Tips

Regular meals & snacks

Eating every few hours boosts your metabolism, keeps your energy up, and prevents you getting to that starving stage and overeating.

Be calorie conscious NOT obsessed

Be aware of the calorie content of your favourite foods. However, only use calories as a tool to help you make better choices.

Water

You need a minimum of 2 Litres of water everyday to flush out toxins, keep you well hydrated, maintain energy levels, prevent water retention, transport vitamins and minerals, clear out impurities in your skin and metabolize fat. Don’t wait until you get thirsty, stay hydrated and be wary of liquid calories (e.g. juice, soft drink). Keep a bottle of water on you ALL THE TIME!

DON’T DIET

change habits for life...Don’t diet yourself fat. Diets = food anxiety, unhealthy eating practices, disordered eating, restriction, deprivation. Shake diets, pills, fads and quick fixes actually cause weight problems!

Listen to your body

Eat when you are hungry, and stop when you are satisfied. This is one of the simplest ways to lose weight and also the most important factor.

Quality not Quantity

Eat as many natural foods as possible. Avoid too much bread, pasta, rice, processed foods, cereals, muesli bars, sugar, canned & packaged foods, sauces, spreads... Processed foods have too much added sugar and salt. Most are so low in nutrients that you may as well eat the cardboard box that they come in!

Balance nutrients

Aim for a good balance of carbs, fats and proteins every time you eat. When you have a source of each nutrient in your meals and your overall diet, your blood sugar levels are more stable, your body can burn fat more efficiently, you have more energy and you are receiving all the essential fats and protein that every cell in your body needs to function.

Be choosy with your carbs

Veggies, fruit, brown rice and good quality bread. Include carbs that are unrefined and provide you with nutritional benefits. Most carbohydrate foods have been so overly processed that no nutritional value remains (cereals, bread, and pasta). Excess carbs are converted to triglycerides and accumulate as stored fat Pasta, rice, cereal and bread ~ Most of these products are highly refined; through processing whole grains are crushed and condensed to a fine powder, and non-food substances are added (such as colour, sugar, preservatives, vegetable oils, additives...). Empty calories (provide calories without any nutritional benefits)

Healthy fats, not low fat

Your body needs fat; to help maintain blood sugar levels, for cell repair and growth, to give you great skin, to help get rid of stored fat and prevent disease. If your diet is deficient in Essential Fatty Acid's, your body will use 'unhealthy' fats to fulfill their role, leading to heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, stroke, cancer. Include omega 3 rich foods everyday such as flaxseed oil, oily fish and walnuts. Low Fat generally = High sugar (Manufacturers remove fat from their products in order to make them low fat. They then add some sugar to make the product taste ok!)

The Power of Protein

Responsible for growth, repair and construction of every cell in your body - hair, nails, muscle, blood & skin. Eating the adequate amount of protein helps to...stabilize blood sugar levels (prevents that 3-4pm afternoon slump), reduces sugar cravings, increases energy levels, improves skin texture due to the addition of vital nutrients needed for optimal skin growth and repair, changes body composition (more tone, more lean tissue, less body fat) and keeps you feeling fuller for longer