To carb or not to carb?

This debate will continue to go on while people remain dieting in order to lose weight, carbohydrates (carbs) have been highly publicised by some diets as being a prime nutrient of weight gain. Low-carb diets are food plans that restrict carbohydrate consumption for weight loss. Foods high in carbohydrates, such as bread and pasta are restricted and replaced with protein rich foods (e.g. meat), high fat foods (e.g. dairy and fried food) and foods low in carbs (e.g. green leafy vegetables). This forces the body to use fat & protein from food also stored body fat as its main source of energy and weight loss can take place rapidly. Some well known diets like the Atkins, Stillman or Hollywood use these methods, they have become famous for their fast results and are regularly used by celebrities on a short term basis before a film or award show. Other benefits such as blood sugar levels being reduced and lower blood pressure have been documented, but these diets have not gone without their criticism. Overlooking the superficial benefits there are severe underlying health risks which dieticians and researchers are keen to point out. Risks such as kidney damage from the high levels of proteins, heart disease and a risk of cancer are just a few of the listed risks. The brain is also fuelled by carbs so with these diets you can suffer from a lack of concentration too. Carbohydrates are the bodies’ main and optimum energy source so without carbs in your diet it can lead to a real lack of energy so strenuous exercise is not recommended and this is not a diet taken by sports people, it is like the lazy persons option to losing weight.  

It is true that huge amounts of weight can be lost really quickly so that’s why I say that if you wish to follow the diet then it should be a short term option. With it comes the consequences of yo-yo dieting, as the body now craves carbs, once you again introduce it into your diet you can quickly put the weight back on. I would never be an advocate of such dieting methods and believe that everything should be consumed in moderation making sure that your calorie intake does not exceed your calorie expenditure, so simply put exercise and eat a balanced diet is my tip to losing weight.       

Written by

Erron Dussard

STONEiMAGE Management LTD

Abs are made in the kitchen not the gym

A lot of gym goers, keep fitters make the mistake of thinking that all it takes to get a flat stomach is a bit of exercise in the gym a few times a week and hey presto your stomach will be rippling. I'm always telling my clients that is not the case, there’s a lot more to it. It has to be more of a conscious lifestyle change meaning eating healthier, drinking more water, sleeping more and monitoring alcohol consumption. When it comes to getting fit, toned, losing weight or gaining muscle it is 70% nutrition and 30% exercise, hence the title “Abs are made in the kitchen not the gym floor”. You could be one of those people who train relatively hard on a regular basis who seeing great transformation is a challenge for and all it could take is tweaking the way in which you eat, which will end up making a huge difference. Even the best workout programme in the world can be undone by unhealthy eating.The improvements can be so much more efficient and better with a correct nutritional plan.
Takeaways are very convenient and fast food but are saturated in fat. Eating healthy requires a little bit of preparation, a good idea is to cook before the start of the week, package and store your meals.

Other useful tips are snacking on raw nuts, seeds and fruit in between meals. Measure out your portion sizes to avoid over eating, carbohydrates should be measured by what you can cup in your hands, proteins is measured by the palm of your hand.
Basic issues like the regularity of your eating, the portion sizes you consume, the time of day you eat, your hydration levels and obviously what you are eating all play a role in how your body burns or stores the food. The common thought is the less you eat the more weight you lose or the less frequent you eat the better but that is not the case. Our body is so clever that our metabolic rate decreases if we go long periods without eating to avoid burning too much calories and basically falling into starvation. It is at this point when the body begins to store food as fat which is slower releasing of its energy.  If you think of your body as a burning furnace, you don’t wait for the fire to go out before adding more coal you continually add to the fire to keep the flame going. Our body is the same, rather than waiting till you are really hungry before eating with your metabolism slowing down, eat regularly (every 2-3hrs) and eat smaller portions to keep the metabolic furnace burning.

Those are just the basic aspects of nutrition which I have studied and touched upon but to really get to grips with nutrition, making sure you’re receiving the right nutrients for the body acquire the expertise of a specialist ie a dietician. Your nutrition will be the difference between great results and mediocre ones and I like my clients to be the best they can be.

For nutritional tips from STONEiMAGE Dietician Patricia Caprice @Vitalamine on twitter

Written by

Erron Dussard
STONEiMAGE Management LTD
@Stoneimage