Conquer urges for the bad stuff and blitz those pounds for good
The odd slice of gooey chocolate cake or fish and chip Friday aren’t
going to make you balloon. But when these indulgences snowball into
daily habits, you and your waistline are in trouble. And don’t believe
the ‘willpower’ bores – it’s not a question of mind over matter.
With clever tweaks to the way you eat, you can conquer your junk food
cravings once and for all and finally reach (and remain) at your happy
weight. The best bit? It won’t even feel like a diet.
1. Eat naturally
That means choosing real food. ‘The minute you start dieting, you start eating the wrong foods,’ says Zoë Harcombe, author of
The Harcombe Diet 3-Step Plan (£8.99).
‘Eat food found in the natural environment, that grows on trees and
comes out of the ground – that’s a diet mostly based on meat, fish,
eggs, cheese, vegetables and fruit in season.’ So, next time you crave
something sweet, try swapping that sugar-laden so-called ‘diet’ cereal
bar for apple slices with almond butter.
2. Rethink your carbs
Current
NHS guidelines
advise that starchy carbs like pasta, bread, and rice make up 33 per
cent of what we eat – more than we ate in the ‘meat and two veg’ days
(when we weren’t in the grip of an obesity crisis). However, these
guidelines date back to the 1980s – modern research suggests we got it
right the first time. If you have cereal for breakfast, a sarnie for
lunch and pasta for dinner, you’re eating a high-carb diet based on
flour and sugar, both nutritionally poor ingredients. Make at least one
meal low-carb every day to help nourish your body.
3. Stop dieting
It’s a vicious circle. Harcombe believes dieting causes
hypoglycaemia, which cause cravings. Hypoglycaemia (low-blood glucose)
develops when we consume too much sugar too often, placing excessive
demands on the body to keep releasing insulin to return levels to
normal. The modern diet – full as it is of carbs (which are sugars) – is
a recipe for hypoglycaemia, as are traditional ‘diet’ foods (such as
fruit, cereal bars and low-fat flavoured yoghurt). Symptoms include
craving more sugar, as well as caffeine, leaving you vulnerable to
blowing 500 odd calories on that flavoured latte and muffin come 3pm.
4. Make friends with fat
‘Fearing fat is one of our biggest mistakes,’ says Harcombe. ‘In
fact, it’s the most versatile macronutrient we have, full of vitamin A
and D. The link between fat and heart attacks is wrong – it’s sugar and
processed foods that are threatening our health,’ she argues. Stick to
good fat (avocados, oily fish, nuts and seeds) and you should be good to
go.
5. Remember, it’s all in the mix
It’s official: carb/protein or fat/protein-based meals are in, but
carb/fat is out. The reason? Your body will use the carbs first for
energy and store the fat. But if you eat a fat/protein meal (such as
steak and salad), your body is forced to use the fat for energy.
Equally, while some food combinations work better than others, you
shouldn’t eat foods that cause your cravings, as these are the foods
that will tip you back into your vicious circle. Of course, you can
break the rules occasionally (red wine, 85% cocoa chocolate, the odd
slice of birthday cake) – just stay in control.
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