Natural Alternatives to Dieting
How to lose weight without dieting
by Marilyn Glenville

Once Christmas is over your thoughts may be turning to losing weight and after all that extra food, the logical step is to go on a diet. But the truth is that diets don't work. The diet business in the UK has an annual turnover of £6 billion with slimming pills, replacement drinks, low-cal this and low-fat that being big profit earners. One wouldn't be too cynical in assuming that the last thing the diet industry wants is for people to diet and then stay slim.

Yes, one of the main causes of weight gain is dieting. Dieting makes you fat. As you reduce your food intake to lose weight, your body puts itself on 'famine alert'. It gets the impression that food is scarce and therefore it slows down your metabolism to get the best use of the small amount of food it is receiving.

When you say you want to lose weight what you actually want to lose is fat. If you lose weight rapidly almost 25% of that weight loss can be made up of water, bone, muscle and other lean tissue. Your body's fat protection mechanism swings into action. In this state of famine, your body will hold on to fat, break down muscles and lose water. It is physically impossible to lose more than 900g (2lb) of body fat in a week. If you lose weight quickly by restricting your intake when you go back to eating normally, the weight goes back on as fat. So you get fatter after a diet and so you need a more extreme diet the next time to lose weight and so it goes on, yo-yo dieting.

Ideal weight
How do you know what your ideal weight should be? According to the height and weight tables everybody of the same height is expected to weigh the same - but of course they don't. Although people may be of the same height they can have quite different body shapes. Also, fit people will often look slim but can weigh more because of an increased muscle mass. Muscle weighs more than fat.

Body mass index
If you want a rough idea of your 'ideal'weight then the Body Mass Index (BMI) is the best indicator. It tries to identify the percentage of body tissue, which is actually fat. It does have disadvantages in that it cannot allow for variations in fat, bone, organs and muscle.
Your BMI is the ratio of your height to your weight and is calculated as follows: BMI = your weight in kg divided by the square of your height in metres. For example if your weight is 63.5 kg (10 stone) and your height is 1.68m (5ft 6in), your BMI is 63.5 - 1.68x1.68 = 22.5

How to lose weight without dieting
Researchers have found that fat and thin people can eat roughly the same number of calories but it seems that the type of food they are eating is different.

This is a very popular theory that goes something like: too much fat makes you fat. This may be right in principle (large amounts of saturated fat in the diet are not healthy), but it's important to remember that some fats are absolutely essential. The fats found in oily fish, nuts and seeds are crucial for keeping your metabolism working at a good level.

The tendency is for people, especially women, to go on low-fat diets to lose weight. The low-fat or no-fat food can often be high in sugar, salt etc. to make it seem palatable.

In fact it's sugar and other foods that are 'fast-releasing'that will encourage weight gain and make it harder to lose weight. This is why.

The speed with which a food increases blood sugar i.e. fast releasing, determines whether it can make you gain weight. If blood sugar levels rise very quickly your body has to secrete more insulin in order to control it.

Every time you eat, your body has a choice. It can either burn that food as energy or store it as fat. The scientists have found that in the presence of high insulin levels you will not only change more of your food into fat, you will also stop your body breaking down previously stored fat.

These fast-releasing foods include anything that contains sugar and refined white flour such as cakes, biscuits, pastries, etc.

Artificial sweeteners
You may be tempted to substitute sugar with artificial sweeteners - don't. If a food or drink is described as 'low sugar' or 'diet' it will usually contain a chemical sweetener. Aspartame, for instance, is 180 times sweeter than sugar and has been linked to mood swings, because it alters the levels of the brain chemical serotonin. Ironically, it has also been found that people who regularly use artificial sweeteners tend to gain weight because they increase the appetite.

What you eat matters
Reduce or eliminate foods made with white flour or refined foods where the fibre and goodness has been stripped away, because they are fast-releasing and will have detrimental effects on blood sugar and hence your weight.

Cut out all sugar where possible. You will have to become a label reader because sugar can be added to anything including savoury foods, such as baked beans, tomato ketchup etc. In order to make sugar content appear less, some manufacturers break down the sugars into various forms on the label, although they all have relatively the same effects on our bodies. Look for words ending in -ose such as sucrose, glucose, etc.

Add some good quality protein to your diet such as fish (especially oily fish), eggs, nuts, beans and seeds as these help to keep insulin levels stable and burn off fat. Also include a good intake of fruits and vegetables.

A very simple tip to help with weight loss is to chew well and to take your time when eating. It takes your brain 20 minutes to register that you are full, so if you eat more slowly, you will actually want to eat less.

What you eat is important but when you eat is also crucial
If you miss meals in the mistaken belief that you are cutting out a certain amount of calories by missing that food, then you are fighting a losing battle. First of all your body will slow your metabolism down because it thinks there is a shortage of food. It doesn't know you are deliberately missing that meal. When you eat your next meal, say 7 hours later, you will eat it with a slower metabolism.

Also, as you skip meals your blood sugar will fall (hypoglycaemia) and then you will get a craving for something sweet or a cup of coffee, or both. Your body is asking you for a 'quick fix'because your blood sugar has dropped so low and no amount of will-power is going to stop that. Chocolate is often reached for because it is a combination of caffeine and sugar together so it is one of the 'quickest fixes'possible. This sharp, fast rise in blood glucose makes you feel momentarily good, but the 'high' quickly passes, plummeting you to another low point, making you feel tired and drained. So what do you feel like - another cup of tea or biscuit! And so it goes, the vicious circle goes on.

With each rise in blood sugar comes an increase in insulin, which then lays down more fat.
You need to eat little and often. This keeps your blood sugar stable, no high and lows and so no excesses of insulin. Your body also thinks there is a plentiful supply of food, no famines, so it does not have to store excess as fat, it can burn it off as energy. Do not go more than three hours without food.

Exercise
The benefits of regular exercise cannot be exaggerated. Regular exercise has been linked to a lower risk of breast cancer and an improved immune system. It helps to keep your bowels working efficiently, which means you are eliminating waste products your body doesn't need. It stimulates thyroid gland secretion and helps to improve thyroid function, which has a direct effect on your metabolism.

Supplements
If you have tried dieting before, either restricting intake or trying different diet drinks or pills, it is likely that you are deficient in a number of vitamins and minerals.

A number of chemical reactions are involved to turn glucose into energy instead of fat. These are controlled by enzymes, which are themselves dependent on certain vitamins and minerals in the body. If these are deficient then your body's ability to convert glucose into energy instead of fat is going to be compromised.

These are important vitamins in terms of weight loss. They are often called the 'stress'vitamins. Vitamin B3 and B6 are especially important as they help to supply fuel to cells ready for burning for energy. Vitamin B6 is necessary together with zinc for the production of pancreatic enzymes, which help our effective digestion of food. If our digestion is good then we will efficiently use up our food instead of storing it as fat.

Vitamin B2, B3 and B6 are necessary for normal thyroid hormone function production, so any deficiencies in these can affect thyroid function and consequently affect our metabolism.
This mineral has been the most widely researched nutrient with regard to ability to help with weight loss. Chromium is needed for the metabolism of sugar and without it insulin is less effective in controlling blood sugar levels. It helps to control levels of fat and cholesterol in the blood. One study showed that people who took chromium over a ten-week period lost an average of 1.9kg (4.2lb) of fat while those on a placebo lost only 0.2kg (0.4lb).

Zinc
This is an important mineral in appetite control and a deficiency can cause a loss of taste and smell, creating a need for stronger tasting foods including more salty, sugary and/or spicy foods. Zinc also functions together with vitamins A and E in the manufacture of thyroid hormone.

Co-enzyme Q10
Co-enzyme is needed for energy production.
It is found in all the tissues and organs in the body. As we get older we may become deficient which results in a reduction of energy. It has been used to help heart problems, high blood pressure, gum disease and immune deficiencies.

It has also been shown to help with weight loss. A study showed that people on a low-fat diet doubled their weight loss when supplemented with Q10 compared to those who did not take it.

We know that dieting doesn't work and people end up doing one diet after another e.g. grapefruit diet, high protein, food combining, cabbage soup diet, etc. If you make health your goal rather than the losing of weight, your whole perspective on food will change and you'll find that you achieve your appropriate weight without being on endless diets.

Dr Marilyn Glenville PhD is the UK's leading nutritional therapist specialising in female hormone problems. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and a registered nutritionist. Dr Glenville is the author of a number of internationally best- selling books including 'Natural Alternatives to Dieting', 'New Natural Alternatives to HRT'and 'The Nutritional Health Handbook for Women'.

She works in a gynaecology clinic in London. For more in depth information look on Marilyn's web site www.marilynglenville.com. If you are interested in a personal or a postal consultation you can contact Dr Glenville's clinic on 0870 5329244, or by e-mail:health@marilynglenville.com