Five simple recommendations
Quite consciously, we are offering only five pieces of advice. The chances are that you’ll have read many recommendations on many other websites. But this time, do not make TheSlimSchool one more website you browse through. Reading (particularly when lying on the couch!) does will not reduce your fat stores.
Take a piece of paper, pick just ONE of the following recommendations you like, and write down in as much detail as possible when and how you will implement it during the course of the coming two weeks.
Ready?
1. Go for taste
Treat yourself like you would treat your guest at home or an important business client. Do not have another tasteless protein shake or a granola bar. Go for taste. We gain larger feeling of reward from foods with superior taste and the chances are that the food will be healthier as well.
If you need to eat a cake, treat yourself to the best cake in town: chocolate, nut, cheesecake – whichever’s your favourite. In a high quality bakery, the portions are smaller too.
Try out some French or Italian cheese with stuffed olives from the delicatessen counter with a slice of fresh whole grain or rye bread, instead of another helping of processed cheese on white sandwich bread.
Go for food the flavour of which does not come primarily from sugar, salt or fat.
Cost: you can treat yourself to some really nice food without breaking the bank. Buying even the best olives or high quality cheese will not cost you more than a meal of dubious nutritional value at a fast food restaurant. Replacing 3 doughnuts with one piece of quality raspberry cheesecake will cost roughly the same - not a significant impact on your finances.
2. Get social.
Social contact improves our mood (both in extroverts and, though less, in introverts), and takes your mind off food. In front of other people, we tend to overeat less than when we are left on our own. Set aside one more or two more evenings per week to communicate with people. Studies show that social contact improves our IQ temporarily, too.
Draft a list of friends to contact over the course of the coming week. Write a letter to a long lost acquaintance, call a relative on her birthday or wedding anniversary, invite your neighbour round for a cup of tea, or take a stroll in the park with a colleague during your lunch hour. Do it systematically, day by day.
Cost: no more than 20 US$ a week, taking into account a few international and local calls and a few cups of coffee.
3. Count and avoid liquid calories.
For many, liquid calories make up to one third of the total daily calorie intake, and no, we are not talking about proteins or fibre. Liquid calories do not contribute to feeling full, and consist mostly of SUGAR. Are you still one of the people that soft drink companies rely on to make profits? Do you still drink fruit juices without realising that they contain more calories than soft drinks and have hardly any health benefits (freshly squeezed orange juice with pulp may be one of the very few exceptions)?
Unlike several years ago, numerous tasty low calorie alternatives exist today such as dozens of herbal teas. Cordial may be made mainly of sugar, but your regular glass of cordial (1.5cm/0.5in diluted with water) contains still only 40 kcal/160 kJ - FIVE times less than a soft drink or fruit juice.
And as you might have read elsewhere, there are health issues with soft drinks apart from extra calories, such as contributing to osteoporosis. Even if you take your tea with two teaspoons of sugar, this only contains 40 calories a cup (160 kJ) and has none of the issues you encounter with a soft drink.
Cost: you break perfectly even if you replace fruit juices and soft drinks by self made teas or cordial (try a quality brand, as they tend to be less sweet and have a gourmet taste).
4. Create and work off a list of enjoyable activities
Just as in Rule No. 2, doing things you enjoy has several beneficial effects:
- an improved mood has been shown to reduce cravings
- doing activities diminishes the amount of time you spend being around or thinking about food
- they add to your energy expenditure.
Check on these ideas that cost hardly anything, and draft a plan for yourself: go window shopping and set yourself a small budget – e.g. 5 dollars or 3 pounds – for a magazine, a new nail polish, or a hairclip. Visit the local library to browse through some art books or stop for a coffee, a newspaper and a chat with the barista in your neighbourhood coffee shop. Volunteer in the local community to carry out activities for kids or help senior citizens once a week.
Find a new major interest or revive and old one – that will help you replace your possible obsession with food with another interest: learn everything about teas, for example and organise a tea tasting at your home. Get to know everything about your favourite painter, visit her home region and administer his/her site on Wikipedia. Start using your digital camera and participate in a photography contest.
Or write down the list of 10 things you would really like to do in the next 6 months – go to a concert of your preferred singer, grow some vegetables in your garden or herbs in your window box, knit a sweater for your nephew or niece, paint a watercolour, visit a particular country, design a dress to wear for your friend’s wedding, redecorate your home or buy a pet. And then DO IT.
Cost: Depends largely on you. Estimate a budget that you can spend pampering yourself. As little as 30 US$ a week may give you enough for a pedicure AND your favourite magazine AND a new type of shower gel. Taking photographs or painting watercolour costs practically nothing. As for travelling, however - that may be a different matter!
5. Slightly increase your protein intake.
You do not need to count. Use the incremental method: Whenever you can make a choice, make it in favour of more protein: check your shopping list and replace: rice with lentils or dhal, chips with nuts or roasted peas. Take the above into account when choosing from a menu in the restaurant, at a party, and every time you open your fridge.
Some ideas: break one egg into your fried noodles or soup. Snack on a piece of hard mature cheese. Have a bowl of oats rather than cereal, sashimi rather than sushi. Prepare a quick dinner of an omelette or tuna salad.
Important: have the proteins BEFORE your carbohydrates (yes, whatever you Mum said, eat the the steak before the potatoes - or leave the potatoes out altogether). This will create a quicker feeling of fullness.
Cost: 5 more eggs, two more cans of tuna and some cheese – is just 10 more US$ a week too much to feel good about yourself?
Think of how you can implement in real life just ONE of the above recommendations, then write down modest targets for this week. DO IT TODAY. Date the paper and put it away for a few days. Then read it again.
When you are ready to try out more, subscribe to TheSlimSchool course, so you can use TheSlimSchool adherence tools and design your personalized programme. The subscription to TheSlimSchool course will provide you with dozens of practical recommendations based on scientific evidence for you to choose from, several types of diets, and, most of all, the tools and the practical advice on how to integrate them into your daily routine in the long term.
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