Cook Yourself Thin – lovely presenter, but an outdated approach.

I watched an episode of Cook Yourself Thin the other day, its on Channel 4 and features a chef cooking low fat recipes for someone who had battled with their weight for many years. Needless to say the participant lost weight and said that they felt wonderful, but I couldn’t help wondering what happens next?  I am prepared to bet that in her history of dieting she has tried many low fat diets ( impossible not to ) so why will this one be different? My heart sank when the presenter, who was gorgeous and stylish, showed us  how to make a lemon drizzle cake with fewer calories than a store-bought one and presented her cake as a way to lose weight. I don’t claim to know all there is to know about nutrition and successful weight loss, but this much I do know – you wont lose weight be eating cake.

My problem with Cook Yourself Thin is that it has one premise – low calorie food. When cooked from scratch this is no bad thing, but my concern is that low fat isnt everything.  The background to low fat diets is simple in as much as one gram of fat contains 9 calories whereas one gram of protein contains 7 and carbohydrates only 5. Therefore taking fat out of the diet reduces the calorie intake accordingly.  Surely that’s obvious and the right thing to do?

No.  Like protein, the body breaks down fat slowly and its conversion to energy is equally slow.  Carbohydrates break down easily and quickly which leads to elevated glucose levels. As the cells cant actually absorb much glucose at any one time the excess is stored away, which adds to fat stores.  So eating cake leads to weight gain, not because of the calorie content, but simple because of the carbohydrate content.  Furthermore, eating low fat food isn’t satisfying and so shortly after eating it, we are hungry and have to battle with cravings and ‘I shouldn’t eat, I am trying to lose weight and I just had a piece of cake’ type thinking. In other words, having low blood glucose levels makes us hungry, that’s quite normal, but asking someone who wants to lose weight to be hungry for a lot of the day relies upon their willpower, and we all know that willpower is limited. Sooner or later we crack, and then its harder still to get back on track again.

Check out How Not To Get Fat (Quadrille, £9.99) to find out the truth behind successful and easy weight management.

Hunger and how to reduce it without going hungry.

 I watched a couple of hours of television last night and noticed several commercials for foods that contained a certain amount of calories that would stop one from getting hungry. Highlighting a problem and offering your product as a solution is a tried and tested way of selling something, but since when was hunger a problem? You may know that this really bothers me as hunger is an entirely normal condition, not one that has to be fought against. Hunger is not the enemy when it comes to eating and we should respond to it,  yet the signals that tell us we are hungry often get ignored and, for many people, are simply there to be beaten.

When we are hungry, we should eat, but as eating can be so fraught, the signal to eat can be confusing if not alarming for so many people. One of the most effective ways to market any product is to offer it up as a solution to a problem, and food marketing is no exception. It seems obvious that eating food will allay hunger, and so the methods that food manufacturers use to get us to choose their product are complex and varied, but rarely have anything to do with hunger.  

But why? What is wrong with being hungry, and why do so many people fear it? It may seem obvious, but I feel that for many people think that if hunger can be conquered, then eating can be controlled and weight can be lost – isn’t that the Holy Grail when it comes to food sales?  Food becomes a battleground, and the signal to attack is hunger, so no wonder it’s something to be conquered.  One could argue that this is all the wrong way around, as if there were any issues with eating, then responding to the very first sign of hunger would get rid of the feeling which would mean that one needn’t eat. But in practice, people who want to control what they eat, or are on a diet to lose weight, or worried about gaining or regaining weight will often try to muddle through until the next scheduled meal rather then respond to a hunger signal.

If we look at the language of being hungry, the word hunger is most often followed by ‘pangs’, which means ‘ a sharp feeling or spasm of pain or emotional distress’. If this were true, and it is for a large percentage of the population, then we might be able to see why the issue of hunger is a minefield. The signal to refuel is triggered by several things, perhaps the most notable is low blood glucose levels. In the next section I will detailing how to eat so that blood glucose levels can be maintained at an even level, which avoids extreme and true hunger, but we should explore what happens to the average weight-conscious person when they do get that biochemical signal that says ‘feed me’.

That signal to eat may come from a basic physiological need, and whilst our ancestors may have responded appropriately, had there been food available, these days our hunger is clouded by several issues, not least what we do or will weigh if we eat – our emotional life gets in the way and in no small way influences our decision.

One of the problems with hunger is choice; we have so much choice that we don’t know what or how to eat, and hunger is the gateway to all that potential confusion. If you aren’t hungry, then the struggle is minimised, that’s obvious. One of the reasons that strict diets are successful is that they remove choice, and so when you get hungry, you have to eat X or Y, a prescribed food, one that feels ‘safe’. There is no choice, no confusion and no argument. The internal dichotomy ( ‘should I, shouldn’t I?’) simply doesn’t happen and this whole area of conflict is removed. After the diet, or even if you have never been on one, then of course there are unlimited choices, and given how much commercial interests influence what foods we think of, we may eat in a way that doesn’t really serve us that well.

 Low calorie food may quash hunger for a short while, but as the glucose the contain lasts for a short while and so the hunger returns and the cycle begins again.  Following The Food Doctor way of eating means that hunger is gentle and easily managed, and so the food choices one makes lead to longer lasting energy alongside slow and sustainable weight loss.

To find out more see How Not To Get Fat ( Quadrille Publishing, £9.99 ) or order via http://www.thefooddoctor.com

Don’t fall for the January ‘detox’!

Did you do it? Did you? Are you about to hit 2009 having eaten and drunk more than you intended to over the festive season? If you did, and statistics suggest that an awful lot of us did, then are you planning a ‘detox’?

The problem with the whole detox movement is that most people treat it like an insurance policy, knowing that its there and pushing themselves to the limit in the knowledge that a detox is on the way.

Of course, you can romanticise the whole thing by telling yourself that its like a spring clean, or you are giving your digestive system a rest. Or that we were never designed to deal with the level of toxins that we take in every day. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Almost good enough to punish yourself by eating nothing but clear broth and raw cauliflower for a few days? 

However good it may sound, all these quick fix health solutions sounds good on paper, until they encounter the one fixed problem. Us. You and me. Human nature. Its inevitable in our fast living world that we want to do things as fast as possible, preferably with a good return on our investment of time.  When I first qualified as a nutrition therapist, I remember being asked to put together a week long detox plan for a book. Being keen ( I was young, I needed the money ) I agreed, building in a couple of days either side to ease the reader into a gentle food programme that would help them lose some weight and reduce the sort of bloating that many people can experience after the excesses of Christmas and the New Year.

In the old days, Christmas meant overeating for a few days, and then taking it easy afterwards so that by the time Valentines Day rolled around, you weren’t feeling like a bloated pot-bellied pig. Nowadays, it has to be quicker, faster, now. And knowing that a detox was in the offing, I do think that people eat even more beforehand.

And of course, after the detox comes a good old-fashioned retox.  The feeling that we have spring cleaned makes us feel immune and super-human, so off we go again, gingerly at first, slowly gorging ourselves before we become corpulent and bloated. Obviously, that’s not how we all do it, but the trend is to use a detox to compensate for excesses, which is not what is behind the original theory.

So rather then ‘detox’, why not learn how to eat so that diet/gorge detox/retox cycle is broken?

 

 

 

Coffee break!

To anyone who knows me the following news may come as a shock. I have stopped drinking coffee. For now, at least. Its been a month now without caffeine and this is the first time since I was in my 20’s that I have even considered doing this. Truth be known, I love coffee….I love the ritual of making a cup at home with my breakfast, and then having a grande latte mid morning. I enjoyed the flavour and the effect of the caffeine.

So why stop? Well, I decided that having been through a pretty full on few months with writing SuperEating and then filming for Richard and Judy for 20 weekends, with hardly any time off. I was exhausted and not sleeping well which was perverse, and so I decided to test my levels of cortisol (a stress hormone). They have a natural level during the day, higher in the mornings and lowest last thing at night. Deviations from the norm are common and linked to long term stress, fatigue and weight gain, all of which I was experiencing.

The test was simple, some saliva collected four times in a day and then sent off to the lab. Called an Adrenal Stress Index, or ASI,  it cost £90 which I felt was worth it as the results showed me that my cortisol levels were very low throughout the day, which meant that I was always tired, and so I got my kick from caffeine. So why stop if I am that tired? Well, I have found that stopping caffeine has increased my energy, and I suspect that my cortisol and adrenaline levels may well be normalising as a result. Along with a good diet and some exercise, and I was eating well and exercising anyway, I have found that I am less tired, have lost 6lbs and am very pleased to find that I am sleeping better as a result too.  Not to mention saving almost £5 a day by not buying two grande skinny lattes from that well known coffee shop by my clinic.

For more information about ASI, call the nutrition clinic on 020 7792 6700 ( option 0 ) or book in to see one of lovely colleagues.

More soon

Fat Boys Slim success with The Food Doctor Plan

Fat Boys Slim has been a spectacular success. Neal, Tom, Tommy, Paul and Stephen have lost a staggering amount of weight, over 9 stone between them in just ten weeks. The Food Doctor plan is not just about weight loss, it promotes the best of health through nutrition and I am delighted that all of the group have reported increased energy, better sleep and overall improved health. I have really enjoyed working with the guys and am very pleased that they joined me on the last Richard and Judy on Channel 4.

The Food Doctor offers two ways to share in this phenomenal success and change the way you eat for good!

• Firstly I have devised the Personal Nutrition Plan. The plan gives you the tools to lose weight, improve your health and general well being, all with the added convenience of accessing the service online at any time.  You obtain your personal Food Doctor plan by filling in a specially devised detailed questionnaire about yourself. Based on many cumulative years of experience in our Clinical Practice successfully helping people lose weight, improve energy and generally feel better The Food Doctor Personal Nutrition Plan is an effective great value online service that gives you tailored advice that is based on your personal profile.

• The other option is to visit our London Clinic where you can consult with myself or one of our Nutrition Therapists. At the clinic, my team of nutritional therapists and I offer one-to-one nutrition consultations with people looking to address specific health concerns with a nutritional approach. It may be that you suffer from a specific condition such as bloating, IBS, PMS or eczema, or just want to be made more aware about how to eat well for maximum health and vitality.

More later, Ian

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!

Feeling fantastic and still losing weight

Paul Slaney

Lost 2 stone and 3 lbs in 10 weeks

A short time ago I was 17 stone and getting heavier and heavier, now I am 14stone 4 lbs and still losing weight.  I feel fantastic, my general health has improved significantly, my high blood pressure is now normal and I can sleep at night without snoring.

All of this is down to the fact that I have been following the Food Doctors plan for just 12 weeks as part of the Fat Boys Slim section on the Richard and Judy show.

I was so surprised at how easy this has been to achieve as well, the first week was tough but the results were fantastic and once you have survived that the rest is relatively easy, for someone like myself who’s job involves a lot of traveling often with several hours between appointments the most difficult thing was to remember to eat at the right time.

Like most men I knew more about how my car worked than my own body but thanks to Ian I actually understand what is going on within my body now in respect to how food is broken down, what the impact of eating certain foods has and armed with this information I feel confident that I will continue down this healthy road for years to come.

I lost 2 stone 5lbs in 10 weeks with The Food Doctor Plan

Hello I’m Neal Eckett,

I lost 2 stone 5lbs in 10 weeks.

The Food Doctor Plan has been a life changing experience for me.  I had tried diets in order to lose weight but they all ended with failure as I became bored and soon craved other food. My health and marriage were starting to suffer due to my excess weight.  The Food Doctor Plan showed me that I can eat normally, and by following just a few simple rules have had great success in not only losing the weight, but keeping it off. The plan is so simple to follow, its a “no-brainer”!  My life has now changed. I have more confidence, am a lot fitter, my life expectancy has increased and all the stress I had due to my weight is now gone.

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