Weight Loss - Achieve it and Keep It!: Your Personal Guide to a Firmer Body 8777760093, 9788777760099

Citation preview

Weight loss – achieve it and keep it! Your personal guide to a firmer body

By: Bjørn Falck Madsen & Carla Afonso

About The Authors With special interest in the relationship between diet and lifestyle, Bjorn Madsen is dedicated to writing articles, newsletters and books on topics of nutrition, weight management and disease prevention. Bjorn Madsen believes that healthy eating and regular physical exercise, is an essential strategy for health maintenance and prevention of eating disorders. He also recognizes that food supplements are important tools to achieve superior results. Bjorn Madsen writes for several Scandinavian and European magazines and websites. Carla Alexandra Afonso Gomes, was born on January 6th, 1975, in Porto, Portugal. She completed her degree in Nutritional Science, at the Food and Nutrition Sciences College, Porto University, in 1998. In 2000, she completed a Masters Degree in Public Health at the Faculty of Medicine, Porto University. She taught in several colleges, including the School of Education Polytechnic Institute of Porto (1998 - 2007) and the Jean Piaget Health School in Vila Nova de Gaia (2004 - 2005). Also taught Hygiene and Food Safety / Nutrition at the Hotel School in Porto between 1999 and 2005. Since 2005, she works as a Nutritionist in the General Direction of Prison Services, for the Ministry of Justice, where she is responsible for the areas of food / nutrition of the North Zone Prison. She also works in the area of clinical nutrition, in private practice. With contribution from Ruth McKenna a qualified Nutritional Therapist. Ruth is also chairperson of Nutritional Therapists of Ireland (NTOI).

All rights reserved. For licence health professional use only. Reproduction of all or part of this publication is prohibited except with the publishor’s permission. This prohibition applies in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or other. © 2010 Forlaget Ny Videnskab Printing: Digitalhuset, Vejle, Denmark ISBN 87-7776-009-3

How to Lose Weight...

Index This time you may lose weight�����������������������������������������������������������������5 Sedentary lifestyle������������������������������������������������������������������������������������11 Wrong eating habits��������������������������������������������������������������������������������11 Too much fat in what we eat������������������������������������������������������������������12 Too much sugar���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������13 Too much alcohol������������������������������������������������������������������������������������13 Life Quality Loss��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������15 Obesity is a huge burden to tax payers�������������������������������������������������18 Also a problem for employers����������������������������������������������������������������19 The “yoyo” effect��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������22 Friends and family’s support!�����������������������������������������������������������������26 Controlling your appetite�����������������������������������������������������������������������27 Desire and hunger are two different things������������������������������������������28 Fiber rich food provides satiety�������������������������������������������������������������28 Using fiber as a supplement�������������������������������������������������������������������32 Sugar cravings������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������33 What are they and how do you deal with them?���������������������������������33 Getting sugar to the cells������������������������������������������������������������������������33 What happens when you have Diabetes�����������������������������������������������34 Fats - neither all bad, neither all good��������������������������������������������������35 The bad fats����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������35 Healthy fats�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������37 Burning fat with…..fat?��������������������������������������������������������������������������38 Food with CLA:���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������39 Carnitine – fat mobilizing ���������������������������������������������������������������������39 Combining CLA and Green Tea������������������������������������������������������������39 Exercise is vital�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������41 Substances than can help the weight loss process�������������������������������46 Regulate your sleep���������������������������������������������������������������������������������47 Vitamins and Minerals���������������������������������������������������������������������������49 A necessary component in what we eat������������������������������������������������49 Healthy Eating Pyramid�������������������������������������������������������������������������53 Cooking your food����������������������������������������������������������������������������������55 Suggestions for your meals ��������������������������������������������������������������������57 Summary��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������61



How to Lose Weight...



How to Lose Weight...

Introduction This time you may lose weight Answer honestly – how much time do you spend in front of the mirror, getting all worked up over your figure? Too much flab here and there, annoying “love handles”, and a belly that hangs over the edge of your trousers – you know what we mean? How many times have you lost fat, only to discover that it all comes back again in the weeks that follow? Have you ever wondered if you are following the right strategy/approach? When it comes to loosing fat there is only one valid approach/one right way: consume fewer calories than those the body is able to process into energy. Indeed, if you want to lose weight, you actually need to burn more calories than you eat. This book will show you the way to accomplish the best results, teaching you how to lose weight and letting you in on the secrets to maintain your figure in the future. Do you intend to be on a diet for the rest of your life? It is not a matter of “keeping your mouth closed” and following very restricted diets, but of agreeably changing and adjusting daily habits that are intended to become permanent and that shall instill a new lifestyle. If you follow the advice in this book you will obtain results that will make you happy in the long run. Set realistic and achievable goals and feel good about fulfilling them. One final word: weighing one to five kilos too much may not be that problematic. According to the latest scientific studies, being slightly overweight could contribute to protect you against heart/cardiac diseases and certain types of cancer. Therefore, don’t be too hard on yourself. Good luck – enjoy the book.



How to Lose Weight...

What is the problem? Look around you… Do you see any overweight people? Unfortunately, yes. According to statistics , more than two-thirds of the population is either overweight or obese. This is a growing problem that, if it continues at the same rate, will certainly become a huge threat to the healthcare system. There are already very significant costs linked to the countless health problems and chronic diseases related with obesity. Medical expenses can rise up to double or triple the standard costs. A person who is 40% overweight is twice as likely to die prematurely than an average-weight person. The reason behind this reality lies in the fact that obesity sets the stage for several serious medical conditions, including: • Cardiac disease and stroke (cerebral vascular accident); • High blood pressure (hypertension); • Diabetes type II; • Cancer; • Gallbladder disease and gallstones; • Osteoarthritis; • Gout; • Breathing problems, such as Sleep Apnea and Asthma. It is generally agreed upon, that a person who is 20% overweight can gain significant health benefits from losing weight. Currently, our population is 4.7 million people, and like other European countries, social issues such as urbanization, modern lifestyles, as well as the improvement of the social conditions, have had a consequence on sedentary and bad alimentary routine habits. This lifestyle leads to the increase in obesity. We know through the publication of national scientific studies, that more than two-thirds of the Irish population is over-weight or obese. A recent study showed that more than half of the population between the age of 18 and 64 suffers from obesity, and that the risk of cardiovascular disease linked to the abdominal perimeter has also increased. Regarding children, the future is also not promising: it is foreseen that 20% (327,000) of children will have weight in excess/obesity. A study 

How to Lose Weight... conducted in 2002 demonstrated the significant and scary evolution of obesity in children. The study indicated that almost one in four boys (23%) and one in four girls (28%) were obese. Also, In Ireland the highest prevalence of being overweight and obesity were found in 11 (33%) and 8 (13%) year old girls respectively. As initially mentioned, there are modifiable factors that trigger obesity, such as bad alimentary habits and sedentary lifestyles, and non modifiable factors, such as the situation of a child being born already predisposed to becoming obese. In this case, although dealing with a non modifiable factor, one can and should always act through healthy lifestyles, to avoid reaching morbid obesity in the adult phase. For mothers, the best method to prevent obesity is to have a healthy weight before getting pregnant and try to maintain this, according to the standard stages in pregnancy , an adequate weight. If the mother is obese, the probability of the child being born with the propensity to become obese and consequently, develop overweight related diseases such as Diabetes is high. Thus, we are facing a problem of public health, regarding what the ideal situation is to act as soon as possible. This is the only possible way to eradicate this disease, Obesity.



How to Lose Weight...

What exactly does it mean being overweight? Currently, obesity is characterized as “excessive accumulation of adipose tissue as the result of excessive energetic ingestion in an individual, when compared with the amount of energy spent by its basal metabolism during the day”. Although being a simple definition, is not as simple to determine the adipose tissue. In this tissue, we find adiposities, cells with almost limitless fat storage capacity. Fat distributes itself through several parts of the body, but the one accumulated in the abdominal region, more properly in the visceral zone, is the most dangerous, as it is associated to cardiovascular risk. B

Picture 1: Distribution of body fat. When with the shape of an apple, android obesity; when in the shape of a pear ginoide obesity. a) Model in which the distribution of the body fat is normal; b) models with accumulation of body fat in the abdominal region. Source: A.D.A.M. 

A

How to Lose Weight... As shown in picture 1b), when the fat is located in the abdominal region, around the viscera, it is called android fat, similar to an apple shape. When the fat is concentrated on the hip, it is called gynoid obesity, similar to the shape of a pear (see picture 1). In women, the overnight initial phase, it is commonly a pear shape accumulation of fat that evolves, afterwards, it develops into a ie. apple shape. In 1995, the World Health Organization (WHO) defined obesity through the Body Mass Index calculator (BMI) that corresponds to the relationship between weight, in kilograms, and height, in meters. Currently, a person is considered to be overweight if their BMI is between 25 and 29.9. In this line, obesity is defined by a BMI≥30 kg/m2 and it can be classified in three categories: • Level 1: 30 – 34.9 kg/m2 • Level 2: 35 – 39.9 kg/m2 • Level 3: ≥ 40 kg/m2

Calculate your BMI Ex: Weight = 76 kg Height = 1.62 m 76 BMI = 1.62 × 1.62 = 28.9 = Overweight

However, the BMI does not determine the quantity of corporal fat. One of the oldest and most accurate methods consists in measuring the adipose folds, with an instrument called adipometer. Yet, this method is still very dependent on the level of practice of the person that uses it. These adipose folds measure adipocytes, the cells that essentially store fat. One can also measure the abdominal perimeter. However, the equipment that allows to more quickly determine the body fat, muscle, the cellular mass, amongst others, is the tetra polar or segmental bioimpedance. This method, of easy determination, is also non invasive and it is painless. It is, without a doubt, an excellent diagnosis method when compared with the BMI. Indeed, when you use a scale, what do you 

How to Lose Weight... see reflected in it? And what weighs more, the body fat or the muscle? We cannot ignore that the muscular mass is denser than the body fat. As we know, fat floats when added to water. Thus, fat is less dense, less heavy. And here lie the limits of the BMI: an individual with plenty of muscular mass can weigh the same as an individual with plenty of body fat, but it cannot be called overweight. For this reason, the results in plain weight terms can lead us into error. Further ahead we will come back to this issue – how people are eluded when quickly losing weight, as they barely ever lose body fat; on the contrary, they end up losing muscle instead. As the loss of muscle is easily reflected in the scale, people think that they are on the right track. Soon after, they realize that they took the wrong path.

Regular exercise is an important part of weight managment. It also helps to maintain motivation. 10

How to Lose Weight...

Why are so many of us overweight? Sedentary lifestyle Human beings are not designed to sit on an office chair for eight hours every day, staring at a computer screen. Nonetheless, that is what a lot of us do. We have sedentary office jobs that do little to burn any calories. Those of us who can clearly see the other side of the coin try to compensate this by regularly exercising, by going to gyms and fitness clubs, or by jogging early in the morning, in the evening or at the weekends, just to make the body sweat a little. A scarily large number of people, however, do not practice any kind of physical exercise. Apart from burning calories from being active, a significant majority of people do not stimulate their muscle tissue in any way. When consulting the Eurobarometer, one can also be clear regarding habits from physical exercise as well as how the population feels about its benefits. In Ireland, according to the VHI Healthcheck survey 2007, 28% of adults say they exercise everyday while 21% claim to exercise once a week. These results indicate the low percentage of people that did not practise any form of physical activity. In Slovakia, the average person does 168.7 minutes of physical activity per day. The most preoccupying is when people are questioned about the importance of physical exercise in losing weight and the answers reflect an almost complete ignorance of its benefits. Surely one has already heard statements such as ”physical exercise is not good for the heart, I can die if I exercise excessively…”. Sentences like these ones reveal lack of information /training.

Wrong eating habits The new eating habits also contribute to the population´s weight increase: completely unbalanced eating habits, which ignores meal hours, occupying them with work and other tasks; eating out, due to the current lifestyles; and lack of care when selecting the food you’re about to eat. To help, the Food Industry developed new processed products with high caloric content and increased not only the doses but also the quantities of the packs. 11

How to Lose Weight... In Ireland, a documentary on RTE television was aired on the 8th May 2011 called “What’s Ireland Eating?” The programme provided an insight into the eating habits of Irish consumers and the results where outstanding. Did you know that 43% of the Irish weekly household budget is spent on high processed foods? Also, we Irish eat more ready to eat (high sugar content) breakfast cereals than any other nation and each week 1.7 litres of carbonated drinks per consumer are purchased. It is shocking in comparison to the foods we ate ten years ago, that is we only eat 1/3 of the foods we ate back then. 90% of chicken used in sandwhich bars, restaurants, fast food chains are imported as it costs 20% cheaper. Thus, if we consider the fact that many inactive people consume an amount of calories that easily equals the ones necessary to a field worker, it will be easy to understand what that means: the calories that should have been transformed into energy simply end up being stored as fat. The problem is worsened by the fact that we eat not merely to survive but also for social reasons – we eat to socialize with others. We also eat when we feel bored, or when we want to comfort ourselves. In the end, the consumption of all these unnecessary calories contributes to the overall problem of obesity. “We are what we eat”. We cannot ignore that all kinds of food have a calories source (the only exception is water) and that we need calories, but we ingest too many throughout our sedentary day. Still, there are people that do the enormous mistake of working all day long, without eating and then eat, eat, eat... Ironically, although we have plenty of food in our part of the world, we have a problem with malnutrition. Normally, malnutrition is associated with famine but the term also includes lack of essential nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids. The typical Western diet is packed with calories but according to many experts, the nutritional value is inadequate.

Too much fat in what we eat

The moment you take in more calories than you convert metabolically in your cells you start to gain weight. One of the really big prob12

How to Lose Weight... lems with the Western diet is that it contains too much fat. However, the body does need a certain amount of fat, as it provides a protective cushioning for our vital organs. In addition, we need fat for keeping warm and to guarantee the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K) throughout the body. The problem is that Western diets generally contain far more fat than the amount the body usually needs. It is not only the amount of fat that poses a problem. The type of fat usually ingested is also problematic. For instance, consuming healthy fats (omega-3 from fish and monounsaturated fats like in olives and avocados) is generally beneficial; whereas saturated fat (animal fat) and particularly trans-fatty acids are known to cause a problem as they increase the risk of diseases, namely cardiovascular diseases. The scariest part is that a lot of fat is cleverly concealed in the food. You often see fat-frightened individuals diligently cutting away the fat-rim from their meat, just because the fat sits there and is visible to their eyes. However, the amount of fat in those small rims usually is close to nothing when compared with the all the fat concealed in crisps, cookies, pizzas, etc.

Too much sugar We also consume far too much sugar. Again, it is not just the sugar we sprinkle on our cornflakes or stir into our coffee. The problem lays in all the sugar that is added to our food without our knowledge. Unless we carefully read each and every nutrition label, we risk consuming large amounts of sugar without having the foggiest notion. Light yogurts are a good example, as well as sweets, cakes, juices and soft-drinks. A person who is physically active - for instance a top-notch athlete - will not have problems burning off the caloric content of a sugar-rich diet. But someone with a sedentary lifestyle will most certainly be in for a big surprise sugar is converted into fat when the body does not metabolize it.

Too much alcohol Alcohol is a source of empty calories. This is the same as to say that, for each alcohol gram we ingest 7 kcal. And what is its added value, 13

How to Lose Weight... besides the effect of losing inhibition? Some consider wine an antioxidant source. Yes, that is true. But we can also ingest antioxidants through fruit, fruit juices or vegetables. But for those who need to lose weight, alcohol is the first nutrient to be eliminated from a diet plan. Yes, indeed, we live in a country where wine is easily accessible and it is not easy to keep away from it. But first we should lose weight and after, learn how to appreciate it. Men should not exceed a daily consumption of 240ml of wine. As for women, the daily ingestion should be limited to 120ml.

Although it is sometimes considered a healthy drink, wine contains alcohol, which makes it fattening. Eating grapes is the best way to improve your health. 14

How to Lose Weight...

Obesity Consequences Life Quality Loss It is equally important not to forget that obesity also means an enormous cost in personal terms: the loss of quality of life affects the obese. Waking up every morning with the notion that people may be staring at you, that you will get exhausted from climbing the stairs, and that your health is in rapid decline, is not exactly the ideal way to start your day. From a physical point of view, obesity is related to the decrease of the functional capacities, such as hypertension, walking 200 meters, picking up objects from the ground, tying up shoes, climbing up the stairs, lifting a chair or getting out of bed. It is equally associated to the increase of some diseases such as arterial hypertension, diabetes, articular diseases, cancer and sleep apnea, as well as the increase in pain levels, mortality and morbidity. At a psychological level, and due to the changes in terms of the body image, obesity can have consequences that devalue image and selfesteem. And these can cause depressive or anxiety symptoms, leading to a decrease of our well-being and to an increase of the individual´s social inadequacy. The current existing social pressure for the “ideal”, thin, firm, invigorated and slender body leads to isolation and distance from social activities; thus creating relational social, professional and family difficulties. These are the main consequences of being obese, that we will now explain in more detail.

Why obesity triggers other diseases? You may ask yourself why being overweight sets the stage for so many different health problems. This is a pertinent question. Being overweight is not just a cosmetic problem. It is a huge burden for the human body, both physically and biochemically.

15

How to Lose Weight... How is obesity connected with osteoarthritis? Imagine a person that is around 15-20 kilos overweight, and the extra weight they have to carry with them every single day. Carrying that load adds pressure to the weight-bearing joints (knees, hips, lower back and ankles) and wears away the cartilage (tissue that cushions the joints) that normally protects them. Losing weight can decrease the stress on the knees, hips and lower back and may even improve osteoarthritis symptoms.

How is obesity connected with heart disease? Cardiac or heart disease and cerebral vascular accidents or strokes are some of the leading causes of death and disability in Western European countries. When compared to people who are not overweight, obese people face twice the risk of developing high blood pressure, an important risk factor for cardiac disease and strokes. Very high blood levels of cholesterol (typically associated to being overweight) can also lead to heart problems. Being overweight also contributes to angina (chest pain caused by a decrease of oxygen in the heart) and sudden death from cardiac disease or stroke, without being preceeded of any signs or symptoms. Nevertheless, by reducing your weight by 10% you can also lower your risk of developing cardiac disease.

How is obesity linked to diabetes? Type-2 diabetes impairs your body’s ability to control its blood sugar levels (glycaemia). Type-2 diabetes also increases the risk of premature death, stroke, kidney problems and blindness. When compared with people with normal weight, overweight people face twice as much risk of developing type-2 diabetes. Losing weight and exercising more are two good ways of reducing that risk. For someone who has type-2 diabetes, losing weight and increasing the amount of physical activity can contribute to an improvement of the blood sugar control. In fact, the increase of physical activity could even help to reduce the need for diabetes medication.

How is obesity linked to cancer? There are many different types of cancer that have been linked with being overweight. In women, these include cancer of the uterus, colon, 16

How to Lose Weight... breast, ovary, cervix and gallbladder, whereas overweight men seem to face an increased risk of developing colorectal and prostate cancer. The underlying mechanism has not been properly identified yet.

How Is Obesity Linked to Sleep Apnea? Sleep apnea is a serious breathing condition, typically associated with being overweight. Sleep apnea can cause a person to snore heavily and to stop breathing for short periods during sleep. Sleep apnea may also cause daytime sleepiness and even heart failure. The risk of sleep apnea increases as body weight increases. Weight loss usually improves sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is a respiratory disease typically associated with being overweight and it is a health threat. 17

How to Lose Weight...

The Obesity Costs Obesity is a huge burden to tax payers In relation to obesity there is an increase in the time patients have to spend in hospitals or medical facilities as well as the inherent costs. Obesity, and the linked health problems, are bound to place a huge burden on tax payers in the future. As taxpayers are not an inexhaustible source of financing, new strategies will have to be delineated in order to avoid the situation becoming uncontrollable. There are countless qualified estimates out there on how obesity will affect Western economies in the future, but still it is difficult to make exact predictions. Even though figures may vary slightly from one European country to another, a glance at some figures from Great Britain gives a rather clear picture of how serious the problem is and is expected to become in the near future:

18

How to Lose Weight...

• In 2005, 21% of English adults were classified as “obese”. By 2010, 33% of men and 28% of women in England fit into to this category; • 58% of type-2 diabetes cases and 21% of heart diseases cases are related to an excessive amount of body fat; • On average, obesity reduces life expectancy by nine years; • Obesity costs the British National Health Service (NHS) an estimated one billion pounds a year, in 2005. In Ireland, more than 6 out of 10 people are obese and treating obesity related diseases costs the government approximately 4 billion Euros yearly however, at present these statistics are currently being reviewed by the HSE (Health Service Executive) and a new study will be published in 2012.

Also a problem for employers It is not just the public health care systems that will have to manage the enormous financial challenge posed by the increase of obesity. Private employers will also feel the pinch, as obese people miss work more often. According to Forbes , the absence of obese employees in the United States represents something around 4 billion US Dollars annually in lost productivity.

19

How to Lose Weight...

Why do most diets fail? Many diets fail because they are too radical, rigorous, severe and boring. Anxiety increases due to the efforts and sacrifices made. The results are expected in just a few weeks and sometimes simply do not appear, or, when they start to show up, people are so fed up, that they give up. It is extremely difficult to adapt a radical diet to our daily life. The ideal is to do exactly the opposite - adapt a diet plan of our daily routine. Generally, people have a diet very rich in simple carbohydrates, with no lipids and inadequate proteins, making the sugar levels in the blood increase, and as our body does not tolerate high sugar contents in the blood, these have to be “expelled” to the cells quickly. The result is that very soon we will feel hungry again. On the other hand, when diets are rich in animal proteins, they are unavoidably associated to animal fat. Thus, soon they will provoke dyslipidemias (cholesterol and triglycerides in excess), hunger (due to the absence of fiber) and renal overload, that can cause long term renal dysfunctions. Most countries that study ways to prevent obesity, like France, Spain, Finland, Australia, Canada and the USA, agree when they decide that the priority in these cases falls first in correcting the bad eating habits and, almost simultaneously, in the implementation of a regular practice of physical exercise. The USA also state that, in third place, a psychological accompaniment is essential to assist the patient to overcome the daily barriers and to feed in the motivation needed to reach the desired goals. Surgery comes last in the list of priorities; only after all the other resources have been exhausted and after being implemented a year of monthly accompaniment by one multidisciplinary team (doctor, nutritionist / dietician, psychologist and physiologist of physical exercise), obviously oriented and specialized in weight control.

20

How to Lose Weight...

What happens when we lose weight? Weight loss, when well planned, is slow, but effective. If we took a long time accumulating fat, it is only natural that it will also take some time to lose it. Do not believe in miracles, be patient and start the sooner the better to change your eating habits. It is important to control your weight, not only with a scale, but also through monitoring the body fat, the muscular mass and the water percentage. When the routine is settled, then you will really start to lose body fat! But be aware: it is very important not to lose muscle and not to enter into a malnutrition condition. During the first three months the weight loss is faster. Then, one reaches a phase in which the weight stays the same. You should not be discouraged. Be patient and persistent. It is not worth giving up or to drastically reduce meals to lower than1200 Kcal/day. This will only lead to, in the future, unconscious and non-regular meal times, quantities and types of food. Weight control should be done on a weekly or fortnightly basis, but never daily. If you have a scale at home, hide it or send it for a long vacation

The scale can be deceiving because the muscle mass weighs more than fat mass. Use the measuring tape instead. Having a body with more muscle mass and less fat is the most important way to keep in shape. 21

How to Lose Weight... to a friend or family’s house. If you keep the scale nearby, anxiety will be so that you will not manage to lose weight. When we start a well structured weight loss program, we should lose one pound a week, on average, meaning 4lb per month. Slow, but effective! Do not forget that there are many routine changes to implement, and that this takes some time. Always distrust when you are being tempted to lose weight in a fast way, because you will hardly lose body fat, but most certainly muscle and water.

Restrictive diets lead to the “yo-yo” effect where the lost weight is regained again.

The “yo-yo” effect One of the most frustrating things about dieting is when you gain all that weight you had managed to lose. You struggle to get rid of those extra pounds and when you finally make it, your weight bounces right back to where it used to be in a matter of weeks and months. This continuous process of moving up and down the weight scale is known as the “yo-yo effect” and can be extremely discouraging. The underlying cause of the “yo-yo effect” relays in the fact that when you lose weight by dieting, you lose fat and muscle. Losing fat is positive, but losing muscle is not. As opposed to fat cells, muscle cells are highly effective fat burning units, metabolizing it, and successfully converting it into energy. Fat cells, on the other hand, tend to soak up fat and grow in size. Imagine the following scenario: you follow and watch your diet rigorously for a few months, and you actually lose weight. Your clothes fit you much better because there is less of you, altogether. You feel great about having lost weight – and gone done in size – so you slowly begin to eat a normal diet again and that is when you run into trouble. You 22

How to Lose Weight... lost a substantial amount of muscle. With less muscle mass to metabolize calories, these start to pile up. Instead of fat being processed into energy, fat is stored as fat tissue. The important thing to do, when trying to lose weight, is to make sure you lose fat – not muscle. The best way of avoiding all of these difficulties, and as in everything in life, is to prevent. Preventing obesity is very simple. The more precocious its implementation, smaller the costs and faster life quality improvement starts. Prevention means the regular practice of physical exercise and changing eating habits, in other words, adopting a healthy lifestyle. The program WEIGHT, developed and presented by the Portuguese Human Motion’s Faculty proved that physical exercise and eating education are effective in weight loss. In this study, 140 women in a pre-menopause phase lost 6lb effortlessly after 3 months, on average. They did not follow “crazy” and excessively rigorous diets: they had 15 sessions of 120 minutes each on eating education (food and eating behaviours), exercises and physical and psychological activity (modify behaviours and motivation). Some managed to lose 40lbs.

23

How to Lose Weight...

How to lose weight the proper way The worst thing you can do, if you want to lose weight permanently, is to go on a drastic diet (crash diet), depriving yourself and your body of everything. The sudden and very drastic reduction in your calorie consumption may be a highly efficient way to shrink your body, but it also means altering your metabolism in a highly unfavourable way, that causes you to fail in the long run (see the chapter on the “yo-yo effect”). What makes crash diets so useless is that you cannot stick to them in the long run. You are much better off choosing a weight loss strategy which allows you to adapt to it permanently and introduce it as part of your new lifestyle. When you decide you want to lose weight, there are some aspects to bear in mind:

1 – WEIGHT: • You should settle for a realistic weight: surely you will reach it, but never try to accelerate the process; do not wish for a weight loss of anymore than 10% of your current weight; • It is possible to lose weight and to keep it.

24

How to Lose Weight...

2 – EATING: • It is not necessary to go into very strict diets to lose weight; you lose weight eating; • Opt for food that you like and eat it always at the same hours. Do not have breaks between meals longer than 3 hours (annex I); • A vegetable soup or a small salad with vegetables and fruit are the best options before starting the main dish; • Do not forget to drink at least 2 litres of water per day.

3 – PHYSICAL EXERCISE: • You can start with 30 minutes, consecutive or fractioned, per day; • 10.000 steps a day is a good start; use a pedometer to monitor your walks.

4 – PLAN and REGISTER: • Plan what you eat, do shopping lists and do not go to the supermarket with an empty stomach because you will risk buying highly caloric food; • Plan your week and chose the modality and the time you will spend exercising; • Make a daily register of all the activities that you will develop on behalf of your weight loss (annex III).

5 – BE PATIENT.

25

How to Lose Weight... Friends and family’s support! Ask for your family and friends’ support, explain to them how much it is important for you to reach this goal of weight loss and how much they are important in this process. Mostly before social events or festival occasions, talk first about the many possible options to choose for the main course, starter and snacks(example fruit). And when the results start to show up, celebrate alone or with those who helped you. But do not forget to reward yourself for all the work invested in the weight loss process. New clothes, going to the hairdresser, a massage, a glass of wine over dinner, are good examples of some treats! Never offer yourself, or let others offer you, sweets or highly caloric food.

Dieting is not easy, so it is essential to have family and friends support. 26

How to Lose Weight... Controlling your appetite When you are hungry you eat. What could be more natural? The important question is: how often do you feel hungry, and how much do you eat? Ideally, you should feel pleased with three complete meals per day – breakfast, lunch and dinner. However, eating snacks between mealtimes is a good rule if you want to control the huge appetite that you usually feel during the main meals. Yet, you should be careful with the kind of food you eat. Choose low sugar and low butter foods. This is the same as saying that you should not consume more calories per day, because if you do so, you risk adding meals and not reducing the ones you already do. The goal is to do small meals throughout the day, in order to eat less during the main meals and to better control the quality and quantity of your eating day. This is an essential aspect for successfull weight loss. When we initiate a diet plan, we should never feel hungry, otherwise failure is certain. Weight loss, we remember it once more, should be slow and it is fundamental to “lose weight eating”. If you feel hungry, then it is because something is not right or you are having breaks between main meals for longer than 3 hours. Both situations are frequent. Regulating and respecting meal hours is the most difficult, but it is an essential step. Eating very little is also common. When a nutritionist or dietician prescribes a healthy eating plan to aid in weight loss, the first comment is: “So much food!!! If I eat so little and am fat, than if I eat all this I will get fatter! I’m not going to make it, I have to cut down on the food”. This reaction is frequent. What happens is that the caloric density, in other words, the caloric value of the food prescribed by the nutritionist is low. Thus, you can eat several times a day, but with low caloric values. Consult the attached annex I, where you will find two examples of diet plans: a correct one and a wrong one.

27

How to Lose Weight... Desire and hunger are two different things If you have ever tried doing without solid food for two or three days, you will know what real hunger is. It is very painful and uncomfortable. Don’t make the mistake of confusing hunger with the desire for food you may feel a few hours after you had lunch. It is always a good idea to ask yourself if you really need to eat. Surprisingly, more often than not, you will be able to give a negative answer. When eating becomes a habit (something you do just to kill time or as an addiction), it is time for a change. Don’t wait until you feel more motivated – change your habits NOW.

Fiber rich food provides satiety Your stomach has a built-in “memory”. Once it gets used to a certain quantity of food, it doesn’t give you peace until you reach that level. The more food you fill into it, the more your stomach expands, and to be honest, there is absolutely no reason to eat more than you need to cover your body’s nutrients’ needs. One way of preventing overeating is to make sure that your diet includes enough quantities of fiber, by eating vegetables, whole-grain bread and other fiber-rich foods. Fiber has a “sponge effect”. It soaks up liquid and expands, just like when you put a sponge in the water. When the

Make sure to eat enough food rich in fiber. Foods with fiber contribute to fullness leading to the ingestion of less food. 28

How to Lose Weight...

fiber expands, it gives you a feeling of satiety which makes it considerably easier for you to get along on less food. No doubt fiber can be found in food of vegetable origin. But some of these lose it because they go through refining processes or cooking and freezing methods that eliminate it. So, non refined food is the one with larger quantities of fiber: seeds, brown cereals, brown rice, brown bread, brown pasta, grains, fruit and vegetables (see table nº1). But be alert: do not mistake brown cereals by breakfast cereals. Breakfast cereals are usually highly processed, losing its fiber content and with high levels of sugar. The same goes for the so called integral or dietary crackers and toasts. Check fiber quantities in the cereals labels (100g per food). These ought to have at least 10 g, but the more the better, as a higher amount will leave you with a feeling of satiety. Regarding bread, the darker with more seeds, the better. White bread is made with highly refined flours, practically without fiber. Along this line, when you need to have a snack, choose these kinds of food and fruits. Do not forget to ingest at least 3 pieces of fruit every day, and the wider the variety you eat, the better. One of the reasons why you should never stop ingesting rice, pasta, bread, beans, grains or lentils in the main dish is that all these ingredients promote satiety. And if you choose rice, spaghetti or other brown pastas, you not only vary in what you eat, but you supply more benefits to your weight loss plan. If in the main meals you choose to eat only fish and vegetables, you’ll be hungry very quickly and will only make you want to eat something highly caloric.

29

How to Lose Weight... Fresh Beans

Cereals Rice

Broad beans French beans

white, raw

2.1

boiled, frozen

7.3

white, boiled

0.8

raw, fresh

4.7

brown

3.8

boiled, fresh

4.8

raw

6.1

raw

2.9

boiled

5.8

starch

0.1

raw

3

boiled

3

Beans Peas

Corn

Flour Flour

type 70

7

Rye

type 85

11.7

Wheat

type 55

2.9

Corn

type 70

2.6

type 150

3.7

brown

8.6

raw

5.1

boiled

1.5

rye

5.8

dried

15

raw

5.1

Broad beans

dried

27.6

raw

5

White beans

dried

22.9

raw

6.7

dried

9.4

raw

4.7

Chickpea

dried

13.5

raw

5.1

brown rye

7.1

Lentils

dried

11.8

corn

3.7

raw

4.4

cheat

3.8

dried

14.3

brown wheat

7.4

raw

5.6

brown wheat seeds

8.2

flour

13.5

brown wheat soya

8.6

Tofu

simple

0.3

brown wheat raisins

9.1

Lupine

boiled

4.8

Milk

2.5

raw

1.6

boiled

1.6

Basking beans

Soya

Biscuits Cereals, toasts, cookies

1.8 variable

Pasta

Bread

Potatoes mashed

Table 1: Fiber content per 100g of food (Source: Food composition table – INSA)

30

1.4

How to Lose Weight... Vegetables

Fresh fruit Avocado

Pumpkin

raw

0.7

Watercress

raw

3

Celery

raw

2

Artichoke

raw

3

Plum

1.6 dried

Pineapple

15.6 1.2

5

2.4

boiled

5.6

Banana

3.1

Lettuce

raw

1.3

Fig

2.3

Garlic

raw

3

powder

10

Raspberry

6.7

Leek

raw

2.4

Kiwi

1.9

Aubergine

raw

2.5

Orange

1.8

Broccoli

raw

2.6

Apple

2.1

Carrots

raw

2.6

boiled

3

11

dried Mango

9.5 2.9

Mushrooms

raw

Courgette

raw

1

Brussels sprouts

raw

3.8

boiled

2.6

raw

1.9

Papaya

2.3

boiled

1.8

Pear

2.2

raw

3.1

Peach

2.3

boiled

2.9

raw

1.5

boiled

1.2

Spinach

raw

2.6

Almond

12

Sprouts

raw

0.1

Peanuts

8.8

Turnip

raw

2

Hazelnut

6.1

Cucumber

raw

0.7

Sweet pepper

raw

2

Cauliflower Savoy cabbage Asparagus

2.9

6 Melon

0.9

Strawberry

0.9 2.1

7.8 Grape

0.8 raisin

Olives Cashew

6.1

4 raw

6.1

dried

11.3

shredded

21.1

grilled

2.8

Parsley

raw

2.9

Coconut

Tomato

raw

1.3

Nut

5.2

boiled

0.9

Pistachio

8.5

31

How to Lose Weight... Using fiber as a supplement Sometimes we go through moments of anxiety in our life and we cannot stop eating. It feels like we are always hungry. Or because we are in a less stable period at a professional level, or because we are in an exams period or still anxious to see something accomplished. If, for some reason, you find it a bit difficult to get sufficient amounts of fibre through your daily diet, there is always the option of using fiber supplements. You should look for the supplements that provide all the different types of dietary fiber: insoluble (cellulose and lignin), soluble (pectin) and hemi-cellulose. Some fibers are soluble and dissolve in water, while others are insoluble. The insoluble fiber types (like lignin and cellulose) serve as bulk, effectively aiding the passage of food through your digestive system. Their effect is somewhat of a mechanical nature. They are also adequate for obsipation (constipation) and should always come along with the consumption of plenty of water; otherwise the risk is of increasing obstipation even more. On the other hand, soluble fibers are viscose, a characteristic that allows them to adhere to cholesterol, avoiding this from being absorbed, thus decreasing its levels in the sanguine circulation.

32

How to Lose Weight...

Sugar cravings What are they and how do you deal with them? Sugar is a natural part of your diet. There are many different types of sugar, the most commonly known being: fructose (fruit sugar), lactose (milk sugar), maltose (malt sugar), dextrose (glucose) and, of course, sucrose (regular sugar). In addition, there are quite a few sugar products that are used as artificial sweeteners. Don’t forget that honey, cane syrup or inverted sugars are also ways of ingesting less sugar. Our diet provides sugar types that are an inherent part of the food, like fructose in fruit and lactose in milk. We also use refined sugar, adding it to foods. This is done either by the manufacturers or by ourselves when we cook our meals or simply sprinkle sugar on our cornflakes. Sugar is a good energy source. It has, however, a drawback: sugar that is not converted into energy, gets stored as fat in the cells.

Getting sugar to the cells Glucose is the body’s main energy source. It is derived from the food we eat. It is highly important to keep our glucose levels within a healthy range, as too much or too little can affect your health over time. Right after you eat something, your digestion breaks down your food into glucose and other nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, proteins, etc. These nutrients are carried through your blood to

33

How to Lose Weight... the cells. As soon as the glucose levels in your blood rise, your pancreas receives a signal to release insulin, a hormone that binds with your cells to allow glucose to enter the cell. Once glucose is inside the cell, it gets converted into energy or is stored for future use. Once glucose has been effectively removed from your bloodstream and returns to the levels you had before eating, your pancreas slows down its insulin production. In healthy people, this up and down regulation of insulin works without problems.

What happens when you have Diabetes In situations of people with diabetes, this normal functioning does not exist. If you are a diabetic type-1, your body is unable to produce insulin. Another type of diabetes, type-2, is a condition that one acquires during life, in many cases as a result of an improper diet. Type-2 diabetes is when your body fails to respond in an adequate way to the insulin your pancreas produces. Type-2 diabetes is also referred to as insulin resistance. Eating a healthy diet is an important key to maintaining healthy blood glucose levels. Unfortunately, the typical Western diet contains a large variety of refined and processed foods that are simply loaded with “simple carbohydrates” that are rapidly absorbed by the bloodstream. This triggers an overproduction of insulin which, over time, can cause the body to become resistant to its own insulin. As a result of this, glucose piles up in the bloodstream. If you don’t change your dietary habits, the accumulation of insulin and glucose in the bloodstream may lead to hypertension, heart disease and type-2 diabetes.

Fatigue and irritability are typical signs of chromium deficiency. 34

How to Lose Weight...

Fats – neither all bad, neither all good The bad fats Most animal origin products not only are very high in fat, but the saturated fat acids and cholesterol are also responsible for cardiovascular diseases. As it stands out, we cannot eliminate them because they also are sources of complete proteins, that is, they have amino acids that cannot be found in products of vegetable origin. They also have exclusive animal origin vitamins, like vitamin B12. Currently, we know that the lack of this vitamin implies a change in the homocysteine metabolism, a risk factor when it comes to developing cardiovascular diseases. This way, all we can do is to ingest dairy products with fat reduction, milk, semi-skimmed yogurt and skimmed cheeses (all the cheeses with fat content lower than 25%). As for the meats, all the fat and skins should be removed before cooking.

35

Advertisement

Lose weight – not magnesium! If you limit your food intake for the sake of losing weight, you may be getting far too little of vital nutrients like magnesium. Many women lack magnesium to begin with and dieting can make it worse.

Don’t get caught short on magnesium – you really need it! Magnesium is an essential but often overlooked dietary mineral. It plays a vital role in many of the body’s functions and is used to: • • • • •

maintain the electrolyte balance ensure normal transmission of nerve signals regulate muscle contractions, including the heart muscle help maintain healthy bone and teeth reduce tiredness and fatigue

Magnesium Pharma Nord contains 200 mg of magnesium with excellent absorption in the body.

+ Available in pharmacies and health food stores! The Pharma Nord range is based on scientific research!

Visit us at www.pharmanord.ie

Tel: 01 630 5470 • Fax: 01 630 5475 Email: [email protected]

How to Lose Weight... Avoid having at home-butter, lard, margarine and creams, as well as light butter. “Light” products are highly processed and with lots of alimentary additives, so as to obtain a stable emulsion. It is thought that the excess of alimentary additives influence the development of cellulite. Just opt for olive oil to cook and use it in a moderate manner. Do not forget that, although olive oil is a source of beneficial fats and vitamin E, it also is the most caloric food. Do not ignore the processed products, starting with the so told “dietary” crackers, which are high in fat. Whenever you have to choose something to eat, check the list of ingredients, to know which the predominant ones are, as these always come in a decreasing order of quantity. After, consult the nutritional file, and check if the lipids (fats) do not represent more than 10 g (100 g per food); in case they are, do not take it.

Healthy fats “I want to get rid of all that flab, so fat is my enemy”. Right? Wrong! Fat is an essential part of life. What you must realise is that there are healthy fats and unhealthy fats. Steer clear of trans-fats from baking goods and deep-fried food. Limit your intake of saturated fats - animal protein (but remove the fat rim from your steak) - and increase your consumption of mono-unsaturated fats from things like olives, avocados and nuts and, more important, the beneficial omega-3 fats from fish (especially fatty fish like salmon, herring and mackerel). Fat is an important energy source. Your cell membranes depend on a certain amount of fat in order to function properly. As your brain is also dependent on fat, you cannot completely turn your back on fat and without risking negative effects. Sure, your figure will improve, but in the long run this option will make your body suffer. What you must do is to find the right balance between your body needs and your good fat intake. Limit your intake of less healthy fats and increase your intake of those fats that are known to benefit you. That way you will not only do your health a huge favour but, at the same time you will be working to improve your figure. Many young girls who are obsessed with their figures develop a “fat phobia” and deliberately avoid ALL fats from their diets. That strategy creates problems in the long run because the body will literally break down due to too little fat to undertake important biological functions.

37

How to Lose Weight... If you cut out all fat from your diet and work out excessively at the same time in order to become as slim and slender as possible, you will only create a new problem.

Burning fat with…..fat? Believe it or not, there is a type of fat that can actually help you burn – or metabolize – fat. It is called Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA), an omega 6 fatty acid, found naturally in milk, meat and dairy products. Conjugated linoleic acid is formed in the rumen of grazing cattle: the linoleic acid (LA) from grass is converted enzymatically into CLA in the digestive system. Studies have shown that CLA has numerous health benefits, one of them being to increase the body’s fat oxidation. CLA works by blocking the uptake of dietary fat in the body’s fat cells, thereby preventing the fat cells from increasing in size. The fat that ordinarily would have been deposited as fat tissue is instead carried to the muscle cells. Here, the fat gets converted into energy through an oxidative process (fat metabolism). Several years ago, Norwegian scientists demonstrated that CLA, when given in capsules as a supplement, was able to reduce the amount of body fat in overweight people by as much as 9%, regardless of how much they exercised. A recent study conducted by American scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison even showed that people who take CLA supplements burn about 14% more fat while they sleep when compared with those who take identical capsules, but with an inactive substance.

38

How to Lose Weight... Food with CLA: Fat dairy products (milk and cheese) and meats (lamb, goat and cow) produced in pasturing, are where we can find larger contents of CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid). However, these are high in fat, and not only contribute to an increase in calories, as well as, if consumed in large quantities on a daily basis they become harmful for our health. As an example, studies indicated that 100 g of beef contain 90 mg of CLA, to ensure a daily intake of 4g of CLA (dose studied with a therapeutic effect). It would be necessary to ingest ± 4.5 kg of meat/day. Thus, it is foreseen that the most certain form of ingesting this substance will be through supplements only with CLA and not with a mixture of other fats.

Carnitine – fat mobilizing Carnitine is a composite synthesized from the lysin and metionina aminoacids. Beef is the biggest carnitine source. Carnitine’s fundamental role consists in transporting the citosol longchained fatty acids to the mitocondria’s interior (cells powerhouses), where they will be used for energy production (ATP). A deficit in carnitine leads to the inability of degrading the fat acids, thus keeping high levels of fat in the body.

Combining CLA and Green Tea Green tea, dry leaves of the camelli sinensis plant, besides its antioxidant protection capacities due to the catechins, it also impels the body to burn fat due to its caffeine content, stimulating energy burning. The combination of CLA and Green Tea can be very useful to people who need to lose body fat and to better define its silhouette. This effect was demonstrated by scientific studies that show that fats metabolism can be increased up to 12%, when associated with green tea. The interaction of these two elements provides better results, but it is only complete with a healthy diet plan and with the regular practice of physical exercise. However, green tea can cause insomnia and it is not advisable for patients who suffer from hypertension, hyperthyroidism as well as patients with irregular arterial pressure.

39

Advertisement

Fat burning around the clock The unique concept for staying firm and fit 24 hours a day

There are no easy solutions when it comes to managing your weight, but scientists have discovered a new way to help you with the process.

Day action: a tablet that supports your energy levels – allowing you to be more active and thereby burn more calories.

CLA 24/7 Pharma Nord is based on the latest research and works around the clock by reducing body fat and increasing firmness – when and where you need it!

Night action: a capsule that supports increased fat burning – even while you sleep.

Documented fat burning

24H

day and night

+ Available in pharmacies and health food stores! The Pharma Nord range is based on scientific research! Tel: 01 630 5470 • Fax: 01 630 5475 Email: [email protected]

– visit us at www.cla247.ie 2 tablets at lunch time

08:00

Full energy body’s active period

13:00

Body’s energy levels decreasing

CLA 24/7 supports energy levels + increase fat metabolism

19:00

4 capsules at dinner time Limited natural fat burning

24:00

CLA 24/7 stimulates fat burn while you sleep

How to Lose Weight...

Exercise is vital Regular exercise increases your fat expenditure, and what is more, you stimulate your muscles making it much firmer. By shifting the ratio between fat and muscle, you acquire a much healthier body composition, one that helps you maintain your weight loss in the long run. The more fat you have in relation to your muscle the worse off you are in terms of metabolism. Fat cells spend very little time on the production of energy. In metabolic terms, is not very active. On the contrary, muscle cells are effective energy factories. In contrast, the more muscle you have in relation to your body fat, the better. That way you are much less likely to gain weight because your body can handle the calories much easier. Combining CLA with exercise is a very effective way of losing weight, reducing your fat, building a lean and firm body and avoiding weight gain in future. Sometimes, there is a misunderstanding between physical exercise and physical activity. Physical activity includes all the actions done in an involuntary manner – walking around the house, walking to the car, or simply taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Physical exercise refers to planned activities, for example, walking for 45 minutes without stopping, running, riding a bicycle, playing soccer.

41

How to Lose Weight... Those who have a very busy life with work, family obligations and busy weekends should plan and include the practice of physical exercise in their daily routine. Here are some suggestions: 1. Choose a moderate/intense physical activity that you can practice for 10 minute periods as it can be as effective as 30 minutes; 2. You can combine several exercises such as walking at a fast pace, for 30 minutes, twice a week, and practice something more intense another 2 days a week; 3. “Play” with your plan. Sometimes it can be easier to walk during lunch time, other times after dinner. The trick is in planning your week, in setting the days, the hour, and the kind of physical exercise. 4. It’s not compulsory to join a health club. You just need a pair of comfortable running shoes and some motivation. The important thing is to have a more active and healthy life. Remember the 10.000 steps a day and use a pedometer to count the steps. 5. Make your exercising time a social or a family event, grab your children, partner and friends and organize something fun to get away from the routine. It also is a way of encouraging children from an early age to practice physical exercise and to promote a healthy life!

Playing outdoors should be part of your daily routine, if you have kids. 42

How to Lose Weight... Physical exercise that we recommend: Every opportunity is good to “move yourself a bit more”! • Walk to work or leave the car in the carpark, or if you take the bus, choose to get off the bus at the previous bus stop; • Avoid the elevator and the escalators and use the stairs more often; • At work, avoid sitting down in front of the computer for more than 30 minutes; • During weekends, do some morning jogging on the beach or in the countryside; • Gather your family and friends and go for a walk in the park; • Make use of the bicycle paths to ride your bike and to walk.

Who said exercise has to be dull? On a bike ride you burn calories and breathe in the fresh air. Spontaneous physical activities: every body movement to which energy expenditure is associated, as: gardening, going up and down the stairs, washing the car, walking with the dog, cleaning the house (washing windows). Physical exercise: can be defined as all the programmed and structured activities, as: walking at a fast pace or to run, roller skating, riding a bicycle, dancing, swimming, practicing water aerobics, canoeing, playing tennis, frisbee, basketball, soccer, climbing, yoga, tai-chi, martial arts, aerobics • Plan your exercise for the week (annex III) • Register your presence (annex III) 43

Advertisement

Slimmer & More Confident:

I love “What a good thing my pharmacist recommended DietCare,” says Lillian Flynn. Her weight has gone down. Her self-confidence has skyrocketed. Lillian Flynn feels absolutely terrific: “I just love my new fig­ure. I feel slimmer, healthier and a whole lot more confident,” she says, expressing her gratitude to DietCare, the remedy that made her weight loss possible. The local pharmacist advised Lillian to try the tablets and – as she says: “Thank God he did”. One month after she started using them, she had lost eight pounds and her clothes looked much better on her. “My boyfriend noticed right away, and so did my friends and family,” Lillian tells.

“Luckily my pharmacist recommended the perfect product: DietCare Pharma Nord”, says Lillian Flynn.

44

She still wants to lose four or six pounds but the results so far have amazed her. “It has been so easy to stay off the sweets, and the fat is gone from my critical zones – my stomach and my thighs. It is a great product,” Lillian concludes.

my new figure! Looking to lose weight?

Now it’s up to you

• More energy • Less fat

• No cravings • Reduced appetite

Four active ingredients in one tablet – for optimal effect.

L-carnitine:

Garcinia Cambogia:

Natural fruit rind extract rich on HCA (Hydroxycitric Acid). Suppresses your appetite and increases the production of body heat (thermogenesis)

Co-enzyme Q10:

Natural compound derived from an amino acid. Supports the body in converting fat to energy

Chromium:

Essential trace element that helps maintain stable blood sugar levels. Prevents sugar cravings.

Vitamin-like compound which the body needs in order to produce energy in the cells. Helps keep you invigorated so you have the surplus to exercise and stay active.

+ Available in pharmacies



and health food stores!

The Pharma Nord range is based on scientific research !

Tel: 01 630 5470 • Fax: 01 630 5475 Email: [email protected] Web: www.pharmanord.ie

45

How to Lose Weight... Substances that can help the weight loss process Scientific studies show the role of certain substances in losing weight. However, by themselves, these substances can hardly have an impact in fat loss if you do not change what you usually eat. In every situation it is necessary to modify what you eat and to start practicing physical exercise on a regular basis. Unfortunately, many people continue to make the same mistakes – buying supplements and expecting them to act without changing anything to lose weight. Chromium has the ability to stabilize your blood sugar levels, something which can have a profound impact on weight loss. Studies reveal that the combination of chromium with other substances can help dieters overcome their obstacles. The success of a weight loss plan Besides chromium, l-carnitine, a depends on the diet and exercise compound that carries long-chained - but some supplements can help fatty acids to the cells where they get in this process. converted into energy. Carnitine helps you burn fat more effectively, a highly important feature when trying to lose weight. There is also a vitamin-like substance, coenzyme Q10, which cells use to convert fat, carbohydrates and proteins into ATP (adenosine triphosphate), also known as energy stored in its molecular form. This substance is necessary for maintaining high energy levels. Being on a diet can really zap your energy levels. A supplement of coenzyme Q10 helps your energy levels, giving them a natural boost. 46

How to Lose Weight... Finally, there is garcinia cambogia, a natural fruit-rind extract, which is particularly rich in HCA (Hydroxy Citric Acid), a substance that increases the body’s thermo-genesis (conversion of calories into body heat). If you manage to eat a sensible diet and practice exercise regularly, these four substances will help you to: • increase your energy levels; • you will feel much more motivated; • your body will be able to burn fat more effectively; • you will not be bothered by cravings like before; • you will lose weight.

Regulate your sleep Weariness is also an obstacle to a weight loss plan. It is necessary to respect our sleeping hours and to plan the working week. If you don’t do this, everyday new things will come up, jeopardizing your regular practice of physical exercise. Try to sleep at least 8 hours, as if this does not happen you will feel tired and without any wish of exercising. Sleep is essential not only to revitalize, but also to respect your circadian and hormonal rhythms, essential for your appetite’s regulation. If you usually don’t have a quiet sleep you should avoid drinking green tea and coffee in the final period of the day, just opting to drink it during the morning. However, you should choose a relaxing tea at dinner time or before going to bed. While dieting is helpful when you want to get rid of unwanted pounds,

Exercise is vital to increase and maintain muscle mass. The more muscle you have the easier it is to remain slim. 47

How to Lose Weight... it does have the downside to it, as it tends to lower your intake of certain micronutrients that are important for your health. One of the nutrients which is often reduced in connection with dieting is magnesium. Many women lack magnesium to begin with and when they limit their food intake for the sake of losing weight, they may risk getting far too little of this vital nutrient which is considered to be so important, simply because it controls around 300 different enzymes in the human body. It is not only dieting, however, that can reduce your body’s magnesium stores. Drinking alcohol is known to have a similar effect, and if you are in the habit of exercising strenuously a lot of magnesium is lost with perspiration. Consuming large quantities of coffee can also lower your magnesium depots. This, by the way, is one of the reasons why excessive coffee drinking can cause trembling. Magnesium is a nutrient that we need for normal functioning of our muscles and a deficit may result in disturbances. A thing that is characteristic of a magnesium deficiency is muscle cramps. Most people have tried waking up in the middle of the night with calves that feel tight like knots. You try desperately to step down on your foot but it hurts like mad. A magnesium supplement is a convenient way of avoiding those. Stress may also affect your magnesium levels and many people in stressful jobs use magnesium supplements as a preventative measure to protect their heart muscle. Lack of magnesium may upset the heart rhythm and stress in itself is known to have a negative impact on the heart.

48

How to Lose Weight... Vitamins and Minerals A necessary component in what we eat Multivitamin supplements are particularly important for young girls and women who are constantly dieting, as they are much more likely than others to become nutrient deficient. Regarding the vitamins and minerals subject, choosing the right supplement is equally important. There are hundreds of different brands to choose among, and even though the products appear to be pretty much the same, judging by their appearance, they are often worlds apart in terms of quality. Although you may be surprised to hear this, using the price as a “quality barometer” is not that bad an idea. There is a reason why some supplements cost more. Good raw materials cost more to manufacture, and supplement makers who go to the extent of documenting their products in terms of quality and safety spend a lot of time on costly technical procedures that drive up the price of the final product.

You should look for a multivitamin supplement that: • is properly documented, meaning that its nutrients are properly absorbed and retained in the body; • contains a broad spectre of vitamins and minerals; • contains organic minerals. What you should also look at is whether the supplement contains iron. While it is true that iron is essential to the human body, many people, men in particular, have excess of iron in their blood and should not supplement with this nutrient. Free iron is known to generate some potentially harmful compounds called “free radicals” that damage cells and cell membranes.

49

How to Lose Weight...

Tips for a healthier life It really doesn’t take that much to steer into a healthier direction. Here are some useful tips on what to do if you are interested in improving the balance between calorie intake on the one side, and calorie expenditure on the other:

Do not miss meal times. Meals should be done with 2h30m to 3h breaks. You should consider this your first golden rule. If you skip meals, sooner or later you will eat more than you really need.

Don’t take seconds. Often, when the platter is passed around a second time, we help ourselves to more because it tastes so good. It is not that we are really hungry; it is merely for the pleasure of eating. By skipping seconds you can reduce your calorie intake during dinner by 50-60% or more.

Forget about sugar. Why use sugar? Sure, it makes things taste nice, but the caloric impact of sugar is enormous. You may find it difficult in the beginning, but once you get used to cornflakes and oatmeal without sugar, you will wonder why you ever started using the stuff, in the first place. Learn to enjoy the natural taste of food without making it so sweet.

50

How to Lose Weight... You really don’t need butter. Butter does make that piece of bread more exciting but you really don’t need it. You would be surprised to know how fast you can get accustomed to a butter-free life. Replace it with light cheese or sugar free jam. Even if you are not willing to give up butter, just don’t overdo it, it really isn’t necessary.

Stick with healthy snacks. If you have a choice between crisps and peanuts, go for the nuts. Of course, peanuts are usually salted and have been roasted in oil, but the nut itself is a very healthy choice, as it is rich in mono-saturated fat, good for your heart.

Use the stairs. If you have to go up to the 16th floor, feel free to use the elevator. Let’s be reasonable. But think of all the times when you took the elevator even though you could easily have chosen the stairs. Every time you use your legs and make your heart work a little extra, you benefit your own situation.

Walk, don’t take the car. If you need to buy a liter of milk or some coffee because you forgot to get it when you went shopping, jump on your bike or walk – provided you live reasonably close to your shopping facility. If the distance is half a mile or maybe less, there is absolutely no excuse for jumping in the car.

Drink water. Two litres of water per day may not be enough and do not forget that for each hour you exercise you should drink up to 500 to 750 ml more of water. To those who still have doubts, water represents 0 kcal. This means that water does not give you energy; therefore, it cannot make you thinner or fatter. However, water is essential as it helps regulate our water balance, especially for those who tend to retain liquids.

51

How to Lose Weight...

How to plan what you eat

A diet plan can only be healthy if it is colourful and fun. When we look at a dish and see only two colours, then it’s because it is incomplete, nutritionally poor. See annex I, where you will find two examples of eating days: a right one and a wrong one. All food supplies calories (Kcal) and fortunately it is so, because we need them. There are some exceptions like water and as a result, teas, as long as you don’t add sugar to it! We have to reduce the fat we consume in butter: low-fat butter, margarine, lard, creams, fat cheeses, salamis and meats. And eat in moderation with olive oil, oleaginous (nuts, almonds, peanuts…), avocado and fish oils. As mentioned at the beginning, the problem lies in the ingestion of too much fat (lipids) and sugar (simple carbon hydrates).

52

How to Lose Weight... This is because: • 1 g of lipids contains 9 kcal; • 1 g of carbohydrates contains 4 kcal; • 1 g of proteins contains 4 kcal; • 1 g of alcohol contains 7 kcal.

Healthy Eating Pyramid When we take a look at the healthy eating pyramid, what do we see? Colour, lots of colour! The food is grouped according to its characteristics and we relate each colour / pigment to different components. Now, we can move on to the different food groups. The first three first groups supply us essentially with complex carbohydrates. Daily, 50 to 60% of our energetic ingestion should come from brown cereals, hardly refined farinaceous, vegetables and fruit. These products also contribute to increase fibers, vitamins and minerals.

An important aspect of a healthy diet is to fulfill the rules of the food pyramid. It helps to reduce fat intake and increase the intake of whole grains, fruits and vegetables. 53

How to Lose Weight... For those who still have doubts regarding brown farinaceous, we remind you that: • Mixture or brown bread does not fatten when consumed in a moderate manner, because while having fiber, there’s no fat in its constitution. When it comes to bread, the fattening part is in the butter, the fat cheese or the pâté that we usually add to it; • Like the bread, pasta also doesn’t have fat in its constitution. But if you add cream to it, then it turns into a meal with high fat levels; • And by the way, potatoes also do not contain fat, but if we eat them fried or as mashed potatoes with butter… we start talking about extra fat that has been added to it.

Ex: 100 g of potatoes Raw

kcal

Fat/lipids

89

0

Boiled

85

0

Fried, pack

526

38.1

Table 2: Energetic value and lipids content comparison according to the cooking methods. Source: Food Composition table A special reference should be made to fruit and vegetables, highly rich in water and, therefore, with little caloric density. We should diversify to the maximum soups, raw vegetables, steamed vegetables, roast vegetables and salads. Vegetables are countless. Do not restrict yourself to lettuce and tomato. Also try aubergine, courgettes, mushrooms, carrots, broccoli and spinaches. Regarding fruit, eat at least 3 fruit pieces per day. And use fruit to have more colourful and healthy snacks. When looking at the healthy eating pyramid, the food group identified in annex IV, which also should be a daily present in our diet plan, corresponds to the ingredients that supply us with mono-unsaturated lipids from vegetable products like the olive oil. Remember that everything, when excessive, is not healthy and olive oil is just an ingredient with more calories per gram. Use it, with moderation, but “do not drown” the food in olive oil. Note: • 1 tablespoon contains 10 ml of olive oil, which equals to 90 kcal. 54

How to Lose Weight... Now add up the total amount of calories just provided by the olive oil in your meal. Soup? Cooking? The way it is made tastier? 5 spoons will be 450 kcal! As much as the total amount of calories your whole lunch or dinner should be. Almost at the end of the healthy eating pyramid, two other groups, the blue regarding the dairy products and the purple one regarding the meats, proteins main sources of animal origin. Pay special attention to the quantity of saturated fat and associated cholesterol. Regarding dairy products choose milk, cheese and skimmed yogurts. The same goes for the for meat and fish. Whenever possible, choose fish meals instead of meat. But if the meal is fried fish, then go for the meat dish.

Cooking your food You should be very careful when cooking your food. This is when the biggest mistakes happen and when subtly significant quantities of fat are added, as we have seen in table 2. The simpler way you cook your food, the tastier your dishes will be. Cook the food in its own juice. Thus, you should choose fresh and succulent ingredients, avoid the addition of animal fats and use plenty of aromatic herbs and other dressings or condiments: lemon, wine, garlic and onions (see annex IV).

In short: 1. Use a table of ingredients corresponding to each group previously described (annex IV); 2. In your days off work, make a list of ingredients and quantities needed for the week ahead and supply your cupboards with healthy food. Do not dare to go to shopping hungry and avoid falling into the temptation of buying fat rich and simple sugar ingredients; 3. Check your agenda and try to foresee how many meals you will do at home, in the office and/or in the restaurant. Prepare snacks at home and take them to work. Select a drawer for your “healthy foods”. Or otherwise, you will end up skipping meal times or going to the cupboards and eating a highly caloric cake.

55

How to Lose Weight... 4. You should drink at least 2 litres of water, but this can also be done by drinking tea, as long as you don’t add any sugar. A good way to start drinking water in a regular way could be by drinking a glass of water before each meal. As your eating day should include 6 to 8 meals, you will end up drinking 6 to 8 glass per day. Starting with a 1.5 litre bottle can be a little scary and discouraging. Therefore, start with a small bottle (500 ml), which is easier to carry around and fill it during the day. 5. Remember breakfast is the main meal of the day. Now use the annexed tables. • Choose your fruits – annex II • Choose your vegetables – annex II

56

How to Lose Weight...

Suggestions for a week Here are several meal suggestions for one week. We suggest you consult annex I and the eating plan. Mid morning and mid afternoon snacks should combine fruit, yogurts, tea, wholegrain bread or crackers, cheese or fruit jam without sugar. In spite of the proposals that we make, you should choose the ingredients you like the most. Before starting to cook, make sure you have plenty of aromatic herbs and condiments/dressings, as they can make food very tasty. And do not forget: before starting your meal, drink a glass of water.

Suggestions for your meals Monday Breakfast 125g Natural Organic Yoghurt (Glenisk, McDonnells or LIDL) 40g mixed seeds or nuts )pumpkin & sunflower, almonds, walnuts) soaked overnight if you like to make them easier to digest 1/2 papaya or mango or a cup of berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries etc) Lunch Vegetable Soup - either homemade or good quality shop bought. Check ingredients labels and avoid added sugar and any ingredients you don’t recognise. 2 small slices of brown bread or 2 rye crackers with a dessert spoon of almond butter Dinner Baked fillet of Salmon (150g) Add some garlic and spices for extra flavour when baking. 150g Vegetables, either baked with the fish or as a salad. Use vegetables that are high in fiber, like squash, carrots, sweet potato. 57

How to Lose Weight...

Tuesday Breakfast 1 Banana or 1/3 Galia Melon 1 slice of brown bread, toasted with a little butter 1 soft boiled egg Mint tea (fresh from the garden or Pukka is a lovely brand) Lunch 50g of Whole Spelt Fusilli pasta (available in health shop) with broccoli, prawns, tomatoes, garlic and chilli Dinner Roast chicken breast with 100g of steamed sweet potato and steamed green vegetables such as broccoli, mange tout or green beans

58

How to Lose Weight... Wednesday Breakfast 1 small glass of freshly squeezed orange juice 1 slice of brown bread, toasted with a little butter 1 soft boiled egg. 1 apple Lunch Salad made with 50g of Goats cheese or Feta, salad leaves (such as rocket, spinach, beet leaves etc...) finely sliced red onion, cherry tomatoes, avocado and almonds. Make a dressing at home with olive oil, cider vinegar, salt & pepper. Dinner Baked Fish (Salmon or Mackerel or Cod) with two small boiled potatoes and steamed vegetables (broccoli,carrots)

Thursday Breakfast 100 ml of milk (either cow’s milk or goats/almond/coconut milk) 30g of cereal made with organic wheat, spelt, oat flakes, plus nuts & seeds. Make sure you get a cereal that is sugar free and has plenty of nuts & seeds for protein. 1 piece of fruit Lunch 50g of wholegrain spelt or buckwheat Penne/Fusilli salad, made with tomatoes, spring onions, 25g of cheese, pine nuts, broccoli Dinner Homemade pizza, with vegetables and chicken.

59

How to Lose Weight... Friday Breakfast Green tea Scrambled eggs with chopped tomato & garlic 6 strawberries Lunch Vegetable soup with two slices of brown bread Dinner Baked monkfish (150g) Fresh salad including rocket, mint leaves, basil leaves, spring onions, mange tout, 1/2 avocado, sprouted beans or seeds

Snacks’ suggestions

Snacks (mid morning and afternoon) A 1 cup of herbal tea, 2 brown slices of toast and nut butter (almond, cashew or hazlenut) B 1 natural organic yogurt with berries; C Handful of mixed nuts and 1 natural organic yoghurt; D Banana, strawberries and apple; E Hummus and rye crackers (×2); F 2 Rice cakes & hummus G Parma ham and spelt crackers H Fruit smoothie with avocado I Piece of fruit (orange, avacado)

60

How to Lose Weight...

Summary We have come to a time in which obesity is very frequent and common and the solutions to lose weight are countless. Many have perfectly adjusted to their despair caused by the wish for an ideal body. With this guide we hope that many of the difficulties felt when going through a weight loss process are now easily overcome. After all, losing body fat is much simpler and can be much more pleasant than you initially imagined. It requires, no doubt, a lot of patience, as the most effective results take a while to show up. In order to do so, it is essential to persevere and find solutions to overcome the obstacles. Still, this guide does not replace the help and guidance of a nutritionist as along the way several questions of a personal nature may come up that can only be dealt with by a professional. Considering the wide variety of weight loss supplements, always question their effectiveness and safety. Thus, look for a pharmacist, doctor or a nutritionist for guidance and advice.

61

How to Lose Weight...

Bibliography Costa, JV; Duarte, JS – “Tecido Adiposo e Adipocinas”, Acta Médica Portuguesa 2006; 19:251-256 Do Carmo I, dos Santos O, Camolas, Vieira J, Carreira M, Medina L, Myatt J, Galvão-Teles A – “Overweight and Obesity in Portugal: national prevalence in 2003-2005”. Obesity Reviews, 2008, 9, 11-19 Do Carmo I, Santos O, Camolas J, Vieira J, Carreira M, Medina L, Myatt J, Galvão-Teles A, “Prevalence of obesity in Portugal”. Obesity Reviews, 2006, 7: 233-237 INSA – Tabela da Composição de Alimentos. Lisboa: Centro de Segurança Alimentar e Nutrição - Instituto Nacional de Saúde Dr. Ricardo Jorge, Lisboa, 2006 Lacerda Nobre E, Jorge Z, Macedo A, Jácome de Castro J - “Tendências do peso em Portugal no final do Século XX Estudo de coorte de jovens do sexo masculino”. Acta Medica Portuguesa, 2004; 17: 205-209 Mahan, L Kathleen – Krause: Alimentos nutrição e dietoterapia – Editora Roca, São Paulo,1998 Marques –Vidal P, Obesidade em Portugal: Epidemiologia e principais consequências, Faculdade de Medicina de Lisboa, 2005 Marques – Vidal P, “Qiaoqiao C; ”Trends in food availability in Portugal in 1966-2003, Comparison with other Mediterranean coutries”; European Journal Nutrition (2007) 46:418-427 Marques-Vidal, P & Dias CM, “Trends in overweight and obesity in Portugal: the national health surveys 1995-6 and 1998-9”. Obesity Research, 13(7), 1141-1145. Paes da Silva, M. et al – “Obesidade e Qualidade de Vida” – Acta Medica Portuguesa, 2006, 19:247-250 Pereira J, Mateus C, Amaral MJ, “Custos da Obesidade em Portuga”l – Associação de economia da Saúde, Lisboa, 1999

62

How to Lose Weight... Pereira J, Mateus C; “Custos indirectos associados à obesidade em Portugal“ – Revista Portuguesa de Saúde Pública, 2003, Volume 3, Lisboa Shils, M. Tratado de Nutrição Moderna na Saúde e na Doença, 9ª edição, São Paulo, Brasil, 2003 Teixeira, P.J et al. “Who to lose weight? A reexamination of predictors of weight loss in women” – International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 2004, 1:12 doi10.1186/1479-5868-1-12 Veiga, P. ”Out-of-pocket health care expenditures due to excess of body weight in Portugal”. Econ Human Biol 2007 Willett, W. Coma, Beba e Seja Saudável, Editora Campus, Rio de Janeiro,2002 Landsdowne,Brown,Millward, “Stop The Spread”, survey, Safefood, Dublin,February,2011 Flynn Albert Prof, Walton Janette Dr, “National Adult Nutrition Survey”, Irish Universities Nutrition Alliance,Dublin, March 2011, 05 Hough,Jennifer, “327,000 overweight as Irish obesity crisis looms”, Irish Examiner, Dublin,2011, Web VHI Healthcare, “The Weight Debate”, VHI Healthcheck survey,Dublin,March 2007,Web Radio Telefis Eireann (RTE), “What’s Ireland Eating?”, Dublin,May 2011,Web Helen Whelton, Janas Harrington, Evelyn Crowley, Virgina Kellegher, Michael Cronin, Ivan J Perry, “ North South Survey of Children’s Height, Weight and Body Mass Index”, BMC Public Health, Cork, 2002

63

How to Lose Weight...

Annex I Comparison between two eating days

RIGHT 7.30

Physical exercise

8.00

Breakfast -190 Kcal

1 slice of brown bread, with no butter 1 slice of light cheese .1 piece of fruit Tea

10.30

Mid morning – 110 Kcal

1 yogurt 1 medium piece of fruit

13.00

Lunch – 440 Kcal

1 vegetable soup Vegetables: raw, boiled or grilled in the oven…. Grains, beans or starch rich ingredients: 5 table spoons of pasta, rice or 6 table spoons of beans, chickpeas, lentils, soya, peas, or 1 slice of brown bread Meat, egg or cheese: 100g of meat or fish (skin, fat and bones’ free) or 1 egg or 30g of cheese

16.00

Tea break 1 piece of fruit 1 – 100Kcal 3 slices of toast

18.30

Dinner – 430 Kcal

Similar to lunch or: 1 bowl of leek soup Brown pasta; 30gr of pine nuts, almonds or walnuts, fresh cheese e broccoli

Physical exercise 1,270 Kcal

64

How to Lose Weight... WRONG 9.00

Breakfast - 600Kcal

1 croissant with cheese Apricot juice 33cl

13.00

Lunch – 1.200Kcal

1 “steak or fried egg (sunny side up), and chips, and 1 chocolate mousse

16.00

Tea break – 290 Kcal

Tea and 1 mufin

18.30

Dinner 520Kcal

1 bowl of vegetable soup Pasta with shrimps salad (lettuce and tomatoe). Mashed potatoes 2.600 Kcal

Note: the hours and the ingredients are only suggestions.

65

How to Lose Weight...

ANNEX II Fruit and Vegetables List

Fruits Red

Orange

Purple

Cherries Strawberries Apples Raspberries Watermelon Pomegranate

Orange

Blueberries Grapes Plum Raspberries Raisins Dried plum Dates

Lemon, lime Mango Tangerine Grapefruit Peach Pineapple Apricot Papaya Passion fruit

White Green Avocado Kiwi Apple

66

Banana Melon Cantaloupe Pear Coconut

How to Lose Weight...

Vegetables

Red

Orange

Purple

Tomato

Pumpkin Carrot Corn

Aubergine Beetroot Radish

Green

White

Artichoke Green cabbage Spinach Watercress Asparagus Broccoli Brussels sprouts Peas Broad beans Cucumber Courgette Lettuce Parsley Coriander Celery

Mushrooms Onion Garlic Cauliflower White beans Leek Potatoes Turnip Cashew Chickpea Soya sprouts

Red pepper

Adapted from www.5aday.com and http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/

67

67

How to Lose Weight...

Annex III Physical exercise

I - Plan your week: Set an activity for each day, the time and how long it will take

Monday

Morning

Mid morning

Lunch

Afternoon

After Dinner

68

Tuesday

Wednesday

How to Lose Weight...

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

69

How to Lose Weight... II - Register your attendance: Date 1st day 2nd day 3rd day 4th day 5th day 6th day 7th day 8th day 9th day 10th day 11th day 12th day 13th day 14th day 15th day 16th day

70

Period

Modality or Nr of steps

How to Lose Weight...

Date

Period

Modality or Nr of steps

17th day 18th day 19th day 20th day 21st day 22nd day 23rd day 24th day 25th day 26th day 27th day 28th day 29th day 30th day 31th day

71

How to Lose Weight...

Annex IV Grains

Brown bread Pasta Rice Oat Brown cereals Brown toast

Starch rich Potato Cashew

Vegetables

Fruits

Lettuce, ruccola Radish Tomato Watercress Broccoli Spinaches Courgettes Mushrooms Pumpkin

Strawberries Cherries Grapes Orange Melon Watermelon Banana Papaya Passion fruit

Meat & Beans

Milk

Light cheeses Semi-skimmed milk Light yogurt

Fish Chicken, Partridge, Turkey Beef, Pork Eggs Sea shells Sea food

Beans

Beans, chick peas, lentils, peas, soya…

Vegetable oils

(olive oil, peanut oil, soya oil) should be ingested in very small quantities.

Condiments and aromatic herbs: Lemon, wine, garlic, onion, rosemary, thyme, chives, parsley, coriander, oregano, peppermint, pennyroyal, tarragon, bay leaf…

72

Spices:

vanilla, cinnamon, curry, nutmeg, saffron,…