Is October the Best Month to Start a Diet?

Well, as far as one study is concerned, it could be! The world-renowned eating behavior expert and author of the brilliant Mindless Eating, Brian Wansink teamed up with two other respected researchers to record the daily weight change in 2924 participants over a 12 month period from three countries (United States, Germany and Japan) and discovered that the participants' weight rose over the Christmas/New Year period plus in all three countries there was significant weight gain around other major holidays.  Overall, weight increase was between 0.5kg and 0.8kg and whilst around half the weight gained was often lost after all the recorded holidays, the other half tended to remain for many months.

Whilst the researchers concluded that greater self-control during holidays was clearly the route for all, they determined that this was not always easy so best advice is to do everything we can to ensure that we head into ANY holiday period at a healthy weight, which makes October an excellent month to make a few resolutions and get started on a weight loss journey in the lead up to the Christmas and New Year holiday and party season!

click here for 20 diet and lifestyle changes to get you started!

The Power of Peas for Fat Loss!

the humble pea has a lot going for it!

One of the most important aspects of successful fat loss is good blood sugar management. Healthy blood sugar levels are sustained through a combination of eating a balanced, unprocessed diet, getting regular exercise and managing the body’s most important hormones in other ways (eg: getting enough sleep and reducing stress).

Blood sugar is raised by glucose, which is the sugar we get from eating foods that contain carbohydrates. The glucose is then ferried off to body cells by insulin which is secreted by the pancreas, to generate energy and blood sugar levels return to normal.  When we haven’t eaten for a while, levels drop and messages are sent to the brain to tell us to eat something and the process begins again. Insulin levels rise and fall in accordance with when and what we eat so it is vitally important we get it right. A diet overloaded with sugar and starchy carbohydrates and light on fibre, protein and fats prompts all-too-regular blood sugar highs and lows and increasing demands on the pancreas to produce insulin and over time the system breaks down and we can become insulin resistant which greatly increases our risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease and weight gain is almost certain.

read more and see a selection of recipes

Lots Going On!

The new book has been featured widely in newspapers, magazines and online sites with more to come over the next month or two - have a quick look at my press page to see what they are all saying...

The free book competition I offered to those of you who subscribe to my newsletters was a huge success and rather than giving away just 10 books, I decided to give away 30 - I hope all the winners are enjoying it and getting comfortable with all the new recipes and fat loss tips! And the same applies to the hundreds who were not in the first 30 to respond with the correct answer. I tried to email everyone who entered but if for some reason you 'slipped through the net' - apologies!

And... huge thanks to all of you who have been emailing me with queries - I am working my way through them and promise I will get back to you very soon.

In the meantime, if you are heading off on holiday and have a horrible suspicion that you have left it a bit late to shed a few pounds, try a few Soup and Juice Days - they work a treat! Click on my slideshare presentation below which includes a few slides explaining 'how to make them work for you'!

At Last, I Hear You Say!

The new, updated 2 Weeks in the Fast Lane Diet is out today!

There's a brand new 14 day eating plan...

Lots of new (and delicious as always, may I say modestly!) recipes...

Loads of tips on how to keep you on the right track as you shed the pounds...

And some excellent exercise advice from the highly-respected Ben Camara of No1 Fitness

Click here or on the book cover or on the 'announcement bar' at the top of the page to find out more about the book and if you are tempted, where to order your copy...