A 5 step (slightly sweary!) plan to make healthier changes

Apparently people like posts with lists and action points of things to do so I am obliging.

One of my hobbies (bordering on obsessions) is reading books about health, nutrition, food etc, (as I guess you would expect!).  This has a two-fold bonus of helping me with my studies and also improving my knowledge about the subject generally so I can actually hold a pretty good conversation (or argument if necessary!) on all things nutrition.  Some people seem to have an issue with taking advice from non-professionals, even if those non-professionals have researched the topic more than the professionals are likely to have done, so I always like to have evidence up my sleeve.  

Excuses are rampant for why people can't make changes to improve their health or lose a bit of weight, and yes, some are more valid than others, but I would argue that a large percentage of people are just scared/wary/apprehensive of making changes to their habits, even if these habits are dragging them down to negative places they don't want to be.  It's easier just to keep doing what you've always done, even if you're slowly killing yourself.

This is probably a good time to reiterate that nothing on this site has a focus of weight loss or dieting.  I believe that improving your health needs to be the first step to losing weight if that is the ultimate goal you have.  I don't feel that there is any point being 2/3/4 stone lighter if you still have niggling health issues which stop you from living your life.  If losing weight is something you've been trying to do for a long time, then spending a few weeks getting healthy first isn't going to put you in any worse a position than you were in before, and is actually likely to help you lose the weight when you move onto that as your focus.  Just getting that out there :-)

So, onwards towards to the point of the post, the list.  There is a pre-list point which I feel is important to make first:

Acknowledge you need to change

There's a quote I saw (randomly!) on a local accountant's board which said something along the lines of:
'The definition of insanity is doing what you have always done and expecting different results'
I love this!
If you're even reading this then it's likely you know (even in the deep dark depths of your brain) that you can't keep going as you are, but it may well be you don't know how to start.  Well consider this the kick up the arse you need to be honest with yourself in that you need to make changes.  What those changes actually are can follow (a bit further down the page!) but an important first step is admitting that it needs to happen.  So a big high 5 and ridiculously over-enthusiastic 'woop' to you.  Now keep reading...

So, on to the actual list.  There are obviously more than 5 things you can do to be healthier (which I may expand upon during later posts) but these are good for starters:

1) Don't try and do it all at once

An easy way to fail is to try and change every single aspect of your life at once.  There's nothing wrong with a slow, steady approach as you will still get there in the end, and maybe even more likely to get there as you as less likely to give up.  Pick 1 or 2 things to change, get those sorted and then move onto other things.  It may be that your initial things have to be big ones, if you have imminent health problems for example, but if this isn't an issue for you, just start with something.  It's also good for morale and motivation if you can successfully keep up with a couple of new things over a prolonged period as you're more likely to think 'I can do it'.  

2)  Learn about real nutrition that isn't government sponsored

Ooh, getting a bit political now!  Over the last few years, having increased my knowledge about food and nutrition, the main thing I have learned is that the government guidelines on what we should eat are a load of old, sweaty bollocks.  I don't believe it's coincidence that since the nutrition guidelines of the late 1970s/early 1980s were introduced which told us fat was evil and to eat loads of grains, people have started getting fatter and more unhealthy.  Or, that the foods we are being told to eat more of are processed, and generate money for food companies.  Cynical, me?!

The best thing you can do for you and your family is to spend a bit of time researching alternative and better ways of eating from independent sources.  Some good starting points would be from some people I have a lot of time for and refer to often:  Zoe Harcombe (including a paper she wrote about dietary advice available here), Mark Hyman, Marion Nestle, Robert Lustig and Mark Sissons.  I would also suggest you avoid anything from Nutrition Councils/Foundations, charities or government agencies which seems totally mental to say, but they are still churning out the same old nonsense.  Its incredibly depressing to see that the British Nutrition Federation are sponsored (with actual money) from companies like Unilever and Pepsi, yet still expect us to believe that they can come out with impartial advice about what we should be buying or eating.  I would never be sponsored or influenced by anyone that involved any possibility of a conflict of interest as I value my integrity too much (unlike some others).

3) Don’t be a baby

If you're gonna whinge and bitch every time you get a suggestion of changing what you are eating and doing then you're never gonna get anywhere.  You know it's got you in a bad place, you know you need to change it so stop being a pussy and get it done.
"But I like having a whole pizza on a Friday night" - carry on being fat and diabetic then.
"I don't like vegetables" - your Gran's attempts to nuclearise sprouts at Christmas do not class as cooking vegetables, and you have not tried every vegetable in the shop so pick something, leave your preconceptions in the saucepan and cook it and eat it.  If you truly don't like it after a few tries, fine, try something else.
"My mates will take the piss out of me" - they're probably just jealous that you're taking the plunge cos they can't, and if they do take the piss, then they're not worth having as friends anyway.  Grow a pair.

4) Forget about weight and focus on nourishment

The trouble with worrying about weight is that it often leads to a focus on calories in foods rather than the goodness that they provide.  Food is meant to nourish the body and to give it what it needs to work properly and in balance, which means that it should have calories in it.  Anything that has been manufactured to have no calories isn’t food so steer clear.

Similarly, forget any notion of ‘syn’ or ‘point’ bollocks.  This subject is something I could harp on about for hours, but choosing to eat pretend food because it’s low in calories/syns/points is part of the reason we’re getting fatter and unhealthier.  So don’t.

Doesn’t mean that you can stuff your face with as much as you want though just because it might be ‘good for you’; use a dose of common sense.

5) Keep it real

Once you stop worrying about how some foods can affect your weight, it can make it easier to choose the right foods.    Again, doesn’t mean you can stuff your face, and you need to be mindful of portions etc, but you don’t need to miss out on brilliant foods such as avocado, good quality meat or eggs just because they might have some fat and calories in them. 

Anything that’s labelled ‘fat free’, ‘diet’, ‘lite’ etc should be viewed with scepticism.  Read the ingredients to see what the fat that should be in it has been replaced with (often sugar), or to see if it is full of unpronounceable chemical nonsense.

The only reduced fat things you should be considering are cheese or plain yoghurt, and even then there’s no need to go for the less fat version