General Weightloss & Healthy Eating Tips (General Weightloss & Healthy Eating Tips)

Member Name: Machair1

Product:	General Weightloss & Healthy Eating Tips
Date:	20/10/08 (59 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: My plan has no beginning and end it's just a new way of thinking

Disadvantages: None

So if you are reading this you are probably wanting to lose a few pounds and maybe you have already been on various diets already.
So what is my secret?
No it isn't eat this or that or even to tell you I'm a trained nurse which I am so follow this plan because it doesn't work long term.
Do you know what does? - and that is to tell yourself you are never going on any more diets.

That's it sell your diet books and give yourself a piece of serenity in your life to enjoy every moment without the burden of being on any regime. There is only one certain thing and that is death so we want to enjoy life along the way. Yes we want to be healthy but no we don't want to be miseries. My grandmother lived to be 102 years old and she never dieted or ate any diet foods at all. She did however live a life which had time and space for reflection and for herself and she didn't live in today's fast moving world. So without going back to Victorian days how do we keep weight off?
So what do we do then?
No we don't eat to excess anymore, yes we eat healthily but there is no denial more the concept of self pampering.

First of all I would like to recommend two books:
French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure by Mireille Guiliano
And
Stopping: How to Be Still When You Have to Keep Going by Richard Carlson and David Kundtz (Paperback - Aug 1999)

If you can get these from the library you will enjoy them both and they are also available on Amazon.
I am planning to write reviews on these books soon in their own right but for now I shall refer to them just to give you an idea of where my ideas for losing weight came from.
Both these books are about the enjoyment of life and about one thing which in the UK we have lost and that is the ability to stop. It is almost seen as a sin to just do nothing at all. This is my philosophy.

Make time for simple pleasures especially for eating. Try to make simple home cooked meals but don't be too ambitious as none of us have lots of spare time but try not to gobble food down. Make proper meals and sit down at the table for all of them. Don't rush them and have times in your day when you literally just stop what you are doing even if it only for a minute and then carry on. So much eating to excess is caused by the body not really knowing how much food it has taken in so if you slow down you will become much more aware of this.

Try to buy food in season. It is cheaper and fresher. Now it's autumn there are wonderful harvest things in the shops like squashes you can bake and apples to stew. Try to include but more importantly to enjoy fruit and vegetables. Get to know your greengrocer if you can. Take time to look at the vast array of things you can buy. Did you know that in January you can buy wonderful new potatoes from Cyprus which taste so fresh? They have a wonderful brick red skin caused by the warm sun. Buy lovely curly lettuce and try watercress for the iron and vitamin content.

Try to buy bread each day. There is nothing nicer than bread straight out of the oven. Don't eat very much of it just be sensible.

Include chocolate in your diet but buy the 85% cocoa and eat little squares.
Try not to eat ready made meals every day.
Try to include more walking in your life -you don't need a gym just walk to buy some bread and leave the car at home. Try to be just that little bit more active.

You don't have to give up your favourite foods or drinks but you have to rediscover the joys of eating them in moderation. It isn't necessary to give up butter or cheese but it isn't healthy to eat them to excess. Keep your portion sizes smaller than you normally have of most foods which you feel are the ones you have a tendency to overeat.

Make a nice cup of tea in a cup and saucer and stop for a few quiet minutes to savour it. Don't rush for that mug and biscuit every time. You'll be amazed how calm you feel. I have seen squirrels and hedgehogs in the garden doing this and have felt great peace watching my cats sleeping on the armchairs.
Don't do two things at once. You know watching telly and eating dinner is not going to help you keep slim.


Buy yourself a lovely treat if you can afford it. Some ideas I do include buying a Lush bath bomb-in the summer they make a beautiful one called "Chelsea Garden" where you can simply soak in a bath of summer flowers. They also do a lovely blue bath treatment called "Blue skies and fluffy white clouds" which is very relaxing.

When you stop and stare you will start to notice wonderful things again and the weight will gradually begin to come off. I have and I have lost weight and kept it off. It's no diet just a change in philosophy. I hope you can see this too before you start another plan with a start and an end.

Some final thoughts buy a pair of scales to weigh yourself which have decimal points so for instance they will tell you you are 9 stone 11.5. Then only weigh yourself once a month. It doesn't matter if you only lose a tiny amount but it is encouraging to see little falls. Please don't weigh yourself every day or every week life is too short for that level of obsession and there are so many fluctuations. Remember you are not going to start and finish anything so you just need a little reminder once in a while to see yourself walking down the sunny path to health and freedom from diets and excess weight.

French women enjoy sitting in a café doing nothing else but enjoying the moment.
I hope you will too!

Summary: A Way Of Thinking About Life And Learning to Treasure Food-An End To Denial.