Understanding how you eat
To successfully lose weight, isn’t only about what you eat it is also how you eat!! Most people fall into one of these 4 categories, which one are you?
1 - Social eaters These are proper foodies who love to entertain, They are at their happiest when cooking for friends or family, these types are likely to invite friends or family over up to twice a week, they are the ones who cook at Christmas, have all the foodie magazines, and like to experiment with different ingredients, but conversely can seem to do miracles with everyday foods and leftovers.
2 - Repeat eaters These people stick with what they know, can easily eat the same meal three days in a row, and hate throwing food away, they find dieting constricting and boring, as they are uncomfortable breaking out into unknown foods or cooking methods.
3 - Free Rangers These people are always short on time; they grab and go on the way to work, or with the kids. They like jars, tins and convenience food and are more likely to grab a pizza on the way home then to cook a meal.
4- All day Grazers These people find it difficult to eat three proper meals and 2 snacks a day, they eat little and often, they do eat mainly healthy foods, salads lean meats just not regularly or in any quantity. All of these ways of eating have problems these are the things to watch out for.
Social Eaters Entertaining can mean nibbles. extra courses and a few drink as well as foods rich in fat and calories, Use your foodie knowledge to impress your guests by cooking low fat portion controlled meals most of the time, serve veggie crudities, light soups packed with flavour as a starter, seafood, or salads or a fruit salad using unusual fruits, you are scared to experiment so do it!
Repeat Eaters Double check your favourite recipes, is there any way you could make them a bit more healthy, spray oils, or adding more vegetables, try replacing red meat with chicken or fish, even try vegetarian Tofu, Quorn or Soya. Serve high fibre sides such as brown rice, whole wheat pasta, break out of boredom by trying one new recipe a month.
Free Rangers if you use coffee shops and cafes, try to use ones who display their nutrition contents and make good choices wraps and wholegrain breads, Opt for the salad bar for lunch with some lean meat or fish, and avoid mayonnaise and calorie laden dressings, Read labels on everything with a little savvy shopping you can save lots of calories in jars and tins.
All Day Grazers Make sure you are eating your calories, including your milk or cheese for your calcium, If you graze all day, keep eating the healthy snacks, but limit your intake of high- fat, high- salt snacks such as nuts, Make sure you get enough fibre, eat whole grain crackers or Oatcakes, low- calorie soups and reduce fat spreads are ideal.
Hangry! = Hungry + Angry
This can wreck relationships studies have proved. Low blood sugars make people feel hungry, and in turn they felt angrier and tended to take it out on their partners.
So next time you feel Hangry, grab a snack, oat cakes topped with bananas, or some crudities and hummus.