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Diet therapy

Winter weight loss tips

CommutersIf you are struggling to control weight over winter despite your best effort there here are some finer tips that might help.

Watch Your Healthy Diet!

You can put on a lot of weight eating healthy food. It is the portion size that counts.
If you are overweight eat smaller meat portions (half your palm size) and bump up your fibre with the 5+/day of three serves of vegetables and at least 2 fruits the size of your palm.

Fat is Hard to Shift

It is a myth to think that you can exercise off a chocolate bar by just running round the block. It’s more likely to take you 55 minutes just to run off the smallest chocolate bar and then you still have the fat round your ‘Butt’ to consider. Do keep up the exercise but swap the chocolate bar for a small banana for a lower calorie snack.

Record Your Food Intake

Even all the odd things you pick at during the day. Just noting down what you eat each day may help you reconsider eating it or not.

Monitor Your Progress

The scales can help but so can a tape measure. Divide your waist measurement by that of your hips. For women the ratio should be <0.8 and for men <0.9. More fat around your mid section increases your risk or diabetes and heart disease as you age.

Forget 99% Fat Free

It can be a marketing ploy and means nothing if the fat in the food is replaced with extra sugar and fat. So read food labels.Compare foods on 100gms on energy and choose the one with the lowest kilocalories or kilojoules.

Sugar is a form of carbohydrate

Two teaspoons of sugar contains as many calories as 2 boiled lollies or 1 slice of thin bread. So watch those bags of lollies that pass around your workplace.
Sugars are also found in fruit, bread, cereals but rather than being empty calories these foods, when taken whole, also give you fibre, vitamins and minerals. They fill you up and reduce hunger.

In Excess, Fruit will put on weight

Watch fruit intake as in excess it can increase your weight and cholesterol level especially over summer when stone fruit is in season.
It may surprise you to learn that one glass of orange juice has as many calories as three slices of bread. The same is true for a glass of beer or bubbly. Excess sugar of all types will convert to fat.

Mind your alcohol intake

A unit of alcohol is a stubbie of beer, a nip of spirits or 104mls of wine. Most wine glasses measure 150-175mls. How much does your favourite glass measure?

Moderate drinking for women would be 1 bottle of wine/week and 1.5 bottles per week for men. However tolerance does vary… so do try to keep track of how much alcohol you are drinking.

Reducing Fat is important but…

You get fat not only by eating fat. Your body makes fat from excess sugar (carbohydrate) and stores fat more readily when you drink alcohol.

If you want to control this and turn your body’s “fat factory” down talk to your GP or contact us for a personal assessment and weight loss plan.

About the author View all

Lea Stening

Lea is one of New Zealand’s leading paediatric dietitians and also specialises in Sports Nutrition. She has specialised in Paediatric Nutrition for 31 years and in 1985 was the first paediatric dietitian to enter private practice in New Zealand. Lea helps families through her private consultations, public lectures, newspaper and magazine articles as well as television and radio interviews. Read more »

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