Please. Forget Dieting. Eat What’s Right for You

Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror and thought:

”Oh my goodness, I really HAVE to do something about [those horrible love handles/my thighs/my belly/any other body part]”?

You feel uncomfortable in your own skin, you feeling fat and frumpy and you want to lose some extra weight so you don’t have to feel self-conscious when you put on a swimsuit or fasten up your jeans.

So you do what anyone else in your position would do- you tell yourself sternly “RIGHT! I’m going on a strict diet!!!” and vow you’ll never let yourself eat a chocolate eclair for as long as you live.

Of course, after just a few days or a week or two, you decide that life without your mid-afternoon bar of chocolate isn’t worth living, that you don’t really care about that swimsuit, or even that you’ll just try to lose those extra pounds sometime in the future.

You completely give up on your diet and your hopes of losing those excess pounds, believing that your inability to lose weight is all your fault. You think you’re just weak-willed or greedy or even call yourself a pig (go on, admit it!). You think it’s your fault you can’t stick to a slimming diet and think that you’ll always be overweight.

I hear this all the time with my peri-menopausal and menopausal clients. They feel so motivated to lose weight, yet none of the slimming clubs or fad diets they’ve ever put themselves through have ever helped them to lose weight and keep it off.

But the problem isn’t a willpower problem or whether it’s really better to give up carbs or give up fats. It’s all about your relationship with the food you’re putting into your body, your personal body image, and also your own attitude towards weight loss.

Get it right and you can unlock the secret to long lasting weight loss that’s easy to keep off for life. Get it wrong and you’ll constantly struggle with yo-yo diets and feeling unhappy in your own skin.

So let’s talk about why diets don’t work, why weight-loss is much harder as a peri-menopausal or menopausal woman, and show you how you can lose weight the easy way.

Why don’t diets work?

Did you know that a shocking two thirds of Brits are on a diet most of the time and the global diet industry is valued at an astonishing £220 billion?

So why do we still struggle to lose weight despite all of the special diets and resources out there?

#1: Diets are boring

“I don’t know how you diet and live. Seriously I don’t. It’s soooooo boring”

This was on my friend’s Facebook status this week and I must admit that I really felt for her.

Because, let’s be honest, diets ARE boring. Who in their right mind would ever want to restrict entire food groups, deprive themselves of all of the things they love and battle horrible hunger pangs all day? Not me!

You see, our bodies are actually designed to keep us eating so that we can stay strong, healthy and ultimately survive. So you see, your inability to ignore your rumbling tummy isn’t your fault- that’s just how we were all designed,

It doesn’t make a difference how much weight you have already stored for those ‘lean times’ the mechanism works the same.

#2: No two bodies are the same

Sure- your friend might have lost tons of weight following a particular diet but that’s certainly no guarantee that you will lose weight too, because every one of us is different.

Science isn’t exactly sure why some people respond to certain diets and others don’t, but it appears to simply come down to individual differences. Just consider for a moment the difference between those people who can live on junk food and still stay slim, and those who only need to look at a packet of bourbon biscuits before the seams on their trousers start straining.

Take me for example. As I’ve searched for holistic ways to manage my viral fatigue, I’ve tried various eating plans in the hope that they would help me feel better. Whilst some of them did help slightly, they didn’t make the difference I was looking for.

Until I eventually found the best diet for my body. More on that later...

#3: Your hormones don't make it easy...

When it comes to losing weight during the peri-menopause and menopause, matters can get a little trickier too. You no longer store body fat in the same way as you used to- it tends to migrate towards your midsection as a way of protecting your body better once oestrogen has declined significantly.

Naturally, if you’re already facing the menopause, the last thing you want to be doing is subjecting yourself to a restrictive diet or giving up your favourite foods. You’re already under a certain amount of stress and dieting will only add to the psychological burden.

That’s not to mention the fact that exactly what happens to your hormones largely depends on your unique biological make up too.

So as you can see, if you really want to lose weight, you need a very different approach to weight loss that won’t leave you feeling deprived, won’t mess with your hormones and definitely won’t bore you to death.

I’ve spent a lot of time so far explaining why diets don’t ever really work because I believe that it’s a very important to understand. Now you can see that boredom and that sense of restriction play as role, as does your personal body composition and what your hormones are up to at any given time.

So what is the approach I keep on talking about? It’s eating right for your body.

What do I mean by eating right for your body?

As you’ve probably understood by now, eating right for your body isn’t about following any particular kind of diet (whether that’s mine or anyone else’s). It’s finding what works best for you- what fills you with energy, what keeps your tastebuds happy, and what provides everything your body needs to be healthy.

When you achieve this, you’ll find the weight simply falls off and you feel in the best shape of your life.

Take one of my clients, Julia as an example. She’s a vegan and struggled to lose weight for a long time. However, once we did the Dutch test and Organic Acid test, we could see what was happening internally, develop a plan and put it all into action. Now the weight simply drops off her because she’s eating for health, not to diet AND she’s eating what’s right for her unique body.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? That’s because it is! Here’s how to put this into practice in your own life.

#1: Become your own health detective

If you’ve followed any of my programmes, you’ll know that I always dedicate a chunk of time to helping my lovely clients become their own personal health detective. I do this because understanding what is happening within YOUR body is a vital part of the journey towards better health, hormonal balance, or in this case, weight loss. There is no ‘one-size fits all’ when it comes to health.

Once you’ve done this and highlighted your problem areas, you can start developing the style of eating that works best for your body and soul.

You’ll start noticing what foods trigger your IBS, your menopausal symptoms, your allergies, or even just leave you feeling ‘yuck.’ You’ll notice what fills you with energy, what helps you sleep better, what lifts your mood and what works when it comes to your unique body.

#2: Rethink your ideal body shape

No, I’m not saying that you have to accept being a shape you don’t like, but I am suggesting that we rethink what kind of figure we’re hoping to achieve. Because, even though we might not like to admit it, but our bodies are growing older all the time. As the years go by, our bodies become less efficient, or metabolism declines and we find it harder to lose weight.

Weight loss isn’t just about being a certain size and we certainly shouldn’t be looking to the mass media as a guide to how we want to look. It’s about being healthy, being strong and feeling amazing.

#3: Focus on nutrition

Forget about low-calorie or low-fat foods, or any of that nonsense because restricting your diet in this way never leads to optimal health. Your body needs fats, and without them we can’t create the hormones our bodies need.

The result is worse peri-menopause and menopause symptoms, less energy, a lower nutrient intake and problems with weight management. Fat doesn’t make you fat- it actually helps you stay slim and glowing with health. So make sure you’re including plenty of healthy fats in your diet from foods like avocados, nuts and seeds and oily fish (if you’re not vegetarian).

I also want you to forget anything you’ve ever learned about so-called slimming foods and instead focus on getting maximum nutrition into your body. You’ll instantly make healthier food choices which will help nourish your body, rebalance your hormones and make the whole weight-loss journey so much easier.

Think about getting as much fresh produce into your diet as possible, include all of the colours of the rainbow, plus plenty of healthy fats and healthy proteins too.

#4: Experiment!

And finally, feel free to experiment with what works for you and what doesn’t. You might find certain foods help you feel energetic, or that certain foods give you a tummy ache. You might find you tolerate gluten no problem but find that onions give you the worst wind in the world. You might get sluggish after you’ve eaten, or suffer a killer headache, or even feel like your stomach is slowing being twisted after you eat certain foods but you feel amazing when you stick to salad. Find what works for you, and don’t be afraid to experiment.

It’s far more important that you find the ideal diet for your unique body instead of just following a diet that everyone is raving about. Find what works for your body and stick to it to feel incredible, reduce your menopausal symptoms, sleep better and night and finally take control of your weight.

That's what healthy, lasting weight-loss and hormonal health is all about.