Top 5 Nutrition Tips for Weight Loss

Here are 5 nutrition tips to help you lose weight quickly, safely, and without the risk of rebound weight gain...

1) Forget fat... focus on your carbohydrate intake.

So many dieters make the mistake of following a rigidly low-fat diet, but don't realise that the underlying cause of their weight gain is eating too much carbohydrate - usually in the form of chocolate, bread and alcohol. Sounds familiar doesn't it?! The real cause of weight gain is raised levels of insulin - a hormone that promotes fat storage and blocks the hormones that trigger fat burning. Your Insulin levels rise the more you eat carbohydrate, so the only way to achieve lower insulin levels is to stop focusing on low-fat, fat-free, or 10% fat foods and start watching your carbohydrate intake.

2) Be realistic about your carbohydrate intake.

As a rule, the more you reduce your carbohydrate intake the faster you'll lose weight, even with a high fat diet. But before you reach for your Atkins cookbook try to keep in mind that all very low-carb diets (a) ruin your social life, and (b) always result in rebound weight gain. If you've got a wedding or a holiday in a month then banishing carbohydrate is great for a quick fix, but be prepared to see your weight fly back on... and more! If you're looking to lose weight long term then the only sustainable approach is to set goals to improve the quality, quantity and timing of your carbohydrate intake.

3) QUALITY - eat less of the junk food.

When you eat poor quality, refined carbohydrate your blood gets flooded with sugar leading to huge insulin spikes and increased fat storage. The worst offenders are sweets, crisps, biscuits, chocolate, cakes, white bread/pasta/rice, and frustratingly... alcohol! Cutting out all of these foods would make life miserable, so set yourself some realistic nutrition goals. How about keeping your alcohol intake to the weekend? Or only treat yourself to chocolate on a Sunday? Or cut down to one bag of crisps a day instead of three! Whatever your goal, make it realistic, sustainable and reward yourself for sticking at it!

4) QUANTITY - watch your portion sizes.

Portion control is an absolute must for keeping your blood sugar levels down, especially at dinner time when there's less chance of it being burned off. Low-fat spaghetti bolognese, reduced fat shepherd's pie, 10% fat sausages and mash... mountains of pasta and potatoes are an insulin nightmare just waiting to happen! Take your Friday night curry with rice, naan bread, a potato dish, a pudding and the usual booze... easily 2000 calories of insulin surging carbohydrate in one meal! Be realistic and have the Friday night curry, but get into the habit of having just two types of carbohydrate, not five!

5) TIMING - eat less and less as the day goes on.

You should breakfast like a king, lunch like a lord, dine like a pauper. The ideal timing of carbohydrate intake is to have a high-carb breakfast, a moderate carb lunch, but a low-carb dinner. Loading your carbohydrate intake before 3pm is important because you need fuel in the morning and daytime, but by 6pm it's like putting petrol into a car that's already got a full tank. If you get your carbohydrate balance right you should wake up feeling ravenous, your appetite should lessen as the day goes on and you should head to bed on an empty stomach - forcing your body to burn fat as you sleep.