The Cand Weight Control

Taking exercise will help with your weight loss...

The zone diet

The zone diet is a low-carb diet based on the principle of regulating levels of insulin and other hormones in the blood within recommended levels (The Zone). The idea behind the diet is to eat the correct balance of food at the right intervals to keep you in this zone

How does the zone Diet Work?

The zone diet suggests a balanced intake of 40% carbohydrates, 30% proteins and 30% fats. The diets inventor Dr Barry Sears claims that a 30:40 ratio of protein to carbohydrates helps maintain a balance between the hormones insulin and glucagen which is optimum for fat-burning. Dr Sears also suggests that this balance of food types could help promote the production of natural anti inflamatory chemicals within the body, improving your health and making you less prone to certain illnesses.

Fats should be monounsaturates where possible - sources include olive oil and nuts. Fats to avoid are animal fats and some types of vegetable fats such as coconut oil and sunflower oil. Dairy products are also high in unsaturated fats and consumption of these needs to be watched carefully on this diet.

Eat at Intervals

The zone diet suggests that you eat five times a day - three main meals and two snacks. You should eat within an hour of getting up and a similar amount of time before going to bed. You should not go for more than five hours without a meal or snack. You need to drink plenty of water too.

Omega 3 Fish Oil

Omega 3 fish oils are recommended as a part of the zone diet and many users take omega 3 supplements. These are widely recognised by nutritionists as having a highly beneficial effect on general health including helping to reduce incidences of heart and cardiovascular problems. They are also good for joint and bone problems and asthma.

General principles

The general principles of the diet are commonsense and not too hard to follow: Make sure you try and keep the protein part of each meal as lean and low-fat as possible. Exercise, gently at first if you haven't exercised for a while and try to do at least half an hour a day even if it's just taking the dog for a walk!

Consult your doctor or medical professional before beginning any diet or exercise plan.

What foods does the zone Diet suggest?

A days eating on the zone diet might look like this:

Breakfast

• Scrambled egg

Lunch

• Omelette or
• Stuffed Mushrooms

Dinner

• Grilled fish with veggies and salad or
• Chicken with mushrooms and pepper or

Advantages of the zone diet

The zone diet is easy to follow once you have mastered serving the right size of portion and is seen as a 'balanced' diet suitable for reaching and maintaining your ideal weight.

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The weightwatchers diet and weight control

it is much easier to lose weight if you have support and encouragement

The weightwatchers diet

Weight watchers is the most popular of the diet 'clubs' with thousands of meetings held every week around the world. There is also an online version if you can't or don't want to attend meetings.

There is a lot of useful free information on the website and a subscription service where you can sign up for the benefits of full membership.

How does the weightwatchers diet work?
The weight watchers program is a low-fat, low-calorie option which comes in two types of diet, the core plan and the points plan.

The points plan allows you to eat and drink anything within the limits of your daily points allowance. All foods and drinks are assigned a points value which is calculated to a formula which takes into account the amount of fat, calories and portion size. When you join, your group leader will tell you how many points a day you should eat to lose weight.

The group leader (or calculator in the online version) will take into account a number of factors including your gender, activity level, starting weight and height. You'll receive a list of points values for foods and drinks and information on how you can increase your daily points allowance (for example by exercising).

The core plan lets you choose from a list of healthy core foods. You're allowed to eat as much as you want ( within moderation) from a list of food which includes fruit and vegetables, meat and fish, chicken and eggs, carbohydrates such as brown rice and potatoes and lower fat dairy products.

You are allowed three main meals a day and you can eat untill you feel reasonably satisfied.

What happens at weightwatchers

When you first attend a meeting you'll have an assessment with the course leader who'll be able to discuss your weight loss goals with you before recommending the best way to achieve them. The assessment and weigh-in are confidential.

In subsequent weeks you'll be weighed to see how you're doing and then be able to discuss your progress with the course leader. Many slimmers find that the weekly weigh-in gives them a real incentive to stay on the straight and narrow. There is also a group discussion covering weight loss related subjects where members can share tips and ideas.

Consult your doctor or medical professional before beginning any diet or exercise plan.

What foods does the weightwatchers diet suggest?

A days eating on the weightwatchers diet might look like this:

Breakfast

• Bacon and eggs or
• Scrambled egg with salmon

Lunch

• Cheese omelette or
• Burger with salad

Dinner

• Grilled fish with veggies and salad or
• Chicken with mushrooms and pepper or
• Steak and salad

Advantages of the Weightwatchers diet

It offers an easy to follow diet system with the flexibility to swap between the two diet plans to find the options that suit you best.

Most people who use weight watchers are appreciative of the huge amount of help and support they get from both the meeting leader and from fellow class members.

If you have willpower problems (and who doesn't now and again!) the extra boost you get from being part of a 'club' and meeting other slimmers with the same goals as you can make all the difference between the success and failure of your weight loss program.

The Glycemic Index and Weight Control

It tastes nice - but watermelon is high GI and will raise your blood glucose fast

The GI diet

As with all diets, the best way forward is to treat it sensibly.

The GI diet is considered by nutritionalists to be much closer to a healthier diet than previous faddy diets. It is important that you do not choose your food entirely on the basis of its GI value and you should consult your doctor or medical professional before beginning any diet or exercise plan. The GI diet was originally developed for diabetics who need to keep their blood sugar level at steady levels rather than experience alternating high and low blood sugar levels.

The GI diet assigns a value from 1 to 100 for carbohydrates - The higher the value, the faster the food is absorbed into the bloodstream so that fast release foods such as sugar, honey and baked potatoes have a high GI value (see chart). Glucose is rated at 100 as it is most quickly absorbed.

The great thing about lower GI foods is that they're satisfying and healthy too. Combining a low Gi food with a high Gi treat will lower the overall Gi of the meal.

GI snacks - Fruit loaf with fruit spread, a pot of natural yoghurt with fresh raspberries or strawberries, small carton of fruit juice,

Protein foods and fats don't have GI values - choose the healthier options : low fat chicken and fish rather than red meat, olive oil rather than saturated fats. Processing tends to raise the Gi of foods.

How does the GI diet work?

The principle behind the GI diet is that eating low GI foods will result in a slow and controlled release of sugars into the blood. This in turn keeps blood sugar levels at a more constant level which helps to reduce feelings of hunger. This accounts for much of its popularity over the past few years as the absence of hunger pains makes a diet easy to follow!

What foods does the GI Diet suggest?

A days eating on the GI diet might look like this:

Breakfast

• Porridge with a small serving honey or
• Medium Cereal with strawberries or blueberries or
• Toasted wholegrain bread with baked beans or honey
• Low fat milk or orange juice

Lunch

• Chicken sandwich with wholegrain bread or
• Pasta Salad with a tomato sauce
  

Dinner

• Grilled fish with veggies and new potatoes
• Fruit salad or apple crumble

Advantages of the GI diet

The GI Diet is thought to be a healthy option for the long term and although you may not see the rapid weight loss experienced with some 'crash diets' the weight does tend to come off and stay off

Calorie Counting

Delicious and low calorie too...

How does calorie counting work?

Calorie counting is just that! You count the number of calories in everything that you eat and drink - if your daily intake of calories is less than the amount your body needs, you'll lose weight. The chart to the right will give you an idea of the amount of calories used by the average man and woman per day so if you consume less than this, you'll start to see the pounds drop off.

Eat 500 calories a day less than those figures and you should lose around a pound a week. As always, you should ensure that you eat as balanced a diet as possible.

There are many books and websites which list the calories in foods and drinks and of course take a look at the food packaging which will show the amount of calories and other nutritional information. As well as calorie counting, use this information to make your diet healthier - avoid saturated fats and go for food with low salt and low sugar options.

Once you've been on the diet for a week or two, it'll become easier to follow as you'll get to know how many calories are in the foods you like to eat. Many people find that keeping a food diary helps them witth a calorie counting diet, at least in the initial stages.

What is a Calorie?

The calorie is the amount of energy required to heat 1gram of water by 1degree centigrade. Just to confuse the matter however, in diet terms what we refer to as calories are actually kilocalories or the amount of energy required to heat a kilogram of water by one degree (kcal). Approx 3,500 kilocalories = 1 pound of body weight. When we refer to calories on this site, we mean the food calorie or kcal.

The calorie works both ways so that the energy your body expends doing everything from sleeping to jogging is also measured in calories (kilocalories) for example sleeping will lose you 60-80 calories an hour while a jog for the same time will burn off 500-600 calories. The amounts vary according to your bodyweight but the chart right gives a rough idea for someone of 150 pounds (10 stone, 10lbs or 68 kg). If you're heavier than that, you'll burn more and less if your lighter.