Diets and repeated dieting.

 Last week I gave a talk at Whole Foods in Kensington, London. The talk had originally been billed as being about ‘Supereating’ and how to incorporate this into a day to day diet. You may be aware that Supereating is a guide to pairing or combining foods so that the inherent nutrients work together in a synergistic manner. For example, the absorption of zinc can be enhanced by B6, so if you were looking to increase your zinc levels, rather than head to the health food store and buy a bottle of pills, you can eat zinc-rich foods ( such as oysters or poultry ) but have a piece of wholemeal bread too. So a chicken sandwich may be ideal. Less than 10 people signed up for the talk, which may seem like a small number but it’s a new topic and I am not a celebrity so its quite normal.

However, on changing the subject of the talk to ‘Healthy Weight Management’ all at once some 47 people signed up. Now this may be because the talk was imminent which encouraged people to express an interest. My personal status hadn’t changed, I wasn’t on the cover of Heat magazine ( Celebrity Big Brother can lay claim to that honour for the next couple of weeks ), my new single isn’t due out nor is my latest novel/movie/television show, so why the sudden increase in numbers?

It seems obvious that despite our best intentions, losing weight remains the most popular topic when it comes to nutrition. Interestingly, amongst the 47 people who came along to the talk, I didn’t notice anyone who one would term as ‘fat’, so why the interest?  

Seeing as the audience had an interest in weight loss I asked how many people had ever been on a diet. Needless to say most if not all had. Then I asked how many people had dieted more than 5 times, and several people indicated that they had indeed followed five or more diets.

But if a diet works, then why would we need to diet again? The answer may be simple, but diet’s don’t work in the long term. In isolation they do, of course they do, as they give us a template ( be it strict or otherwise ) but as soon as they are over, what then? Having sensed possible famine, the metabolic rate can change to meet the new input of calories, much like learning to get by on a reduced salary. Your metabolic rate has no idea ( nor does it care ) whether you have decided to lose some weight because you are going to a wedding and want to look slim in front of the family, nor if you let yourself go over Christmas because you deserved it. It simply reacts to how much energy you take in and how much you expend. Therefore diets and dieting can vastly increase the chances that you will have to diet again. And again.

My advice for anyone who wants to avoid this miserable cycle of weight loss and weight gain, boom or bust, feast or famine, is don’t diet, learn how to eat instead.

 

 

 

 

 

Understanding the 10 Principles of The Food Doctor’s plan

Thomas  Stansfield – Weight lost 1stone  1lb
Well what can I say? It’s been a fantastic experience  over the past 10 weeks or so. Even when I applied and found out I was chosen  to go on the show I felt it was somewhat of an event.

There has been fairly high high’s and not so low low’s  whilst losing weight. Sadly I was the one in the group who lost the least, but  I managed to reduce my cholesterol and heart pressure dramatically. I found  out that even though it has been great to reduce these factors to such a low  level it will not be the same in 15 or even 10 years time if I am still over  weight like I am now.

That is why I am going to continue on with the diet  the best I can. In fact I’m aiming to lose another 3 stone at least which  would take me back to the weight I was 7 years ago, and would be great to feel  like that again. Once you understand the 10 Principles of The Food Doctor’s  plan fully, we could all be healthier and slimmer than we are  now!

Stephen Tobutt- Lost 1 stone 7 lbs in 10 weeks with The Food Doctor Plan

Ian said from the start how easy his diet was but I didn’t believe him, no diet is easy, you have to eat salads, count points, buy special foods, eat your own food and punish everyone else in the process!!

The first week of the 7 day plan was interesting and the hardest. When I went shopping I thought I was going to have to live the life as a hamster, so many different nuts and seeds in my diet. After the first week I was expecting Ian to change his attitude and become an ogre, stricter with what I ate but he wasn’t and I couldn’t make it out!!

I can put my hand on my heart and say that Ian’s food plan is amazing and trust me I have been on many diets in the past! I now enjoy the food I eat, automatically eat more seeds and nuts. My dinner plate is a tea plate, I don’t feel hungry and the family eats and enjoys the same food. I eat more healthily and in 10 weeks I have lost 1 ½ stone. I still treat myself to chips, alcohol and have chocolate now and again. My eating habit has changed for life now. I feel so much healthier, have more energy and do not sweat as much.

You need to get the “diet” stigma out of your head, change your eating habits and enjoy the food you eat and not feel guilty any more!

My life changing experience with The Food Doctor Plan

Hi I’m Tommy Williams,

It has been the most life changing experience, I’ve learned so much from week one. Ian was great and the information he gave us and in the books was 2nd to none which was fantastic, especially after all these years of trying to figure out how diets work .

Nearly ten weeks on and 24lbs in weight gone I’ve never felt better. Ian is a star his help his information and the way he puts the diets over to you is great. If you are thinking about going on a diet please buy his books this will save you a lot of money and time its so easy to do. As Richard & Judy comes to a close I will still be following the diet

Thank you for what have done for me xx

Have you tried a gastric band and what were the results?

Poor Fern Britton. She presents a highly successful television show and is known to be likeable, professional and overweight. Is that wrong of me to say so? Do bear in mind that Fern has taken the mickey out of herself by fronting television adverts for low fat snacks, and allowing her face to be cleverly morphed onto a slim body. So, the lovely Fern has set herself up to be associated with weight, being overweight. Over the last few months she has visibly shrunk in front of our eyes. I don’t generally watch ‘This Morning’ but as I have been at home writing Supereating, every now and again I have tuned in for a moment to see their health slots, and I am not alone in seeing Fern become slim and svelte. She claimed this was diet and exercise and I was so pleased that she was being sensible, and accepting that she was a role model for many viewers who have struggled with their weight.

I was in the queue at the supermarket the other day and saw Fern on the cover of a magazine, talking all about her weight loss and self-esteem, and I remember feeling that she had done a Good Thing.

Now it turns out that the poor woman was so desperate to lose weight that she underwent an operation to place a gastric band around her stomach. For those of you who don’t know, a gastric band restricts the amounts one can eat as the band that encompasses the stomach has little give, and so if one eats even a little too much, the individual feels pain or can vomit. It’s a dramatic step to take, and I don’t imagine that Fern Britton took lightly.

So, she lied about her she lost weight, but does that really matter? I am not sure, I could go either way.

What do you think? Has anyone been that desperate themselves? Have you tried a gastric band and what were the results? Were they long lasting? Was it worth it?

Please let me know. I won’t publish anyone’s comments without permission so its confidential, needless to say.

Vitamins kill

Well, that’s more or less what the headlines say, isn’t it? In fact, the study looks specifically at antioxidants, not at all vitamins. The Press Association report can be seen here;

http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5ikQ6XOMRqSKo2PRY4SpPySSpyKVQ

If you read the report, the conclusion is reached for a healthy population, in other words, people who did not have a clear definable need or requirement for the nutrients, and so adding them to the diet in supplement form, in isolation, is not what nature intended.

This highlights two things. Firstly, nutrient supplementation should not be of individual vitamins or minerals etc. They have a synergistic relationship, and excessive amounts of one will block or hinder the action of another. Conversely, some nutrients encourage one another’s actions. The nutrients that the study highlights are those that are fat-soluble, in other words, they need some fat to be absorbed and also, are stored in fat if levels are too high and the nutrients unusable. In the same way that animals reared in the non-organic way will store the anti-biotics they are routinely given in their natural fat stores, are we too storing excess nutrients as well?

The second point is that people who take vitamin supplements rarely need them as much as the people that don’t. In other words, the better off people in society are more likely to take a range of nutrients, whereas those on lower incomes who often have poor diets are actually those that would benefit from the nutrients. To an extent, it’s the worried well that are taking nutrients in supplement form.

There are two things you can do if this issue concerns you. Firstly, look to food for your nutrients, as food will deliver nutrients together in a package in which they complement each other and also, in the correct ratios. The second thing is to see a nutritional expert, one of my team for example, for a one off appointment and take all your supplements with you and let them guide you through what’s worth taking, and what’s simply unnecessary for you. The cost of the consultation will be covered by what you save on buying expensive supplements.

Call our nutrition clinic on 020 7729 6700 or see www.thefooddoctor.com for details.

More soon.

Low calorie diets

Do you like starving? Feel like eating so little that you feel ill and your hair falls out in clumps?  Fed up of having a period?  Well, if you eat less than 600 calories a day then that’s what you can expect it seems.

The liquid diet programme, Liter Life, comes in for a bit of a kicking this evening on BBC1 at 19.30. See the news story on the BBC website at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7339312.stm. Or you can watch it any time in the next seven days with the BBCi player, which I have used and its very clever!

I don’t know the company personally, and I have heard of people who have lost lots of weight using their products. I am sure they work, very low calorie diets would and do, but it’s a short term thing and obviously one cant keep that up for ever. I have had numerous clients who have undertaken meal replacement programmes and then suffered the side effects and come to see me for advice on how to address them.

Low calorie diets worry me as they aren’t sustainable and it leaves you, the dieter, feeling deprived and often miserable. It has to be said that some people feel liberated from having to fight food, and their shakes etc mean they don’t have to worry about getting it wrong, so for them I can see how this would work. However, even the liberated cant do this for longer then 12 weeks, and then what? If people don’t understand the simple biochemistry, or the process of how food is used and why some of it becomes fat rather than energy, then the cycle is not broken, and they stand the chance of putting the weight back on again.

I will look forward to seeing the programme, but my advice for anyone thinking of a very low calorie diet is to think carefully about the long term effects, not just in respect of side effects, but on what happens afterwards.

More soon.

The Food Doctor, back on Richard & Judy in June

Having only finished Richard and Judy on March 11^th, I am delighted that they want me back! The new series starts on June 16^th and runs through until the end of August. Together with my lovely colleagues at Cactus, we are working on the format, and have some really good ideas that will be fun for the participants. So if you are looking to make some changes to your health and learn how to use nutrition to improve your health then you may want to consider signing up. I promise you that its not difficult, its not a diet but an education in how to eat which is easy to follow and, as we know, the results speak for themselves.

In the series just gone, Kath, Dave, Louise and Marie-Louise lost an impressive 73 lbs between then, in just ten weeks. That’s over 5 stone. Now, of course they could have lost more, but this is not competitive dieting, and in order for them to lose more, they would have had to starve, and as you will know, that’s not my way of doing things, and its simply not practical. Had they gone to extremes, then by now they would have lost their will-power, which is all it would have been, and be regaining some weight. Instead, they have all continued to eat well and continued to drop the pounds. Except for Dave that is, as his weight has stabilised, and he is eating as he did when he was on the show, not losing weight now as his body has found a happy equilibrium.

If you are interested in taking part, then do take a look at http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/R/richardandjudy/.

Here is the cut and paste from the site;

Desperate to lose weight?

Food Doctor Ian Marber gets incredible results on Richard & Judy, and is looking now for people to take part in the next series. We’d especially like to hear from you if you’ve an interesting reason for wanting to diet – for example it’s your wedding day coming up, you want to be slim for a holiday you’ve booked – or maybe your snoring is so bad, your wife’s said enough is enough! Men or women, email us at diet@cactustv.co.uk with your name, address, age, any diets you’ve tried before, a picture if possible, and of course, the reason you want to lose weight.

Maybe we will be meeting soon?

The Food Doctor’s nutritional treatment of hayfever

What causes Hayfever?

Hayfever is an allergic response to pollen. Symptoms can arrive with tree pollens from March to May, depending on the climate, and continue through the summer months with grass pollens.

Exposure to these airborn allergens is made worse by the fact that when the weather is warmer windows are left open and we spend more time outside.

Pro-inflammatory histamine is responsible for the symptoms of hayfever. When the pollens come into contact with nostrils, eyes, or throat, the immune system responds by releasing histamine from mast cells. This is an inflammatory trigger to the body and initiates increased mucus production, contracts smooth muscle and encourages the dilation of blood vessels contributing to our typical hayfever symptoms. Itching is caused by the effect of histamine on nerve endings.

Nutritional Treatment of Hayfever

The best approach is to alleviate the irritating symptoms and to support the immune system through diet and supplementation; whilst at the same time reducing exposure to the triggers. It is important to start your anti-hayfever regime early on in the season. Following the dietary advice below boost the immune system and reduces symptoms such as mucus and itching later on in the summer. Many hayfever sufferers say that this approach has a cumulative, protective effect. In other words their hayfever has become increasingly better year after year by following dietary and supplement advice from as early as spring each year.

Increase:

• Beta-carotene and Vitamin C rich foods – These include bright red, orange, yellow and dark green vegetables and fruit. Vitamin C can reduce overall histamine production, and is therefore considered to be a natural antihistamine and anti-inflammatory. Beta-carotene is a precursor to vitamin A, which boosts the integrity of the mucous membrane. All fruit and vegetables are also good sources of other antioxidants, these include vitamins A, C, E, zinc and selenium and are vital to support the immune system.

• Essential Fatty Acids – Eat foods rich in omega 3 and 6 essential fats, these can be found in oily fish, nuts, seeds, and their oils. These contain prostaglandins, hormone like chemicals with anti-inflammatory properties, and may help reduce symptoms of hayfever.

• Garlic and Onions – These are a good source of quercetin, another powerful anti-inflammatory that stabilizes the membranes of the cells that release histamine and therefore allergic symptoms. Garlic and onions also boost the immune system by increasing production of white blood cells, which deal with allergic reactions. Quercetin can also be found in blue-green algae, spirulina, chlorella and kelp.

• Ginger also slows histamine production and a few slices can be put in hot water with lemon or added to cooking.

• Bromelain in pineapple and nuts is also useful in boosting the anti-inflammatory prostaglandins, it may be better in supplement form as these foods are fairly common allergens.

Avoid:

• Stay away from possible allergens – Try to avoid foods to which you may be allergic or intolerant, as these may increase histamine production. The most common food intolerance’s are wheat, dairy, and citrus fruit, so excluding these from your diet for a trial period may help. Wheat and dairy may also cause an increase in mucous production and therefore aggravate the problem.

• Saturated Fats – Red meat, dairy and sugary foods containing saturated fats contain pro-inflammatory substances that can aggravate symptoms and increase mucus production.

Methods of Reducing Exposure:

• Stay in doors during early morning or late evening – most pollen is released at these times.
• Avoid cutting grass, walking through cut grass or leaving windows open when lawns are being mowed.
• Keep windows closed while driving.
• Have frequent showers – splashing your face with cold water and bathing your eyes will help to wash away the irritants.
• Wash your hair and clothes as soon as you get home after a high pollen count day
• Wear sunglasses to keep pollen grains out of your eyes.
• Applying a barrier ointment such as un-petroleum jelly into the base of the nostrils helps to trap the pollen and prevents it from irritating the lining of the nose.
• Air purifiers and ionisers can reduce overall pollen levels indoors.

Is caffeine a good thing?

Finally, another reason to have caffeine. I don’t drink, or smoke, but I do love my coffee, so much so that my office is right next door to Starbucks in Holland Park.

Researchers have shown that a daily hit of caffeine strengthens the blood brain barrier, which is the filter that protects the central nervous system from potentially harmful chemicals. Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, describes caffeine as a psychoactive stimulant drug which makes it sound very serious indeed.

See this link for more details http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7326839.stm of today’s news item on how caffeine may help reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease amongst other conditions.

This is good news, at least it is for me and Starbucks who are warming the milk for my grande skinny latte as I type. However, there are some issues with too much caffeine, and I find that with the presence of a coffee shop or three on every shopping street in the UK promotes the idea that caffeine is a Good Thing.

The health benefits aside, I don’t think that we should be having more than one hit of caffeine a day. In my clinical experience, people with weight issues have used caffeine to quash their hunger. Do remember that caffeine stimulates adrenaline production and so will lead to a rise in energy levels followed by an inevitable low. Its at that low when we are more likely to eat something that we know wont help us, or at the very least start wanting to eat something ‘bad’. Then the dreaded will power kicks in and all that self-talk that goes with using will power alone to eat well ( I wont eat, I mustn’t….but I want it, maybe just a little…..oh what’s wrong with me, why can’t I stop….its because I am a weak person…I am fat….no one loves me and its because….. ).

As many of you will know I have Ten Principles that I feel guarantee success when it comes to a good diet. Principle 1 is to combine the food groups, and 4 is to eat little and often. These work well together as they lead to an even consistent level of glucose in the blood, avoiding the highs which lead to the lows. By staying on the straight and narrow rather than on a roller-coaster of energy peaks and troughs in a day. Caffeine can interrupt that, which is why I suggest that one hit a day is fine, more than one can lead to fluctuations that can affect energy levels and so we compensate by eating or at least having the desire to eat foods that simply wont help us (such as refined sugars).
For a free download of the Ten Principles see http://images.thefooddoctor.com/images/books/10principlespages.pdf.

Anyway, I am off to Starbucks for my latte now. I will counteract this by eating something too, an apple and some Brazil nuts if you must know…..

More soon.