Healthy & Sustainable Weight Control

Strategies for Healthy & Sustainable Weight Control

• Explore a wide range of wholesome foods that nourish & satisfy. Be adventurous.
• Begin to 'Crowd Out' the old familiar choices with these nutritious foods.
• Adjust eating habits and other behaviours to support the above.
• Give up calorie-reduced diets and dieting - for good.
• Severely limit all junk foods and drinks - this is half the battle.
• Drink enough fluids, mainly water. Herbal tea's and some diluted juices are fine too.
• Base your diet around fresh veg (limit starchy veg), beans/lentils, fish, real meat, eggs, fruits and modest amounts of good quality dairy, seeds & nuts. Keep bread to a minimum.
• Fats & Oils - no more than 20-25% of total calories.
• Avoid low-fat products - generally poor quality, additive rich.
• Take foods rich in EFA's - oily fish, ground flax, chia seeds, flax oil, UDO's oil.
• Eat 3-5 times a day at regular intervals. Main meal at lunchtime. Don't eat more than 3 times unless you need to for blood sugar balance.
• Snack only on fruit (no banana's) plus limited nuts and seeds. 
• Reduce portion size - smaller plates can help. Do it gradually to avoid feeling deprived.
• Don't eat large meals or heavy snacks close to bedtime.
• Only eat when calm and take plenty of time to chew. Well chewed food satisfies sooner.
• Stop eating when 80% full. Takes strain off the digestion process.
• Find ways to reward and comfort yourself without using foods. Distract yourself from cravings.
• Check for allergies or intolerance's if there are persistent digestive problems e.g. bloating. 

Tips for helping with overweight Children

• Agree your strategy with your partner - and stick to it.
• Parents must lead by example (kids are programmed to copy).
• Eat the kinds of foods and snacks you want them to eat.
• Sit and eat with them, so they can model what and how you eat.
• Establish and encourage an active lifestyle for the whole family.
• Limit daily time at computer games & TV and establish weekly exercise or sports schedule.
• Praise a picky eater when they eat well, and don't make them guilty when they don't.
• Tell them you understand it can be hard to make healthy choices sometimes.
• For Infants: keep presenting new foods, and don't react if they reject things. Keep trying.
• Don't see meals as a 'big deal' battle ground.

About Me & Nutrition & Health

Hi guys,

I'm conscious that some people following the page might not know anything about me so I want to give some information firstly about me and my beliefs around Nutrition & Health.

About me:

I'm from Balbriggan and in my 40th year, Married to Emma with one little boy who will be 4 in August. I would always have been overweight growing up and even into my 30's where I tipped the scales at close to 19 stone in 2008. I decided in 2009 to sort myself out and lost 5/6 stone mainly through exercise and also with some time spent attending Weight Watchers.

I always had a keen interest in Sport and played quite a bit of Golf to a decent standard. This fell away a bit in recent years when I developed an interest in running and the challenges that came with that. I completed 4 marathons (Dublin 4 times) with a best time of 3:37. I was due to run London this year but some medical tests showed a heart problem and I was advised 6 weeks before the Marathon to basically forget about any type of intensive running or endurance running. Jogging was still ok. This came as a bit of a body blow to me and has taken me a bit of time to get my head around to be honest, but as they say your health is your wealth.

Interest in Nutrition:

My interest in Nutrition I suppose has developed over the past number of years initially around weight loss and then more towards sports performance as I got interested in running. The more I read up on things or looked at various articles there was always conflicting arguments about what was best for you or what was right and what was wrong. Towards the end of last summer I decided to educate myself and enrolled in a course with the Irish Institute of Nutrition & Health that provided a BTEC Advanced Diploma in Nutrition & Health Coaching. This was a 9 month part time program with a globally recognised qualification at the end of it. It wasn't cheap either believe me but I am so glad to have undertaken it.

What is Nutrition & Health Coaching? (taken from IINH website)

This is an exciting new wellness profession, focused around sound nutrition and healthy eating. Nutrition and Health Coaches educate, guide and support clients as they adopt more health-supportive eating and lifestyle habits. They explain the value of wholesome foods and healthy eating, and advise, instruct and encourage clients as they explore better food choices and start enjoying the benefits. People learn how to read product labels to make smarter choices, and how to plan and prepare practical, tasty and healthy meals. The Coach works with the client to address any health concerns, or perhaps to achieve a target weight or some other goal, such as having the whole family enjoy wholesome food. Clients develop the awareness, knowledge and skills to make more conscious and better informed choices around food, exercise and lifestyle for the benefit of their own and family’s well-being.

Nutrition & Health Coaches are also trained to give presentations on food and health topics.

What I will offer you?

I set up this page for a number of reasons. 

• This is a service I hope to offer to people as a part time business in the future so it is a way of promoting it from that point of view. 
• To pass on information to people to they can educate themselves and make better choices around Nutrition & Health. There is so much bad marketing and false advertising around that people need to be aware about.
• Show the impact that changes to diet can have on some medical problems rather than medication (cure rather than manage).
• Some healthy meal idea's. Although there have been a few posts already with food in them I am not a chef but am developing an interest in cooking from scratch where possible. If they taste ok I will pass on the recipes.
• Promote shops/restaurants/markets etc. that provide healthy food at reasonable prices.

My own Nutritional beliefs:

These have taken me some time to come around to and may change over time. Firstly I have to point out that I am not perfect and certainly do not always follow a 100% healthy eating plan. As I educate myself more and more though I do strive to improve. I think I will always have a sweet tooth :-)

• Your diet as much as is possible should be based on whole foods and as little as possible on processed foods.
• Everyone is unique and different. What works for one person may not work for another. There is no one size fits all program.
• Water is vitally important as a building block to a healthy body & mind.
• Sugar in it's many forms is doing more damage to our society than we all know.
• Low Fat versions of food are bad for you. It is only now it is being recognised that what we were being told for the last 20-30 years was wrong.
• It is what we eat the majority of the time that defines us and not the treats we enjoy from time to time.

Thanks for taking the time to read this far.

Peter.

The Importance of Drinking Water

Water is a controversial topic at the moment whether is talk about water charges or the amount of it falling from the sky it is something we are lead to talking about one way or another.

Do you know the importance of water though to the human body and by default to your body? Typically the human body is made up of roughly 2/3 water making it the main component of the human body. Our tissues and organs are mainly made up of water and every cell in your body needs water to function.

Our brain relies on water a lot to function properly. If you do not supply enough water to your body your brain cannot function well and you will get a migraine or headache. The next time you feel fatigue or headache it may be a sign of dehydration.

Harmful effects of dehydration can include:

Tiredness
Migraine
Constipation
Muscle Cramps
Irregular Blood Pressure
Kidney Problems
Dry Skin

The common signs of dehydration are:

Dark Urine
Dry Skin
Thirst
Hunger
Fatigue

There are many benefits to drinking water including the below:

Lose weight: Drinking water helps you lose weight because it flushes down the by-products of fat breakdown. Drinking water reduces hunger, it’s an effective appetite suppressant so you’ll eat less. Plus, water has zero calories. 

Natural Remedy for Headache: Helps to relieve headache and back pains due to dehydration. Although many reasons contribute to headache, dehydration is the common one.

Look Younger with Healthier Skin: You’ll look younger when your skin is properly hydrated. Water helps to replenish skin tissues, moisturises skin and increases skin elasticity.

Better Productivity at Work: Your brain is mostly made up of water, thus drinking water helps you think better, be more alert and more concentrated.

Better Exercise: Drinking water regulates your body temperature. That means you’ll feel more energetic when doing exercises. Water also helps to fuel your muscle.

Helps in Digestion and Constipation: Drinking water raises your metabolism because it helps in digestion. Fibre and water goes hand in hand so that you can have your daily bowel movement.

Less Cramps and Sprains: Proper hydration helps keep your joints and muscles lubricated, so you’ll less likely get cramps and sprains.

Relieves Fatigue: Water is used by the body to help flush out toxins and waste products from the body. If your body lacks water, your heart, for instance, needs to work harder to pump out the oxygenated blood to all cells, so are the rest of the vital organs, your organs will be exhausted and so will you.

Good Mood: Your body feels very good and that’s why you feel happy.