The difficulty with losing weight..

Learning techniques on "how to lose weight" is why my clients make nutrition appointments with me. By then most are frustrated with their inability to lose a few pounds.

The list below is an attempt to offer an insight that will hopefully help to answer the question that is backed up by research at Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School, and the Boston Nutrition Obesity Research Center.

So why is adding weight easy?

• The world we live in is very tempting when it comes to consuming food. What makes that worse is that most of the food on offer is unhealthy and is likely to add weight. This explains why we are heavier as a generation than our parents’ generation
• It is not simply a question of will power. Research studies have shown that obese people need more food for their brains to generate the “I am full” response
• Obese people tend to search for high fat foods when stressed more than lean people
• Obese people tend to be to impulsive eaters than lean people and they respond better to TV advertising that targets eating impulsively
• The high exposure to food advertising also targets children who see 13 food ads a day on average. Almost all of those ads encourage unhealthy eating habits
• It has been reported that children who watched 4 food ads, consumed 45% more crackers than those that watched games ads. The percentage was even higher for those that liked crackers
• Using children icons such as cartoon characters seems to improve product sales volume with a high percentage of children thinking that it tasted better!
• Research showed that standard supermarket food, which is high is sugar and saturated fat lead to weight gain  
• Research showed that people thought that foods with higher calorie tags were tastier than those with lower calories
• We make up to 200 food decisions a day and will power is drained towards the end of the day
• The reality of the world we live in is we respond to marketing and that unhealthy products are profitable and are marketed more aggressively

So what can we do?

·       Try to avoid watching food ads and influence your children not to

·       If you watch food ads remind yourself of its influence on your health

·       Avoid processed food and try to pick natural product when you shop

I run a Weight Loss Challenge (WLC) which is packed with information to give you the facts so you can make the right food choices. It’s like having a personal nutrition trainer. 

To make it a little more exciting I include healthy competition so there is a cash prize for the winner, although most of my clients find the weight loss the best reward they could ever have. We have a friendly, supportive and encouraging group who enjoy getting together once a week for a catch up, weigh in and to swop ideas and recipes.

The course lasts for 12 weeks and we cover topics such as: protein, good and bad fats, digestive health, metabolism, fibre, alkalinity & acidity, carbohydrates, heart health, dining out, anti-aging, vitamins, shopping & labels 

The cost for the 12 week course is £39. There is nothing else to pay for my time, that’s it. 

It will be very useful for you to join and I will look forward to meet you and help you achieve your goals!

Heba Al-Zuhair