Do you snack on autopilot? Have you found yourself eating a bag of crisps or a packet of biscuits while watching TV or reading a magazine and suddenly find they’ve all gone without you really noticing? If so, learning to eat mindfully could be your key to successful weight loss. […]
According to a study published in the online journal BMJ Open eating slowly can help you lose weight, especially if you also cut out after dinner snacks and don’t eat within 2 hours of going to sleep. These insights came from a study involving almost 60,000 people with diabetes, which […]
High-intensity interval training (HIIT, also known as high-intensity intermittent exercise or HIIE), is one of the most popular exercises for boosting fitness and supporting weight loss, as the idea of working hard, for shorter periods in exchange for for greater long-term gain is universally appealing. How much exercise to lose […]
The fruit and protein diet is rapidly gaining in popularity as it enables you to lose weight by eating a combination of fruit and protein for three days in a row. As fruit has a low glycemic index, this three-day diet naturally reduces your intake of carbohydrates so is low […]
Rye is a grain that’s closely related to barley and wheat yet is a dieter’s best friend. Its edible seed kernels, referred to as rye berries, are used to produce rye flour that offers many slimming benefits. In most grains, the fibre is found mostly in the outer bran layers […]
Most diets ask you to avoid alcohol with good reason – alcohol packs a lot of calories. Just one gram of alcohol (ethanol or ethyl alcohol) provides 7 kilocalories of pure energy. According to the World Health Organisation, a unit of pure alcohol is 10g although this varies from 8g […]
Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is a form of depression that, in most cases, comes on in winter months when exposure to natural sunlight is reduced. This may be the remnant of a primitive hibernation response in which weight was gained to see you through the cold, dark, winter months. […]
You may be surprised to learn that the most popular diet in the world is – the Juice Diet! Bupa Global who examined diets among an international audience from the US, UK, China, Egypt, the UAE, Mexico, Hong Kong and France. From over 8,000 people surveyed, more than one in […]
Nuts are a popular and healthy snack, but many people worry about eating them when trying to lose weight because they have a high calorie count. Fear not. Eating nuts can actually HELP you lose weight. Nuts are an excellent source of protein and fibre (which fill you up) and […]
Low carbohydrate diets are increasingly accepted as a healthy way to lose weight. These diets work because they do not cause blood glucose swings or trigger a sudden surge in insulin – the main fat-storing hormone in the body. Insulin switches on fat storing and switches off fat burning by […]
Our ancestors evolved on a low carbohydrate, high protein diet known as the hunter-gatherer or Paleo diet. With the development of agriculture after the last Ice Age, intakes of carbohydrate increased, but this was mostly in the form of low glycemic grains. As a result of the industrial revolution, however, […]
If you love pasta, then we have good news and bad news. The bad news is that traditional pasta, in traditional large portions, is best avoided if you want to lose weight. If you really can’t live without pasta, then you could have the occasional small portion and smother it […]
The Lemon Detox diet is a short fasting regime that aims to get your weight loss off to a good start. The classic version is designed around Madal Bal Tree Syrup from which you make up your lemon detox drink. Madal Bal Natural Tree Syrup is made from four different […]
The grapefruit diet is one of the longest surviving so-called ‘fad’ diets which promises weight loss of as much as 10lbs in 10 days or sometimes 12 days. Sometimes known as the Mayo Clinic Grapefruit Diet (for reasons that remain unclear), it’s said to work via grapefruit enzymes that help […]
The wide range of available diets underlines the fact that no one diet suits everyone. Some people do best by counting calories, others by going low carb and others by staying low fat. Each method has its pros and cons, supporters and detractors. Here’s our take on 6 of the […]
If you think that being lean automatically exempts you from obesity-related diseases, think again. Scientists have identified a condition they’ve dubbed skinny fat syndrome, which brings the same risks as abdominal obesity, in which you tend to store fat around your internal organs. Skinny fat is visceral fat Based on […]
Over 15 million people worldwide are estimated to have an undiagnosed thyroid condition which can mean you put on weight or find it difficult to lose weight. The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland at the base of your neck. It produces two iodine-containing hormones, thyroxine (T4) and tri-iodothyronine (T3), which […]
Adding turmeric to your diet is an excellent and delicious way to boost fat burning and weight loss. Turmeric is a yellow-orange spice derived from the root-like rhizomes, or underground stems, of a plant called Curcuma longa. It has a mild, aromatic, slightly bitter flavour and a rich, vibrant, saffron […]
Asparagus is one of the most popular diet foods and not just for its delicious taste – it is a rich source of antioxidants and considered a SIRT food for its ability to stimulate metabolism and boost weight loss. How asparagus supports weight loss Asparagus helps you lose weight in […]
Following a more plant based diet can help you lose weight, and it doesn’t have to be a full-on vegetarian diet. A semi-vegetarian diet or flexitarian diet will help you lose weight, too. That’s the conclusion of an analysis presented at the European Congress on Obesity, who found that people […]
Dietary protein is your weight loss best friend. Not only does eating protein stimulate your metabolic rate so you release more energy as heat, but protein also has a powerful satiety effect, triggering the release of intestinal hormones that make you feel full for longer. These two effects make a […]
Cannabidiol, or CBD, an extract from industrial hemp plants is gaining a reputation as a weight loss supplement. This may seem surprising given that its nutritional ‘cousin’ marijuana, is associated with the munchies and increased snacking – so what’s the evidence that CBD can help with weight loss? How CBD […]
A calorie counter or calorie tracker is an online or smart phone app that helps track your energy intake so you can avoid inadvertently eating too much. People who use a calorie counter lose more weight, and find it easier to keep the weight off and maintain a lower weight. […]
Zotrim is one of the best researched weight loss supplements, which we have recommended for at least 15 years. Zotrim contains natural extracts from three South American plant extracts – Guarana, Damiana and Yerba Mate, all of which have a long history of safe use in helping people lose weight. […]
Stevia is a natural sweetener extracted from the leaves of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni, a shrubby plant that grows in the rainforests of South America. Stevia leaves contain naturally sweet substances called stevioside, 6 different rebaudiosides (labelled A through to F) and dulcoside, which together make the leaves at least 30 […]
The amount of energy contained in food can be measured in two different units – the kilocalorie (kcal) and the kilojoule (kJ). To a physicist, a standard calorie is the amount of heat energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree centigrade (from 15 […]
The Atkins Diet is one of the most popular and also one of the most controversial ways to lose weight. Back when fats were demonised, the Atkins diet was considered unhealthy, but with newer understandings that it is sugar – a carbohydrate – that is most harmful, low carbohydrate diets […]
SIRT foods are the closest thing scientists have yet found to the fabled Fountain of Youth or Elixir of Life. What’s more they can also help you lose weight by boosting fat burning and mimicking the effects of fasting – without actually having to avoid eating. By selecting the right […]
According to interventionist Brad Lamm, author of Just 10lbs: Easy Steps to Weighing What You Want, the immediate relief you feel from achieving a ten pound weight loss is enormous. Not only does your body feel thinner, but your spirit will feel lighter, and your clothes will feel different. If […]
The Cabbage Soup Diet claims you can lose up to 10 lbs in 7 days by eating nothing but – well, cabbage soup. Like any mono-diet in which you only eat one highly restricted type of food, it is not nutritionally balanced, is boring and difficult to stick with. We […]
There’s a lot of buzz around green coffee bean extract which has been praised as a miracle fat burner – but is there any evidence green coffee beans can actually help you lose weight? It turns out that at least 110 research papers have studied the weight loss benefits of […]
Forskolin is extracted from the lovely Indian plant, Coleus forskohlii (also known as Plectranthus barbatus) which belongs to the mint and lavender family. The fleshy roots of the plant are used in pickles and as a condiment, while the leaves are a traditional Ayurvedic medicine, used to support weight loss, […]
Every day, you breath over 23,000 times and inhale up to 10,000 different aromatic chemicals. These aromas are detected by hair-like nerve endings at the top of your nose that, unlike those involved in other senses, are directly hard-wired into your brain. Smell messages pass directly to your Limbic System […]
Kelp supplements are obtained from long-leaved seaweeds that are also known as bladderwrack (eg Laminaria sp., Fucus vesiculosus). Kelp is a nutritious source of 13 vitamins, 20 essential amino acids as well as 60 minerals and trace elements. Kelp is a particularly rich source of calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron and […]
L-carnitine (acetyl-l-carnitine) is an amino acid which plays an important role in fat burning. It acts rather like a juggernaut by transporting fatty acids into your cells’ energy-producing factories (mitochondria) so you burn fat more efficiently. Essentially, the more l-carnitine that’s available, the more fat you can burn, especially during […]
Although, monitoring your weight is useful to keep you on track, and to highlight whether or not you are maintaining weight, piling it on, or successfully slimming down, assessing your weight isn’t as simple as just stepping on the scales. A weight of 75kg (11stone 11lb) may be ideal for […]
Alli is a weight-loss aid containing the medicine, orlistat. At one time orlistat was only available on prescription (as the drug, Xenical) but this was found to be so effective and safe, that it became available over-the-counter without a prescription but at a lower dose. Alli supplies 60mg orlistat, while […]
Maintaining a healthy weight is an important way to help reduce your long-term risk of developing high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, a heart attack or stroke. Unfortunately, as you get older, weight is more easily gained due to age-related changes in both your body and lifestyle. Between the ages […]
Glucomannan is a soluble fibre obtained from the rather ugly tubers of the konjac plant. Also known as the elephant yam, these tubers can grow to more than 5kg in weight! Glucomannan fibre has been used for thousands of years as a dietary stable, and as a traditional medicine to […]
Garcinia cambogia fruit is a small pumpkin shaped fruit that is sometimes known as a tamarind. Its rind contains high concentrations of a fruit acid called hydroxycitric acid (HCA). This fruit acid blocks a metabolic enzyme (adenosine triphosphatase citrate-lyase) which is needed to convert excess carbohydrate to fat. Taking hydroxycitric […]
