The 7 diet sins

Which one is making you fat?

1.Drinking too many calories

Alcohol, especially wine and beer, is full of sugar and calories, says rose Chamberlain, naturopathic chef at http://newyoubootcamp.com.

If you want to lose weight and enjoy a tipple, give up the booze for a week. You could lose up to five pounds, then stick to drinking once a week in moderation to continue losing around one to two pound a week. Count calories from hot and cold drinks too (sweet, milky coffees can be shockingly high in calories). And drink more water. Infuse it with mint, lime or fruit overnight to liven it up.

2. Following fad diets

Most people treat a fad diet as a quick-fix project, after which they return to their old way of eating, and quickly put on the weight they lost – plus, in many cases, even more, says Joanne Henson, health and wellness coach and author of What’s Your Excuse For Not Eating Healthily?

To prevent this happening Joanne recommends you do the following:

• Make small changes to your diet, changing one thing at a time such as replacing your daily sugary latte with a green tea.
• Aim to eat and drink healthily 80-90 per cent of the time.
• Enjoy occasional treats.
• To avoid temptation, try not to keep unhealthy food in the house.

3.Misreading food labels

Always check that the nutritional information on the front of packaging is for the amount of the food you’re going to eat, says registered dietitian Dr Sarah Schenker.

Often it’s just for half or less of the product, but as this is in fine print it’s easy to miss – so you might actually eat more calories than you think. This is a common dieting pitfall. When you’re trying to lose weight, the main thing to check is the calorie content.

4. Getting your carb balance wrong

Eating too many starchy carbohydrates and too much of the wrong variety can cause weight problems, explains Dr Marilyn Glenville, a nutritionist specialising in women’s health.

But don’t cut out this whole food group as you could end up feeling tired and craving fattening sugary foods. Dr Marilyn advises that you:

• Swap white bread and white rice for rye bread and brown basmati rice.
• Eat smaller portions, no larger than the palm of your hand.
• Avoid starchy carbohydrates after 6pm. You don’t need energy at night.

5.Eating too much healthy food

If you buy gluten-free products because you think they’re healthier and lower calorie and not because you have a gluten intolerance, this can backfire, says nutritionist and pharmacist Rita Arora. The long-shelf-life products can be laden with preservatives and are high GI so they’re not that filling. If you ‘re prepared to pay extra for healthier foods, Rita recommends going organic instead – at least for some items. ˜The simple rule is, the more water content there is in a food, the better off you are with organic option, so you might want to buy organic strawberries but non-organic potatoes.

6. Eating too much healthy food

Cassandra Bans, nutritionist at The Nutri Centre, says:

• Be wary of eating too much fruit. It’s high in sugar, so have no more than two portions a day. Stick to lower-sugar choices such as berries and apples. Don’t eat fruit on its own – it could make your blood sugar levels yo-yo, which may cause  cravings. Have it  with protein and fat. For example, an apple with a small block of cheese, or porridge with berries, nuts and seeds.
• Be careful of low-fat foods. They’re often higher in sugar than full-fat ones and not as filling. It’s better to have smaller portions of full fat products.
• Eat nuts and seeds in moderation. They are good for you but they’re also calorific.

7. Too many diet drinks and foods

According to nutritionist and obesity researcher Zoe Harcombe, artificial sweeteners can have an adverse effect on appetite and weight.

• Artificial sweeteners, gram for gram, can be up to 13.000 times sweeter than sugar. Eating then can feed your sweet tooth, driving you to make unhealthier food choices.
• Sweeteners have been shown to have a similar effect on blood glucose levels to sugar. These blood sugar fluctuations drive cravings for sweet substances when blood sugar is low, says Zoe.
• The body has evolved to equate sweet taste with energy. Sweetness without calories could confuse the feedback loop between the brain, stomach and hormones. If we can no longer tell when we’re hungry or full, we’re in trouble! A recent US heart study demonstrated that those who drank 21 artificially sweetened drinks a week were almost twice as likely to be overweight or obese as those who didn’t have diet drinks.