DIETS AND SLIMMING

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Fatty foods and sedentary lifestyles are often to blame for obesity, while glamorised images of reed-thin modles and muscle men ecourage people to aspire towards an unrealistic body shape. Weather the reasons for dieting are cosmetic or health-related, slimming need not involve fad diets or peculiar eating patterns. A sensible balanced diet based on moderate quantities of foods that are low in fat will help most people to lose weight safely.

The seccessful slimmer loses weight slowly and surely, and establishes a healthy eating and exercise pattern that will last a lifetime, so that weight loss is permanent. Energy is measured in calories, and the aims of a slimming diet are to bring abuot weight loss by reducing your calorie intake from food and drink, and increasing your calorie output with exercise, so that the body uses up more energy than it takes in. In this way,the body's stores of fat tissue are gradually reduced.

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FAD AND FALLACIES

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Calorie intake can be reduced in a variety of ways, but not all slimming plans are scientifically based, and some of them can actually be quite dangerous. Faddy regimes neither encourage healthy eating habits nor establish safe and permanent weight loss.

Food combining diets, based on the HAY DIET, do help you to lose weight but only because of the increased intake of fruit and vegetables at the expense of more calorific foods - and because the food combinations are so limited. Dieting 'magic potions' that claim to help you lose weight while you continue to eat normal meals cannot work; weight can be lost only by reducing calorie intake or increaseing the amount your body uses up by taking more exercise.

Crash diets which include low-calorie meal replacement drinks, soups and snackbars cannot provide the same balance of nutrients as ordinary food. The success of any crash diet is short-lived because water and protein are lost fom the body, rather than excess body fat. Once normal eating is resumed, body fluids are quickly replaced and there is an immediate weight gain. Slimming then becomes even more difficult the next time around - a phenomenon known as the 'yo-y0' effect. Slimmers who get into a cycle of yo-yo dieting have a tendency to put on more weight every time they eat 'normally'. It is now thought that this is probably due to a repeated cycle of deprivation and bingeing, rather than any fall in the dieter's metabolic rate.

Fasting, when a person stops eating but drinks plenty of water, can be a dangerous practice; it may lead to lowered blood pressur and heart failure. Even when fasting is conducted under medical supervisiion, it is very rare for weight loss to be sustained once normal eating is resumed.

A HEALTHY SLIMMING DIET?

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A slimming diet must provide all of the nutrients that the body needs. As these nutrients have to come from a lower calorie intake, it is important to cut right down on confectionery, cakes, biscuits, and sugary and alcoholic drinks, which are relatively high in calories but low in nurrients. The diet should be based on lowerr-calorie, nutritious foods such as vegetables, fruit, lean meat, poultry, fish, low-fat dairy products, bread and cereals.

Of all the major components of food, fat is the most concentrated source of energy. At nine Calories per gram, fat provides more than twice as many calories as protein and carbohydrate at four Calories per gram. Reducing the amount of fat in the diet is therefore the most effective way to reduce calorie intake. Pure alcohol has seven Calories per gram, so cutting down on alcohol is also an effective way to help weight loss.

There is a misconception that starchy staple foods such as bread, rice, potatoes and pasta are fattening. In fact, these are medium-calorie foods. Provided they are not eaten with a lot of fat, these staples can be eaten in fairly large amounts on a slimming diet. Starchy foods help to satisfy the appetite because they are filling rather than fattening. Wholegrain foods such as whoemeal bread and brown rice are preferable to refined foods, as they provide significantly more vitamins, minerals and fibre.

A healthy slimming diet should also include plenty of salads, vegetablesand pulses (beans, peas and lentils). Frech fruit makes a good choice for a low-calorie dessert.

FAT-FIGHTING TIPS

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In order to help reduce your fat intake, choose lean cuts of meat and trim all visible fat before cooking. Avoid high fat meats such as sausaged, bacon and minced beef. poultry should be eaten without the skin, and fish should be steamed, grilled, baked or microwaved rater than fried. Sweet and savoury pies and pastries, biscuits, cakes, crisps and nuts are all high in fat and are best avoided on a slimming diet. Replace full-fat dairy products with low-fat alternatives.

You will probably lose 1.3kg (3lb) or more during the first week of any diet, due to an initial loss of water from the body. Thereafter, it is best to aim for a steady weight loss of 450-900g (1-2lb) a week, which will result in a reduction of body fat, Increasing your calorie expenditure through regular exerxise-three times a week for a minimum of 20 minutes - will help to burn fat, and tone up the muscles for a leaner shape.

TIPS

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- Choose bread that taste good ontheir own without spreads.

- Serve pasta and rice with tomato-based vegetable sauces, avoiding any made with cheese

cream, butter or lots of oil.

- Go easy on dried fruit and avocados; dried fruit is high in sugar and avocados are high in fat. Avoid fattening salad dressings such as mayonnaise; make your own based on lemon or lime juice and low-fat yoghurt. Do not eat fried potatoes, such as chips, or potatoes baked with a cheese sauce.

- Choose skimmed or semi-skimmed milk, low-fat yoghurt and low-fat cheeses such as fromage frais, cottage ceese and ricotta. Avoid milk shakes made with whole milk.

- Steam, grill, bake or poach - but do not fry . Eat nuts, nut butters and seeds in moderation. Avoid high-fat meat products such as pies, pastries, sausages and beefburgers. White fish such as cod is less fattening than oily fish. Avoid fish canned in oil, or ddrain well.

- Avoid all crips, biscuits, cakes and pies as they contain a lot of hidden fats.

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HEALING HERBS

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Herbs and some spices may help a troubled gut by easing flatulence and colic. Most of the HERBS AND SPICES that are traditionally used in cooking aid digestion, so use plenty of mint, dill, caraway, horseradish, bay, chervil, fennel tarragon, marjoram, cumin, cinnamon, ginger and cardamom. Camomile also help.

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