www.womanthismonth.com June 2018 53 LIFESTYLE | wellbeing Myth: Bye-Bye Favourite Treats “When I tell my clients that they can lose weight and still have a small dessert each day, they don’t believe it,” says Remy. “A diet shouldn’t be a punishment. It should be a lifestyle in order to have long-term results. Cutting out your favourite foods only sets you up for failure. Instead, learn to eat the things you love in moderation. Even ‘unhealthy’ food can be a tiny part of your diet. Make smart substitutions to make your favourite foods healthier.” BYPASS THE BLOOPERS Remy briefs us on the misconceptions and mistakes made while ‘being on a diet’. • Very low calorie, crash diets, like the cabbage soup diet, GM diet, grapefruit diet or Hollywood diet are imbalanced and ineffective. They may provide short-term results, but they will slow down your metabolism. Most people regain the weight once they go off the plan. • It’s easy to overdo healthy snacks such as nuts and fruits, and protein supplements. These are high in calories and contribute to body fat if over-consumed. Portion control is key. • Don’t drink your calories. Even natural fruit juice is loaded with sugars and calories. • Going overboard on cheat day can ruin the efforts of the whole week. Treating yourself to one cheat meal per week can be good to break the routine and satisfy your cravings. • Not getting enough sleep releases ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates hunger, and cortisol, which signals the body to store fat. • Not getting enough hydration slows down the metabolism. Don’t go more than two hours without water. • Not exercising or over- exercising can both mess about with your metabolism and hormones, leading to fat storage. Be active through the day and choose a type of workout that you enjoy so you can stick to it for sustainable results. • Watch what you eat; it plays a very big role in your weight-loss journey. • The scale can be disappointing even when you’re losing fat but gaining muscle or holding on to water. Focus on inches and percentage of body fat lost. Myth: I Can Trust Packaged ‘LowFat’ Foods Health claims on packaging can be extremely misleading. Remy advises we read and understand the full nutrition label and ingredients before making a healthy choice. The claims ‘fat-free’, ‘low-fat’ or ‘light’ do not mean that the product is healthy. It can be loaded with added sugar, sodium, unpronounceable chemicals and can be high in calories. The same goes for ‘sugar-free’ products, which can be high in calories and/or fat. Myth: Counting Calories Is Everything The weight loss process is more complicated than just simple mathematical equations. Remy explains: “There are many variables that influence weight, besides comparing calories eaten to calories burned. Also, not all calories are equal; 100 calories coming from a cookie isn’t equal to 100 calories coming from vegetables. It matters where the calories come from and what effects they have on your body, in the short and long term. We can’t ignore the metabolic effects of each calorie on the body [how it raises your blood sugar and insulin levels, how it affects metabolism, blood pressure levels and other parameters].” What really matters in order to lose weight in a healthy, sustainable way is to combine the importance of both quantity and quality of food ingested, and how it is distributed through the day.
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