2979: Forget Dieting - These 6 Steps Can Change Your Life by Emma Hogan with Les Mills on Weight Management

[00:00:00] This is Optimal Health Daily. Forget Dieting, These 6 Steps Can Change Your Life by Emma Hogan of LesMills.com and I'm Dr. Neal Malik. Hey there, welcome back to Optimal Health Daily where I read to you every day covering the best health and fitness blogs, with permission from the websites of course, and always with a bit of my commentary at the end. Alright and with that, let's get right to the post as we optimize your life.

[00:00:30] Forget Dieting, These 6 Steps Can Change Your Life by Emma Hogan of LesMills.com There's no disputing the facts. If you're a healthy adult, you'll lose weight if, over time, you eat fewer calories than your body uses. And, you'll gain weight if, over time, you eat more calories than your body uses. If weight loss is your goal, then it all hinges on calorie deficit.

[00:00:56] Quote, While creating a calorie deficit sounds pretty easy, actually losing weight and keeping it off is hard. End quote. Bas Hollander, LesMills Education Director and co-creator of the new LesMills Fuel Nutritional Reset.

[00:01:13] He points to a 2015 study of 176,000 obese individuals which highlighted low probability of participants attaining normal body weight according to their body mass index, or a 5% reduction in body weight.

[00:01:29] In the group with a body mass index between 24.9 and 30, the annual probability of achieving a 5% weight reduction was just 1 in 12 for men and 1 in 10 for women. Bas Hollander adds, quote, What's more, over half of all of those who did manage to lose the weight initially gained weight in the next two years, often ending up heavier than they were in the first place. End quote.

[00:01:57] Other studies have shown the more weight loss attempts, the greater the weight gain over time. Bas says this doesn't mean we should stop helping people towards a healthier weight if that's their goal. Quote, It just means that as fitness professionals, we need to realize that losing weight can be much harder than we sometimes make it seem. End quote. One of the most successful ways to reach your optimal weight is to make small dietary changes that, in time, can create a big difference.

[00:02:28] According to Diana Archer Mills, Les Mills Creative Director and co-creator of the Les Mills Fuel Nutritional Reset, Quote, Food is not the enemy. A lifetime of good nutrition comes down to finding what works for you and setting eating patterns that feel great and bring you joy. End quote.

[00:02:46] End quote.

[00:03:16] Nothing but an upset stomach. This is why it's important to start paying more attention to what you're eating and how it makes you feel. The easiest way to do this is to start a food journal and record everything you eat and how it makes you feel, both straight away and later in the day. Look for patterns and play around with what you eat and when. When you start to take notice of how different foods make you feel, you can start making small changes which will make you feel so much better.

[00:03:44] 2. Find the right advice for you. It's easy to feel overwhelmed with the amount of nutrition advice you can find online, and it's often very contradictory. One website says to avoid something. Another website raves about the same food, telling you to eat more of it. If you want simple, proven, easy to follow nutrition advice, you should make your country's healthy nutrition guidelines your first port of call.

[00:04:11] Around the world, these guidelines differ slightly based on culture and what's common in each region, but there are many similarities across the board. Wherever you're located, the advice is this. Eat more plants, eat less sugar, less salt, and less trans and saturated fats, and cut back on food that has been overly processed. 3. Be colorful. You've probably heard the term, eat the rainbow. But why?

[00:04:39] Aside from providing gram-worthy dinner plate photos, what does eating a colorful array of foods actually do? Well, making sure our diets are packed with all sorts of different colors is one of the simplest ways to fuel our bodies with much-needed vitamins and minerals. Vitamins and minerals are called micronutrients because they are found in foods in very small amounts, yet they are critical for our survival. As our body is not able to make them in sufficient quantities,

[00:05:07] we need to get micronutrients from our foods. Not only do we need a colorful mix of fruits and vegetables, we also need a colorful mix of healthy fats, like milk, salmon, eggs, olive oil, nuts, and seeds, as these healthy fats are key to helping our bodies absorb vitamins. 4. Learn the truth about sugar. It's a common misconception that sugar is evil and should be eliminated from our diets. This is not the case. While all sugar is a type of carbohydrate

[00:05:36] and is broken down into glucose which we use for energy, not all sugar is created equally. When we eat foods like apples or oats, we get a good dose of sugar which is great for energy, plus we get fiber and important vitamins and minerals, and we stay full for longer. When we eat foods like cake, candy, and soda, we're consuming the calories, but we don't get any of the other benefits. This type of added sugar, also known as empty calories,

[00:06:04] is not only in sweet treats, it hides in all sorts of places, like ketchup, mayonnaise, cereals. Cutting back on added sugar isn't always easy, but it is the fastest way to eliminate unnecessary calories from your diet. 5. Eat mindfully. Mindful eating is about maintaining an in-the-moment awareness of the food and drink you put into your body, and it's a great skill to develop. Eating mindfully helps you start observing

[00:06:33] rather than judging how the food makes you feel. It can take the brain up to 20 minutes to realize you're full, but you won't register that if you're double-tapping on Instagram while eating. By making food your main focus while you eat, you instantly slow down. You become aware of the signals your body sends about taste, satisfaction, and fullness. And that means you're far less likely to eat a whole bag of Cheetos without noticing. And 6. Be prepared.

[00:07:02] Spontaneity is cool and brings joy into your eating, but feeling unprepared can bring stress and a lack of options. Taking simple steps to prepare good nutrition is the secret to staying in control and on track with healthy eating. If you're one of those organizational superstars who thrives on preparing every meal for the week ahead, go for gold. But if you find this a little daunting, simply find a few good, healthy meal options and make sure you have plenty of healthy snacks on hand.

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[00:09:04] there's a pick for you. They're perfect for that protein pick-me-up or just a tasty treat. So, get snackin' and get crackin' with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more. Dr. Neil here for my commentary. You've heard me talk about this before. If someone wants to manage their food intake, the best thing to do is to write down everything they ate and drank. So, if we think back to tips one and five

[00:09:34] that today's author Emma shared, take more notice of your food and feelings and eating mindfully, well, keeping a food journal will help with both. One of the things I recommend people do when they keep a food journal is to also write down how they felt before and after they eat or drink anything. So, again, that helps with tip number one. Then, when it comes to tip number five and eating mindfully, having to keep a food journal makes this happen automatically. How is that possible?

[00:10:03] Well, when we're keeping a food journal, we remember that we're gonna have to write down what we're eating and how much we ate. This automatically makes us think twice about what we're eating. More thinking about what we're eating means more mindful eating. Now, there are lots more benefits to keeping a food journal, but I'll spare you from going on about that. Just know that it's the go-to when it comes to weight management without actually dieting, because it works. Oh, and by the way,

[00:10:31] you don't have to keep a food journal every day. Even if we just journal for three to four days each week, it helps. All right, that'll do it for today's episode. I hope you're having a great day. And of course, I'll be back here tomorrow for our usual Friday Q&A and where your optimal life awaits.