this article if you find it helpful in any way.
CLICK HERE TO READ THIS ARTICLE
Hi everyone
I am very pleased to reveal our member of the month for June.
His name is Clive, he is 56 years old and has lost six stone since January. This is truly amazing and inspirational and I have recorded a pod-cast interviewing Clive about his experiences and what her has learnt along the way.
Please listen and make a comment below and I will pass on them on to Clive himself.
Many thanks,
Pete
"PCTV is the best thing that has happened to me in a very long time. My confidence and self esteem had reached rock bottom in December 08 but in six months not only have I lost 6 stone but I feel fantastic and on top of the world. The programme rocks."
Hi all,
Here's a little something you might like to see... It's The Phillips vs The Mitchells in the first full-episode (5 parts) of Fat Chance, a series that I was involved in back in 2003. Wait till you see what these families were doing and eating before myself and Jane DeVille-Almond got hold of them!
You can watch the whole episode on petecohen.com:
http://www.petecohen.com/go/episode/fat-chance/
P.S I'm putting loads more clips up from my TV work over the next few months - so stay tuned.
If social pressures to eat have brought you down in the past and you find it hard to say “NO” it doesn’t matter. You’re free to make up a whole new set of rules for dealing with situations in the future. Your circumstances might not change, the people around you might not change. But you can change!
So why do we find it so hard to say NO when we are offered tempting food? There are few reason for this, one being that we don’t want to hurt other peoples feelings when they offer us something. Another reason is the simple fact that these foods taste great and give us a high. In the western world most people eat, not because they are hungry, but because food stimulates their senses and makes them feel good.
We're biologically driven to feel good and our brain seeks out pleasure. Food fits the bill for a lot of people a lot of the time and this is why so many waistlines are expanding. To help you, the next time someone offers you something and you are not hungry, stop for a moment and ask yourself the question “Do I like this food enough that I want to wear it?” Then picture this food on your thighs or on your backside. I am sure this will make you think twice and make it easier for you to say the magical word “NO”
63% water
22% protein
13% fat, and
2% minerals and vitamins
And, did you realise that every single molecule in our body comes from the food we eat and the water we drink. So eating the highest quality food in the right quantities helps us achieve our greatest potential for health and vitality.
Yet among the big news stories of the new millennium was this: the number of starving people in the world is now roughly equal to the number of clinically obese people. But the irony is that many people in the developed world are actually eating less than they used to, so what’s going on?
I have seen, over the last twenty years or so, that the quality of food we’re eating has got worse and there is now more focus on highly processed foods. The people I see in my one-to-one clinics and in workshops and seminars seem to be more stressed and very inactive. It appears that we are more obsessed with how we look rather than what we eat.
The sum total of this behavior is that we are gradually eating ourselves to death and, believe it or not, many people who are overweight are actually suffering from the same condition as people who are starving. Yes, MALNUTRITION, The reason being that the processed packaged food is often so heavily refined that it’s lacking in the vitamins and minerals we need for our bodies to work well.
Just as the quality and type of fuel used in your car influences both the performance and longevity of the engine, so the quality and type of food you eat influences the health, performance and longevity of your body.
If your diet contains lots of packaged and processed foods then chances are you are missing out on vital nutrients - so it’s time to cleanse your body. Every single process that takes place in your body - including digestion, fat burning, thinking, breathing, walking and talking - requires vitamins and minerals.
When you eat fresh, natural foods, your stock of vitamins and minerals gets topped up: quite simply, when you eat well, your body works well.
As we lose touch with real ‘live’ food, it becomes harder to form the association with the vitamins and minerals in food and the realisation that we are alive because of them. Our body requires them to survive, so if we keep eating food that is lacking in them, our body’s stocks of these nutrients become depleted so we will start to malfunction and it will become increasingly harder to concentrate and process information. The body will have less energy and it will find it more difficult to metabolise food and burn fat. That’s why junk foods are often called ‘anti-nutrients.’ They literally attack your stores of nutrients and damage your health.
So commit to giving your body what it needs, including good food and plenty of activity, and I will help you along the way, giving you encouragement, support and guidance.
Until next time
THE AVERAGE BRIT SPENDS 5 ½ MONTHS IN THEIR LIFETIME WORRYING ABOUT THEIR SNACKING HABITS!
I was recently asked to be a spokesman for The Fair Trade Nut Company. They wanted me to comment on their research that reveals Britain is a nation of ‘underground snackers'. The research shows that the average Brit spends an astonishing five and a half months in their lifetime worrying about these ‘indulgences’.
Snacking has become a well-hidden secret for the nation with nearly one in two (49%) of respondents admitting that they consciously choose to eat between meals when no one else is around. More than a quarter (27%) go a step further to conceal their covert snacking by hiding wrappers from loved ones.
It seems as a nation we have cause to worry; over two thirds of UK adults admit to regularly helping themselves to crisps, biscuits and chocolate between meals. The majority (84%) snack once or twice a day but a very peckish 12% snack three or more times a day.
Despite all the worrying and secrecy, snacking makes just a quarter of people happy, 32% said their between meal treats made them feel instantly guilty, a further 23% said it made them feel naughty.
It appears that the healthy eating messages we all see and read every day haven’t had the required effect. They have sent the average snacker underground, sneakily eating when no one is around with some even stashing their wrappers out of sight, rather than encouraging us towards healthier eating habits. The underground snackers make it even worse for themselves by worrying themselves silly about their diet. The truth is; there is nothing wrong with having a couple of snacks a day. But, if people want to lose weight and eat healthier then more of these snacks need to be a healthy protein-based snack like nuts, seeds, or fresh/dried fruit. By replacing your un-healthy snacks you’re giving your body an excellent nutritious boost between meals, which keeps you alert and energized, rather than the super-high followed by an energy-slump that you get from eating snacks that are loaded with calories, are often processed (packed full of nasties), and will spike your blood sugar levels.
The research highlighted that the main trigger to snacking is not hunger but boredom – nationally 51% of respondents claimed they reach for a quick bite when tedium gets the better of them.
It’s important to eat when you are hungry and not go for long periods without eating foods, as this causes our blood sugar levels to drop and our bodies then desire instant energy. These quick energy foods including; fizzy drinks, cakes, chocolates and crisps are so readily available and just too easy-to-grab in times of need. I suggest that you carry with you, or have to hand, snacks that will keep you satisfied and give you good energy and nutrients when you need them. I keep a mixture of nuts, seeds, and dried fruit in a little plastic container in my car and in my bag, and I always make sure I keep it topped up.
Remember to only eat small amounts of nuts at one time as they tend be high in fat. Also it’s best to go for the unsalted and un-roasted variety.
What's in your snack stash? Or do you admit to being an unhealthy 'underground snacker'?
And what about in the US? - Surely you're a bit more chilled-out about this sort of thing? Or not?
Bit of a treat today, we have a Guest Post from Ali Hale of theofficediet.com - Healthy Living for Busy People. Ali is really inspiring, here she's broken a 'day in the office' down to certain 'trigger-times', I hope you enjoy reading this... If you do, please leave a comment for Ali at the bottom. Thanks
For many of us who work in desk-based jobs, it can be all too easy for our diet to be derailed before we’ve even noticed. Whether it’s those delicious cupcakes that the “birthday boy” in your office brought in, or the buffet lunch laid on for a meeting, working life can undermine even the best of intentions.
There are various times in the day, though, where things seem most prone to going wrong … and if you plan ahead, you can easily cope with them.
8.00am - Skipping breakfast
Have you ever hit “snooze” on the alarm, snuggled back down under the duvet, and drifted back into blissful sleep … only to jolt awake at 8am, needing to be washed, dressed and en route to work by 8.10? Usually, the easiest thing to cut from your morning routine is breakfast.
Skipping eating in the morning, though, means your metabolism gets off to a sluggish start – and being hungry will make that doughnut shop on the way to work much more tempting…
11.00am – Mid-morning snack from the vending machine
By the time you’ve been at work for a couple of hours, stress may have kicked in. That snippy email from a customer, or your boss suddenly dumping a huge project in your in-tray, can make you seek out the nearest vending machine for some chocolate-coated comfort
If you’re feeling the pressure mounting up, take a short break from your desk. Walk to the water cooler, not the nearest snack-source, and get yourself a cold glass of water. Or head over to talk to a colleague who’ll be able to help you gain some perspective.
1.00pm – Buffet lunch at a meeting
Sometimes, you manage the perfect morning: a healthy yet satisfying breakfast, a virtuous apple for a snack … then a buffet table faces you at lunchtime. If you’re anything like me, you’ll find that the siren call of “FREE FOOD, FREE FOOD” overrides more sensible thoughts like “Do I really want to eat that, though?” and “What would be a reasonably low-fat option?”
Through somewhat gluttonous experience, I’ve found that the best ways to deal with free buffet lunches are:
4.00pm – The afternoon energy slump
Few of us are at our most productive during the last hour of the working day. It can be very tempting to have a yawn, a stretch, a quick check of Facebook … and a sugary snack for an energy boost. If you’re genuinely hungry, try a cereal bar, a couple of pieces of fruit, or a small sandwich. If you’re just tired, a mug of tea or coffee will perk you up – if you want to cut your caffeine intake, there are lots of tasty herbal teas around.
7.00pm – Too tired to cook
When the last thing you want to do after work is cook an elaborate meal, it can be tempting to phone for a pizza or Chinese. Most of us have busy lives and don’t want to spend hours in the evenings preparing food. I’ve found that it helps immensely to plan ahead: agree with your flatmates or partner who’ll cook on which weeknights, working around your schedules. Decide what you’ll make in advance, and ensure you pop to the shops at the weekend or on the way home to work for any ingredients needed.
If you have plenty of time at the weekend, cook double portions and freeze half -- you’ll have a quick weekday supper that just needs heating up, at much lower cost and higher quality than pre-packaged ready meals.
Ali Hale, www.theofficediet.com
