Is there a perfect diet?

Is there a perfect diet?

Clients are endlessly searching for the perfect diet that will help them lose weight, feel great, and improve their health, and they want me, to help them find it. While I need to work within their health and fitness parameters, these five guiding principles can help clients refine their food intake and reach their desired goals.

Does the Perfect Diet Exist?

What is the ideal diet? There are numerous books that will try to convince the reader that one diet is superior to another. Unfortunately, no one diet is right for every client. Nutritional needs depend on someone’s age, activity level, health status, genetic makeup, goals, and many other factors. Additionally, as those variables change, so too should their intake. Thus, the perfect diet is one that is in constant flux and meets the current needs of the client. While it may be easier to follow a pre-programmed meal plan, that may not be ideal in the long run. Below are some guiding principles to help clients improve their nutritional intake.

Fresh is Best

Whole, fresh foods are superior to foods that are processed. The nutrition content is higher and there are no added ingredients, preservatives or chemicals, especially if the food is organic.

Processed foods provide sensory overload and nutritional deprivation. These foods contain sugar, salt, preservatives, and other ingredients that do not provide much nutritional value but may stimulate overconsumption of them.

Avoid Demonizing Foods

While fresh foods are a better choice, most clients will still want to consume some of their favourite foods, While these foods do not support optimal health or losing weight, making something off limits can make clients want it more. As the saying goes, we want what we can't have. In fact, telling a someone that they cannot eat a particular food may actually have them consume it more than they otherwise would have.

Encourage consuming more foods that are in line with their goals and less foods that are not. Establish how frequently to include less nutritious foods in their diet and appropriate portion sizes. This will allow people to meet their goals while still enjoying an occasional treat.

Include a Variety of Foods Each Week

Too often, people get caught up in consuming the same foods every day. While this may make it easier to plan and stay consistent, consuming a variety of foods can:

Help avoid developing food intolerances

Provide a wider variety of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients

Lower inflammation in the body

Encourage a diverse gut microbiome, which is associated with better immune functioning.

Encourage yourself to rotate the foods you eat, so you are not consuming the same fruits, vegetables, proteins and fats every day. Many use a four-day rotation diet, in which the same foods are eaten only every four days. This allows you to have some continuity and regularity with your meal planning while also keeping food choices varied. Eating foods in season also assists with variety.

Limit Variety within Each Meal

While variety within an overall nutrition plan is important, keeping meals simple may be better than having too many ingredients at a single setting. Some research has shown that people will consume more when there is a variety of food to choose from. In one study, participants consumed 23% more yogurt when offered three different flavours, rather than just one.

Having yourself focus on eating fresh foods and keeping the options at each meal limited helps keep:

Nutrient density high

Calorie density moderate

Quantity of food consumed reasonable

Eat Local and In Season

With the ability to get almost any food at any time of year, it makes it easy for you to eat the same foods every day. Encourage yourself to eat locally and purchase foods from a farmer’s market. Not only are you supporting your local farmers directly, but you are also buying foods that are in season and are picked at, or close to, their peak ripened state. Foods purchased from other countries are often picked in an unripe state and then chemically gassed to artificially ripen them.

Summing it All Up

There is no such thing as a perfect diet. There is no one plan that will magically help clients meet all of their goals. However, implementing these five guiding principles can help your clients make better food choices and improve the quality of their overall diet. This gives them the freedom to choose foods they enjoy, adjust their food consumption to their bodies’ current needs, and reach their health and fitness goals.

The five principles are:

Fresh is best.

Avoid demonizing foods.

Include a variety of foods each week.

Limit variety within each meal.

Eat local and in season.

SCREEN TIME, HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?

We spend - on average - 2 hours 28 minutes a day on our smartphones. Shocked?

Research by Ofcom found that 15% of UK adults feel they are always at work because of constant phone access. More than half admit that their devices interrupt face-to-face conversations with loved ones. 

If you’re worried about spending too much time on your phone, here are some things you could do instead.

How much time should we spend on our phones?

Currently, there are no set guidelines from the NHS on how much screen time adults should have. Experts suggest that it’s more important to find a balance between screen-based and non-screen activities. If you find yourself drawn to your phone when you’re having a conversation with someone, for example, that might suggest the balance is off.

The NHS recommends that children should have no screen time until age 2, and for no more than an hour a day after age 2. The NHS doesn't have any recommendations for children aged 5-17, but some research suggests they should spend no more than 2 hours in front of a screen.

How to cut down on screen time

If you’re looking to become less reliant on your phone (or other device), here are our top tips to help you avoid using it.

• Keep track of how much time you actually spend using it. You can easily monitor screen time with Apple’s built-in feature, or for Android you can download Google’s Digital Wellbeing app

• Set usage limits. You can do this in your settings in Apple, or through the Digital Wellbeing app for Android

• Delete any apps that make you feel stressed, or take up too much of your time (you can always reinstall them later)

• Disable notifications to stop your device from distracting you

• Put it in another room – out of sight, out of mind

• Find other things to do instead…

7 things to do instead of going on your phone

If you’re worried that you or your family are spending too much time on your phones, here are some things you could do instead…

1. Read a book

Books encourage relaxation and also hone your ability to concentrate. Reading books may also have further health benefits. A Yale School of Public Health study found that adults who read for three and a half hours per week or more could expect to have a longer lifespan than those who did not read books. Try a book swap with a friend to expand your library for free.

2. Develop your skills

You’ll find you have more free time as you use your phone less. Invest it into developing your skills, especially if there’s any you haven’t kept up with. Dedicate time to practicing the skill that you’ve been ‘too busy’ for.

You could also try learning something new. You could meet with a friend to learn a new skill together or to teach one another a skill you already have.  As we get older, learning new skills can help keep the brain active and stave off age-related cognitive decline. A new instrument, language, life skill or even how to play a new board game could help to keep your mind sharp.

3. Take up exercise

Instead of sitting on the sofa staring at your phone, get moving. Studies have shown that a sedentary lifestyle can lead to all kinds of health problems. These include obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some types of cancer. So, put down your phone and get moving.

If you’re new to exercise, challenge yourself to walk more each week. Walking for just 10 minutes a day can have health benefits. Try going for a jog if you’re feeling more confident. If it’s possible in your area, and safe for you to do so, consider signing up to an exercise class.

4. Have a conversation

When we have our eyes down on our phones, it’s a signal to whoever we’re with that we’re not properly listening. Researchers at the University of Michigan found that having little face-to-face social contact nearly doubled older adults’ risk of depression. Try putting your phone to one side and giving your full attention to who you’re speaking to.

5. Get some sleep

More than a third of people look at their phones just before going to sleep. But the light the devices emit can suppress the body’s production of melatonin – the sleep hormone. Putting down your phone an hour or so before bedtime is recommended in order not to disrupt your sleep cycle. This can ensure you have the rest your body needs to be healthy.

6. Look after your posture

According to the British Chiropractic Association (BCA), 22% of people have experienced back pain after using a smartphone. So rather than hunching over a device, do some simple stretches. You could even book in for a yoga or Pilates class.

7. Get out into nature

Nature can’t be fully accessed via mobile phones or screens. It is best experienced through being out in the world and using all five senses. Nature-deficit disorder has been identified as a growing phenomenon among children. However, adults also benefit from time in natural environments.

Positive ways to use your phone (and other devices)

Cutting down your screen time doesn’t mean swearing off all technology. There are plenty of healthy things you can do using your devices, such as

• Connecting with loved ones using video call

• Learning a new skill on YouTube, or apps like DuoLingo or SkillsShare

• Checking in with your mental health, with apps like Headspace

• Boosting your wellbeing with online classes. Remember, if you’re a Benenden Health member, you can access free online wellbeing classes on diet and nutrition, mindfulness and exercise sessions too.

Why people become overweight

Everyone knows some people who can eat ice cream, cake, and whatever else they want and still not gain weight. At the other extreme are people who seem to gain weight no matter how little they eat. Why? What are the causes of obesity? What allows one person to remain thin without effort but demands that another struggle to avoid gaining weight or regaining the pounds he or she has lost previously?

On a very simple level, your weight depends on the number of calories you consume, how many of those calories you store, and how many you burn up. But each of these factors is influenced by a combination of genes and environment. Both can affect your physiology (such as how fast you burn calories) as well as your behavior (the types of foods you choose to eat, for instance). The interplay between all these factors begins at the moment of your conception and continues throughout your life.

The calorie equation

The balance of calories stored and burned depends on your genetic makeup, your level of physical activity, and your resting energy expenditure (the number of calories your body burns while at rest). If you consistently burn all of the calories that you consume in the course of a day, you will maintain your weight. If you consume more energy (calories) than you expend, you will gain weight.

Excess calories are stored throughout your body as fat. Your body stores this fat within specialized fat cells (adipose tissue) — either by enlarging fat cells, which are always present in the body, or by creating more of them. If you decrease your food intake and consume fewer calories than you burn up, or if you exercise more and burn up more calories, your body will reduce some of your fat stores. When this happens, fat cells shrink, along with your waistline.

Genetic influences

To date, more than 400 different genes have been implicated in the causes of overweight or obesity, although only a handful appear to be major players. Genes contribute to the causes of obesity in many ways, by affecting appetite, satiety (the sense of fullness), metabolism, food cravings, body-fat distribution, and the tendency to use eating as a way to cope with stress. The strength of the genetic influence on weight disorders varies quite a bit from person to person. Research suggests that for some people, genes account for just 25% of the predisposition to be overweight, while for others the genetic influence is as high as 70% to 80%. Having a rough idea of how large a role genes play in your weight may be helpful in terms of treating your weight problems.

How much of your weight depends on your genes?

Genes are probably a significant contributor to your obesity if you have most or all of the following characteristics:

• You have been overweight for much of your life.

• One or both of your parents or several other blood relatives are significantly overweight. If both of your parents have obesity, your likelihood of developing obesity is as high as 80%.

• You can't lose weight even when you increase your physical activity and stick to a low-calorie diet for many months.

Genes are probably a lower contributor for you if you have most or all of the following characteristics:

• You are strongly influenced by the availability of food.

• You are moderately overweight, but you can lose weight when you follow a reasonable diet and exercise program.

• You regain lost weight during the holiday season, after changing your eating or exercise habits, or at times when you experience psychological or social problems.

These circumstances suggest that you have a genetic predisposition to be heavy, but it's not so great that you can't overcome it with some effort.

At the other end of the spectrum, you can assume that your genetic predisposition to obesity is modest if your weight is normal and doesn't increase even when you regularly indulge in high-calorie foods and rarely exercise.

People with only a moderate genetic predisposition to be overweight have a good chance of losing weight on their own by eating fewer calories and getting more vigorous exercise more often. These people are more likely to be able to maintain this lower weight.

What are thrifty genes?

When the prey escaped or the crops failed, how did our ancestors survive? Those who could store body fat to live off during the lean times lived, and those who couldn't, perished. This evolutionary adaptation explains why most modern humans — about 85% of us — carry so-called thrifty genes, which help us conserve energy and store fat. Today, of course, these thrifty genes are a curse rather than a blessing. Not only is food readily available to us nearly around the clock, we don't even have to hunt or harvest it!

In contrast, people with a strong genetic predisposition to obesity may not be able to lose weight with the usual forms of diet and exercise therapy. Even if they lose weight, they are less likely to maintain the weight loss. For people with a very strong genetic predisposition, sheer willpower is ineffective in counteracting their tendency to be overweight. Typically, these people can maintain weight loss only under a doctor's guidance. They are also the most likely to require weight-loss drugs or surgery.

The prevalence of obesity among adults in the United States has been rising since the 1970s. Genes alone cannot possibly explain such a rapid rise. Although the genetic predisposition to be overweight varies widely from person to person, the rise in body mass index appears to be nearly universal, cutting across all demographic groups. These findings underscore the importance of changes in our environment that contribute to the epidemic of overweight and obesity.

Environmental causes of obesity

Genetic factors are the forces inside you that help you gain weight and stay overweight; environmental factors are the outside forces that contribute to these problems. They encompass anything in our environment that makes us more likely to eat too much or exercise too little. Taken together, experts think that environmental factors are the driving force for the causes of obesity and its dramatic rise.

Environmental influences come into play very early, even before you're born. Researchers sometimes call these in-utero exposures "fetal programming." Babies of mothers who smoked during pregnancy are more likely to become overweight than those whose mothers didn't smoke. The same is true for babies born to mothers who had diabetes. Researchers believe these conditions may somehow alter the growing baby's metabolism in ways that show up later in life.

After birth, babies who are breast-fed for more than three months are less likely to have obesity as adolescents compared with infants who are breast-fed for less than three months.

Childhood habits often stick with people for the rest of their lives. Kids who drink sugary sodas and eat high-calorie, processed foods develop a taste for these products and continue eating them as adults, which tends to promote weight gain. Likewise, kids who watch television and play video games instead of being active may be programming themselves for a sedentary future.

Many features of modern life promote weight gain. In short, today's "obesogenic" environment encourages us to eat more and exercise less. And there's growing evidence that broader aspects of the way we live — such as how much we sleep, our stress levels, and other psychological factors — can affect weight as well.

The food factor as one of the causes of obesity

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Americans are eating more calories on average than they did in the 1970s. Between 1971 and 2000, the average man added 168 calories to his daily fare, while the average woman added 335 calories a day. What's driving this trend? Experts say it's a combination of increased availability, bigger portions, and more high-calorie foods.

Practically everywhere we go — shopping centers, sports stadiums, movie theaters — food is readily available. You can buy snacks or meals at roadside rest stops, 24-hour convenience stores, even gyms and health clubs. Americans are spending far more on foods eaten out of the home: In 1970, we spent 27% of our food budget on away-from-home food; by 2006, that percentage had risen to 46%.

In the 1950s, fast-food restaurants offered one portion size. Today, portion sizes have ballooned, a trend that has spilled over into many other foods, from cookies and popcorn to sandwiches and steaks. A typical serving of French fries from McDonald's contains three times more calories than when the franchise began. A single "super-sized" meal may contain 1,500–2,000 calories — all the calories that most people need for an entire day. And research shows that people will often eat what's in front of them, even if they're already full. Not surprisingly, we're also eating more high-calorie foods (especially salty snacks, soft drinks, and pizza), which are much more readily available than lower-calorie choices like salads and whole fruits. Fat isn't necessarily the problem; in fact, research shows that the fat content of our diet has actually gone down since the early 1980s. But many low-fat foods are very high in calories because they contain large amounts of sugar to improve their taste and palatability. In fact, many low-fat foods are actually higher in calories than foods that are not low fat.

The exercise equation

The government's current recommendations for exercise call for an hour of moderate to vigorous exercise a day. But fewer than 25% of Americans meet that goal.

Our daily lives don't offer many opportunities for activity. Children don't exercise as much in school, often because of cutbacks in physical education classes. Many people drive to work and spend much of the day sitting at a computer terminal. Because we work long hours, we have trouble finding the time to go to the gym, play a sport, or exercise in other ways.

Instead of walking to local shops and toting shopping bags, we drive to one-stop megastores, where we park close to the entrance, wheel our purchases in a shopping cart, and drive home. The widespread use of vacuum cleaners, dishwashers, leaf blowers, and a host of other appliances takes nearly all the physical effort out of daily chores and can contribute as one of the causes of obesity.

The trouble with TV: Sedentary snacking

The average American watches about four hours of television per day, a habit that's been linked to overweight or obesity in a number of studies. Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a long-term study monitoring the health of American adults, revealed that people with overweight and obesity spend more time watching television and playing video games than people of normal weight. Watching television more than two hours a day also raises the risk of overweight in children, even in those as young as three years old.

Part of the problem may be that people are watching television instead of exercising or doing other activities that burn more calories (watching TV burns only slightly more calories than sleeping, and less than other sedentary pursuits such as sewing or reading). But food advertisements also may play a significant role. The average hour-long TV show features about 11 food and beverage commercials, which encourage people to eat. And studies show that eating food in front of the TV stimulates people to eat more calories, and particularly more calories from fat. In fact, a study that limited the amount of TV kids watched demonstrated that this practice helped them lose weight — but not because they became more active when they weren't watching TV. The difference was that the children ate more snacks when they were watching television than when doing other activities, even sedentary ones.

Stress and related issues

Obesity experts now believe that a number of different aspects of American society may conspire to promote weight gain. Stress is a common thread intertwining these factors. For example, these days it's commonplace to work long hours and take shorter or less frequent vacations. In many families, both parents work, which makes it harder to find time for families to shop, prepare, and eat healthy foods together. Round-the-clock TV news means we hear more frequent reports of child abductions and random violent acts. This does more than increase stress levels; it also makes parents more reluctant to allow children to ride their bikes to the park to play. Parents end up driving kids to play dates and structured activities, which means less activity for the kids and more stress for parents. Time pressures — whether for school, work, or family obligations — often lead people to eat on the run and to sacrifice sleep, both of which can contribute to weight gain.

Some researchers also think that the very act of eating irregularly and on the run may be another one of the causes of obesity. Neurological evidence indicates that the brain's biological clock — the pacemaker that controls numerous other daily rhythms in our bodies — may also help to regulate hunger and satiety signals. Ideally, these signals should keep our weight steady. They should prompt us to eat when our body fat falls below a certain level or when we need more body fat (during pregnancy, for example), and they should tell us when we feel satiated and should stop eating. Close connections between the brain's pacemaker and the appetite control center in the hypothalamus suggest that hunger and satiety are affected by temporal cues. Irregular eating patterns may disrupt the effectiveness of these cues in a way that promotes obesity.

Similarly, research shows that the less you sleep, the more likely you are to gain weight. Lack of sufficient sleep tends to disrupt hormones that control hunger and appetite and could be another one of the causes of obesity. In a 2004 study of more than 1,000 volunteers, researchers found that people who slept less than eight hours a night had higher levels of body fat than those who slept more, and the people who slept the fewest hours weighed the most.

Stress and lack of sleep are closely connected to psychological well-being, which can also affect diet and appetite, as anyone who's ever gorged on cookies or potato chips when feeling anxious or sad can attest. Studies have demonstrated that some people eat more when affected by depression, anxiety, or other emotional disorders. In turn, overweight and obesity themselves can promote emotional disorders: If you repeatedly try to lose weight and fail, or if you succeed in losing weight only to gain it all back, the struggle can cause tremendous frustration over time, which can cause or worsen anxiety and depression. A cycle develops that leads to greater and greater obesity, associated with increasingly severe emotional difficulties.

This blog was written by Harvard Health

How to deal with a fear of judgement whilst exercising

According to a King's College London and Ipsos MORI survey of 2,254 people, 48% said they put on weight during lockdown - and the same percentage reported feeling more anxious or depressed than usual.

Very few people stride into a gym or set off for a run feeling confident every single time. You may worry about being unfit or looking silly in front of other people - and it can be daunting to join a new class with people you don't know. Even wearing an old pair of leggings or lycra sports clothes can make you feel awkward and uncomfortable.

Why do we feel judged?

A fear of being judged can lower our self-esteem and affect how we feel about ourselves. We can feel that others are evaluating our weight and how we look.

We can feel that others are judging our lack of fitness or even our old sports clothes and this can make us feel unsure about ourselves and question our behaviour, It can also prevent us from adhering to an exercise programme as we lose our confidence in being able to stand there in the clothes we have.

With gyms combining lots of unknown people with some people just concerned about how they look and posing in the mirrors, (you know who you are) you can see why people’s fears can really see why peoples fear surfaces. Fear is meant to be uncomfortable to make sure you do something about it. It usually wants you to avoid whatever it sees as causing the discomfort.

Even if you manage to overcome the fear and get to the gym, it can make peoples experience so uncomfortable there unlikely to want to repeat it.

Doing exercise isn't just about improving your physical health and trying to shift any pounds gained during lockdown, but it's essential for people’s mental health too. It releases brain chemicals such as endorphins, which help to relieve discomfort and boost your mood.

Find a class you love

Find something you love doing, rather than forcing yourself to an abs class that you hate, the key is when it comes to overcoming worries about exercising is to maybe try something you have never done, you can always change class, one of the bigger gyms will have multiple classes over the course of the day. You will also meet like minded people. remember your not the only person in that situation.

Look after yourself

To feel more confident in general, people need to learn how to relax and enjoy yourself, even when things are stressful. Most of us though will feel more balanced after mindfulness and meditation, a walk in nature and spending time outdoors. Getting enough sleep, good nutrition, drinking plenty of water and spending time with people we love are also key. Reading, dancing and listening to music and, particularly, being physically active all help too

Goal Setting

Well its that time of year again and all you think is “I`ll do this exercise” “do that exercise” “eat this” “eat that” it can be overwhelming and what’s worse most of the time there are no realistic time scales, you read the headline and that’s it, you want that type of body.
Wanting and getting the body, you want are two different things, but it is achievable if you follow a tried and tested way. Goal setting.
Goal setting is important to any person or athlete, to get further on new lifestyle you need points or goals to aim for weather its losing that last few pounds of winning that next medal. One goal setting technique is made up of the acronine S.M.A.R.T Goals.
Remember this and you won’t go far wrong, so what does SMART stand for?

• S- specific

Be specific in what you want, its no good saying “I want to lose a few pounds” you need to think “ I going to lose 5lbs”

• M- measurable

Be measurable, is your goal obtainable, can you measure it in stages, will you find out when you have hit your goal.

• A – achievable

Think about it, are you going to be able to reach your goal, start small and get bigger. Don’t make your goals too big.

• R- realistic

Be realistic, don’t just say I’m going to lose 6 stone or I’m going to run a marathon , these maybe your end goals, but I serious doubt you’ll do in in your first month.

• T- time related

Be time related, how long is going to take you, for example, a health way to loss weight is 2lbs a week, so if you wanted to lose 1 stone this will take you 7 weeks.