To use the recipes in this book effectively and to lose weight gradually or maintain your ideal weight, here’s a set of 10 basic rules to follow:
1 Eat a varied diet
To stay healthy, you need to eat a varied diet that contains all the essential nutrients: protein (animal and/or vegetable), carbohydrates that are not over-refined or high in sugar, fat (we all need some fat, but choose foods if possible that have less than 5 per cent fat and remove any visible fat from meat and poultry), vitamins and minerals. Even when you are on a calorie-reduced programme, you can still include all these foods on a daily basis. It’s particularly important to eat some protein every day because it’s needed for body growth and maintenance, building muscle and repairing damaged tissue. Good sources are chicken, turkey, lean beef, pork and lamb, white and oily fish, shellfish, eggs, beans, pulses, whole grains, nuts, soy and low-fat dairy products, such as skimmed (lowfat) milk and very low-fat yogurt.
2 Eat three meals a day
You must eat three meals a day – breakfast, lunch and dinner – that fit within your daily calorie target. Eating regularly within a routine that suits you and your lifestyle makes you less likely to feel hungry between meals or to get sugar cravings. Many people are tempted to skip breakfast and just have a coffee, but this is a big mistake and counterproductive. Eating breakfast raises your blood sugar levels after a night’s sleep and boosts your metabolism so your body is less sluggish and burns up more calories. If you don’t eat breakfast, you are more likely to get hunger pangs as the morning progresses and to snack on high-calorie foods.
3 Don’t starve yourself
If you go without food and miss meals, you will just crave it even more and be tempted to eat high-calorie foods that put on weight. There’s no excuse for skipping meals or reducing your calorie intake to zilch. Within this book, you will find lots of exciting and innovative recipes for low-calorie dishes you can eat and enjoy without worrying about how they are going to affect your weight. If you stop eating, your metabolism will slow down, you will feel weak and less energetic and your health will suffer.
4 Try not to snack
If you eat regular healthy meals, you are less likely to snack in between. Most people grab a chocolate bar, a packet of crisps (potato chips), a biscuit (cookie), a cake or sugary drink as a snack, but these will pile on the calories. If you are hungry, it’s much better to treat yourself to some fresh fruit, such as an apple, pear, juicy peach or apricot, orange, a slice of melon or some strawberries. Avoid bananas, as they are very starchy and even a small one contains 90 calories and a large one as much as 180 calories. Or you could try a 0% fat plain Greek yogurt with some fresh berries. Healthy vegetable snacks include celery sticks or sliced carrot or red and yellow (bell) pepper with reduced-fat tomato salsa or a small ramekin of virtually fat-free fromage frais sprinkled with chopped fresh herbs. Or spread some low-fat cottage cheese or low-fat hummus on a crispbread and top with some sliced tomato or cucumber.
5 Eat less sugar
Sugar is empty calories and doesn’t contribute nutritionally to building and maintaining good health. The problem is that most of us have a sweet tooth and we crave sugar – hence our consumption of biscuits (cookies), cake, desserts, sweet breakfast cereals, ice cream and chocolate. And there are hidden sugars in many sauces, sweetened yogurts, soft drinks, flavoured waters and even coleslaw. Alcohol is probably the worst culprit and if you enjoy a glass or two of wine with your meal every evening, the calories soon add up over the weeks and months. You can reduce your sugar intake by choosing sugarless or low-sugar foods and drinks and using an artificial sweetener or a natural one, such as stevia, in hot drinks.
6 Eat less fat
Fat is packed with more calories than any other food, so it’s important to keep it to a minimum. You can do this by choosing low-fat foods with less than 5 per cent fat, such as minced (ground) beef, yogurt, ice cream and cottage cheese. Don’t spread butter on bread, toast and crispbreads; choose lean cuts of meat and remove all the visible fat before cooking; use spray oil and fat-free vinaigrette dressing and grill, steam or poach foods rather than frying them. Chicken and other poultry and game are naturally lean, but the skin is high in fat, so remove it before cooking if possible, or cut it off roasted birds and discard. However, don’t cut out oily fish, such as salmon, mackerel and tuna, which are high in healthy omega-3 fatty acids – try to eat them once or twice a week.
7 Eat more fibre
The natural fibre in food not only helps to fill you up so you don’t want to eat so much, it also helps keep your gut healthy and your digestive system working efficiently. Vegetables, fruit, whole grains, beans and pulses are all good sources of fibre and you should try to include some of them in your diet every day.
8 Eat fewer processed foods
By eating more natural and less refined foods, you will know which nutrients and how many calories they contain. Sugar and fats often lurk in processed foods, sometimes hiding behind other names. You don’t have to decipher the labels and consume non-nutritious additives, such as flavour enhancers, colourings and preservatives. You are more in control of what you’re eating.
9 Be aware of hidden calories
Alcohol, canned and fresh soups, sauces, ketchup, mayonnaise and breakfast cereals, including granola, are some of the foods that contain ‘hidden’ calories. For example, a typical can of soft drink might have the equivalent of as many as 7 teaspoons of sugar. And there are ‘hidden’ fats in many naturally healthy foods, such as peanuts (5 calories per nut), olives (between 3 and 9 calories each) and avocados (between 200 and 400 calories depending on its size).
10 Allow yourself the occasional treat
Just because you are watching the calories and trying to lose weight doesn’t mean that you can’t indulge yourself with the odd treat. There’s no need to feel guilty – we all need to spoil ourselves sometimes. If you achieve the goals you have set and then reward yourself with a treat, that’s motivating. Enjoying a sweet food that you crave can help you to stay on track rather than giving up on your weight-loss regime. Just remember to add it to your daily calorie total.