Hello Everybody,
In order to burn fat and lose weight you need to exercise and cut out the food which is making you put on weight. But it is not easy to stop an unhealthy diet and start a healthy one. A good way of getting started is to do it a little at a time. Swap items of unhealthy food for healthy food and as you do this your diet will improve. Here are six suggestions for swaps.
White Rice to Brown Rice. Most white foods are highly processed. White bread, white pasta and white rice all contain refined carbohydrates, which can cause weight gain as well as diabetes, heart problems and stroke. Swap for whole grain food and brown rice.
Butter to Olive Oil. Butter is high in saturated fats. One third of the 200,000 premature deaths from heart disease each year in the UK are caused by saturated fats. So swap butter for olive oil, which contains healthy monounsaturated fats. Virgin olive oil is best, and the fresher the better. Good quality oil has the packaging date on the label. Make sure it is less than a year old. This takes care of cooking, but to spread on your bread as a butter substitute use margarine. This should be ‘trans fat free’ margarine which will be soft and not come in solid packs.
Danish Pastries to Wholemeal Scones. This is a difficult one. We all love Danish Pastries. But you can get very fat on them. A large one will contain 620 calories, as well as sugar and saturated fats. This is a meal in a pastry and you will probably have a coffee as well. A wholemeal scone has about 330 calories, plus a little more for margarine. But even with jam - which is not a good idea- it will contain less calories and fat than a Danish Pastry.
Red Meat to Fish. Not all red meat is harmful - grass-fed beef eaten in moderation is fine. But most red meat equals saturated fat and that is bad news. You are better eating white meat like free range poultry or rabbit for the meat in your diet. As an alternative to red meat swap to fish. Not all fish is healthy. Some contain mercury. Some, such as tuna and Atlantic cod, are being over-fished and should be avoided for environmental reasons. But mackerel (not king mackerel), herring, salmon and trout are all good healthy swaps for red meat.
Fizzy Drinks to Water. Most fizzy drinks contain sugar, a lot contain caffeine. They are a rich source of unwanted calories and rot your teeth as well. Swap to water. If you do not mind being overcharged, or for convenience, use bottled water. Otherwise, where it is safe to drink, tap water is quite acceptable.
Crisps to Nuts. Crisps are high in fat and salt and contain not much else. Swap for unsalted nuts. Research has shown that nuts can lower cholesterol. Be careful, unsalted nuts are high in calories and although they do contain mostly monounsaturated fats they do contain some saturated fat. So do not eat too many unsalted nuts - but they are a lot better than crisps.
You will still need to exercise to help burn fat, but do these swaps and you will be eating a more healthy diet without worrying too much about the changes you have made. Be realistic - we all like an occasional treat. The sky will not fall in if you have a Danish pastry or hot buttered crumpet, once in a while. Just try not to eat them every day.
See you soon,
Peter Stockwell
Cambridge UK
12 December 2010
Photo. Edvard Titov.