The Diet Guy

What Do You Make Your Food Choices Based On ?

Knowledge and awareness are definitely power, I spent many years being very overweight and never analysing why I was overeating or why I was choosing the food and portion sizes I was. If you has asked me I would have said I just had what I liked but when I eventually stood back from the situation and thought about what it was all about and understood my behaviours then it made it so much easier to change them.

So I am not going to offer advice in this post, I am merely going to ask you to think about why you choose the food you do ?

Is it based on what you fancy ? what is the most expensive? cheapest? lowest fat? biggest portion? what you know best?

If you are sitting in a restaurant and there is a massive selection of food, anything from a green salad right the way through to a massive mixed grill with chips and deep fried mushrooms. How do you decide?

If you realise what your triggers and how you decision process works then it is so much easier to change them (if you want to!)

When I used to eat in restaurants I used to go for the most expensive thing on the menu, that was because in my head I linked expensive with best, and as I wanted the best thing then the most expensive would be the ideal one. I would also never turn down a starter or dessert because I didn't want to 'miss out'.

I also hated feeling hungry so would make sure I ate so much that I would feel suitable 'stuffed' and that would keep me going.

So back to you, why do you choose the food you do ?

Why Do You Want To Lose Weight ?

I ask this question a lot with my clients, it seems such an obvious question and therefore they are likely to have a really good answer but I usually get replies like 'I don't know really' or 'because I should' or 'my doctor has been moaning at me' or 'I hate the way I look' or 'my clothes don't fit' etc etc.

The usual response is either to do with getting away from something i.e. I don't want to die, or they have no really good reason at all apart from the media keeps bombarding us telling us we should trim and slim down.

The problem is with either of these motivations once you get to goal weight then what is going to keep you there? Sure you do really well, you lose weight and you get to your goal, you look amazing ! everyone is saying how well you have and you start to believe your own hype !

You have done well ! You have changed your life, your slim and everyone is talking about how well you have done...and then what?

Eventually they stop talking about you and normal life is resumed, you get asked out for dinner, or you are bored on the sofa and get the nibbles, you pop into a coffee shop and want to try the caramel slices they have, you see cheap cakes in Tesco on reduced and then suddenly the pounds start to return and why wouldn't they? The original person is still in you ! The person who can eat too many calories for your body is there, sure they hid for a while due to willpower but normal service is now resumed and the weight is coming back.

Rarely when I work with people do they plan to be slim forever, they plan to lose weight for sure ! They can tell me what diet, what exercise plan, what they are going to cut out of their diet, how much water they are going to drink, how they are going to walk every morning and do toning and Zumba classes. But all of that is short term thrills to trim a few pounds off.

It isn't the answer to staying slim and never having to bother about dieting again, now sure you can keep bailing the water out of the boat by dieting for the rest of your life and you may stay afloat but I preferred to just fill the hole in the boat and then stop bailing !

Now if you are thinking what is the answer then firstly can you answer this question with a positive answer

What is the benefit of being slim long term to you ?

Never Judge Others, You Haven't Walked In Their Shoes

I spend a lot of time working with and talking to people who want help with their weight and other life issues, the thing you notice the most is that although a lot of the behaviours and lives are similar at the same point everyone has their own story, their own baggage and their own past and therefore when I work with people I don't judge them based on my own prejudices and experiences.

I was in Tesco last Saturday with a friend and a large lady walked past with a trolley full of cakes, pizza's and other 'less healthy' foods. My friend immediately made a judgemental comment about the food and her, I reminded him that actually he knows nothing about her, for a start the food may not even be for her but even if it is then it is her life choice and you have no right to judge and offer your opinion on what others do.

As it happens he drives a huge red sports car and no more than 24 hours earlier I was sticking up for him when someone was saying what an idiot he looked while driving around the town. Again people very quick to judge without knowing the person inside the behaviour.

Now my life isn't perfect, I am no angel and have no wish to be one either as I don't think the wings would suit me, I screw up all the time, I have a past, I've done some really stupid things, I have prejudices and baggage and all the other things that the rest of the world has but I don't judge others and therefore before you gossip or talk about others whether about their weight, size or anything else then remember the Lawrence Lovasik quote

'It is just as cowardly to judge an absent person as it is wicked to strike a defenless one. Only the ignorant and narrow-minded gossip for they speak of persons instead of things'

 

Product Review - Philips Airfryer

I get a lot of people ask me to review products for them on my blog but this is by far my favourite so far. Philips sent me one of their new airfryers. It is basically a deep fat fryer but with no deep fat !

Instead of using fat to fry your food it uses hot air and it does it very well, I use this now at least twice a week when cooking my dinner and to cook the kids food.

I still enjoy chips a lot but as always I try and avoid having the full fat varieties if I can find a healthier version that tastes just as good and this really does make miracle chips that although not exactly like chip shop chips are certainly very very nice and you certainly wouldn't know they were really low in fat.

Not only can you do chips in it but also you can get it to 'air cook' other products you would normally deep fry such as chicken nuggets and scampi (I really like scampi and this crisps them brilliantly)

Another big bonus for me is the fact that because it uses air as opposed to oil you don't get the smell around your house of grease and you don't get build up on your kitchen surfaces either, when running it obviously generates a lot of heat but I found that great on a winters evening in my house! :-)

It is dead easy to use, very well made and generally I was blown away by this and the fact you can eat healthily without feeling like you are is always my food ethos !

My one slight complaint is that without a dishwasher it can be a pain to clean !

To check out other reviews, purchase and to see more about this product then check it out on Amazon.Co.Uk at Phillips Airfryer

Overall Diet Guy Rating 8.5 Out Of 10

 

Think About What You Can Add To Your Life, Not What You Should Take Away.

When people plan on dieting they are planning on what they can't have, a friend of mine is currently planning on starting a diet and is talking about all the things he/she won't be allowed to eat and will have to avoid while they are on a diet.

Now the first thing is they are now eating more of them before they start dieting, almost like a 'goodbye' to the food by having loads more of it, secondly while they are dieting they are going to have a sense of loss and will miss those foods, which then means if and when they finish the diet they will be looking forward to going straight back to those foods, but because they have been 'deprived' then they are likely to eat even more of them and watch the pounds come back on.

When I used to diet all the time it was all about what I wasn't allowed, I used to restrict calories one week, then go low carb for a week, then cut out anything with more than 5% fat, then cut out sugar etc etc. But every diet was based on negatives and restricting myself and to be frank it doesn't work when you stop dieting and try to maintain.

So instead think about what you can add to your life and your diet instead of all of those calories, now for me I was a real comfort and boredom eater so instead of needing comfort I dealt with my emotional issues and instead of being bored I took up hobbies and interests so I wasn't sitting around anymore.

Then when I came off my last ever diet (five years ago next week!) instead of NOT having things I tried new things instead, I now don't restrict what I eat at all, if I want chocolate, cake and cookies I will have them but I also love trying new foods and experiences and therefore I don't overeat anymore.

So can you honestly say when you diet you look for the things you can add or do you simply focus on what you can't eat ?

Why Don't People Just Lose Weight?

I had a fascinating chat today with someone at work, they were talking about stopping smoking and weight and they asked why don't people just lose weight ?

My immediately reply was 'Because of the emotional benefit food gives them...'

They looked really puzzled and said 'Why do people get emotional benefit from food?'

And it really hit me, I am talking to someone who has never been overweight, I have watched them skip meals all the time and generally eat because they have to as opposed to they really want to.

It was really alien to them that maybe somebody eats because they have had a bad day at work or someone has upset them.