Eating Right on Holidays!!

Many of you may be taking advantage of last minute sun holidays, given the weather we have had so far this summer. Bearing this in mind, it’s important to note that a foreign holiday does not have to mean a holiday from your diet!

If you are going on a self catering holiday, it is still possible to maintain your DietDeli Programme, if you are doing one. All of our products can be prepared in any basic kitchen. In general self catering holidays are much more conducive to maintaining a weight loss diet, for obvious reasons. You are in control of what you eat,  how it is prepared and the size of the portion that appears on your plate!

For the journey, make sure you are not at the mercy of airport vending machines or fast food outlets – pop a few DietDeli Nutrition Bars in your hand luggage, maybe allowing an extra bar for any possible delays!

Nobody wants to spend their holiday abstaining from eating and drinking in a nice restaurant. It is still possible to do this without blowing your diet. As we have outlined in a previous blog – just be sensible. In a way, healthy eating is easier in warm countries. Various salads are readily available, after that it’s just necessary to go easy on the usual suspects – butter on your bread, cream based sauces and desserts!

Your exercise regime need not suffer either. Even lazy days at the beach can include short bursts of activity! In fact walking on sand, especially the loose sand furthest away from the water is great for burning calories. This sand offers more resistance and therefore increases your calorie burn. Get involved in a game of football or Frisbee with the kids and you will be burning even more! Unless you have a swimming pool in your garden at home, you will never have as much access to a pool as when you’re on holidays! Take advantage of this as swimming is great for toning your body and half an hours breaststroke can burn between 300 and 450 calories.

Enjoy your holiday and remember that a holiday from your daily grind does not have to mean a holiday from your weight reduction regime! Have fun!

　

Eating Right at Weddings

As we are well and truly into wedding season, we thought it would be helpful to outline some ways to join in the celebrations without blowing your weight reduction diet! A wedding is a time of celebration, meeting up with people you probably havn’t seen in a long time and fun. The last thing you want to be doing is worrying about extra calories or declining the glass of champagne to toast your newly married friends or family!

Wedding receptions do involve a lot of eating and drinking and there is no getting away from that. But they also involve dancing! Dancing can burn up to 260 calories per hour so dance away into the early hours and already you getting back on track with your weight loss diet.

As for the dinner and drinks, there are a few small things you can do to minimise weight gain.

Planning is essential. Have something to eat before you leave the house. Weddings are long days and often there is a lengthy gap between the ceremony and the reception. Plan for this and bring a small, healthy snack, such as a DietDeli Snack Bar. This way, you are less likely to over indulge when you finally get to sit down.

As for the meal, enjoy it! Give yourself a day off and tell yourself that starting with the evening dancing, you will be back on track with your weight reduction. Obviously moderation is still the key. Don’t over indulge but do enjoy your meal. If you feel you need to, then just increase your exercise the following week. Diets are not about deprivation and weddings are certainly one occasion where you should be able to let your hair down. Don’t go crazy but do enjoy yourself and the more you dance, the better for your weight loss! Enjoy!

Why it’s important to eat “little and often”

DietDeli encourages dieters to eat 6 times a day (3 meals and 3 snacks), both during our weight loss programme and our weight maintenance programme.  Why do we advise this? Read on!

We know that eating so often seems at odds with the goal of weight loss and it seems like there are not enough hours in the day to fit it all in, obviously when we say eat 6 times, we mean 6 small meals! Portion sizes is one thing that many dieters struggle with in Ireland. Use your kitchen scales to measure the appropriate amount of food. Here are some hints for developing your visual judgement of serving sizes:

1oz/28g of cheese or meat = size of your thumb
3oz/84g of meat = size & thickness of a deck of playing cards
A medium sized apple or orange = size of a tennis ball
1 tsp. margarine = size of the tip of your thumb

Did you know that the process of digestion can actually burn calories? Protein is a very important element to this process. By upping your protein content at  every meal, you will be kick starting your metabolism at regular intervals throughout the day. DietDeli foods are all high in protein which also has the added advantage of keeping you feeling fuller for longer.

Skipping meals may seem like a way to guaranteed weight loss, but in reality, will only lead to chaos with your blood sugar levels. This in turn will make you irritable, unable to concentrate and above all, starving and before you know it you are gaining weight again. It also slows down your metabolism, as your body will naturally go into starvation mode to try to conserve energy.

The DietDeli Weight Loss Programme suggests what to eat each day to help you adjust to this regime so you need not worry if you are eating too much or too little. Remember it never be long until your next meal, so you should never feel hungry with DietDeli!!

Treat your new figure well!!

So you have finally achieved what you thought you never would! With the help of DietDeli weight loss programme you have finally reached your goal weight and you feel confident that you will maintain a healthy weight for the rest of your life. But what to do with this new figure and how do you show it off to its fullest?! Here are a few tips from DietDeli!

Moisturise every day. We hope that you are not going to be covering up this summer, so make sure your moisturiser contains at least SPF 15.

Maintain your exercise regime to keep your body toned.  It’s important not to abandon your exercise simply because you have reached your target weight. Fitness needs to be maintained on an ongoing basis.

Drink lots of water, which will cleanse your body of toxins and keep your metabolism smooth.

The most important part (and we think the best part!) is to update your wardrobe. This doesn’t mean spending a fortune on a complete new wardrobe, but perhaps adding a belt to a dress that may be a little loose now. Get rid of the baggy cover alls!  These new clothes can also serve as a motivation to maintain your new approach to eating and exercise. Don’t be afraid to show off your new figure, you have worked hard to achieve it and you shouldn’t be self conscious of it. Don’t be scared to look in the mirror and say “I look fabulous!” Well done from everyone at DietDeli!

Dieting Saves Money!

Nobody needs to be reminded how the current economic situation affects us. We have all taken a hit on our disposable income, but tightening our purse strings does not have to mean that our waistline should be affected. In fact, when we compared average weekly grocery costs for someone who is not on a diet with the weekly costs for someone on a DietDeli Meal Plan, the dieter is spending less money!

For those who are still going to the shop for family members and for their regular food meals within the DietDeli Weight Loss Programme, follow these money-saving tips for shopping, while maintaining your healthy weight loss diet.

• Make a list!! This is the most important part of cutting food costs. You have probably heard it before but if you haven’t tried it, you will be surprised how well it works. I like to plan what we will be eating for the following few days and then write my list accordingly. Once you are in the shop, stick to your list. Impulse purchases can increase the total of your bill and your calorie count. Following a list also cuts down on those “quick” visits to the more expensive shops…you know when you go in for a pint of milk and come out having spent €20 on things that you (and your diet) don’t need!
• If you have time, try to use Farmers Markets for your fresh produce. Fresh fruit and vegetables are so important for any weight loss or weight maintenance diet. Buying locally is cheaper and the produce is fresher and tastier!
• Avoid the snack food aisles – most supermarkets devote entire aisles to biscuits, sweets, crisps and chocolate. These aisles are the enemy to your diet!
• If you are not at home for lunch, then bring your own. Be it DietDeli Foods or your own sandwich, it is going to cost a lot less than buying an expensive meal or sandwich.

These are just a few basic tips for cutting your food costs, while maintaining your weight loss. Remember, the less biscuits, chocolate, and fast food that is in your trolley, the better it is for both your wallet and your weight!

Getting Through Christmas Dinner

The average Christmas dinner is between 3,000 and 4,000 calories. (I’m cringing a bit as I write this.) I knew that the traditional meal with all the fixings is heavy and fattening, but I never would have guessed it was that much.  For a lot of people that’s twice as many calories as you should be eating on a daily basis, and for those of you on a low calorie or very low calorie diet… Well, you get the picture!

But this Christmas, we’re going to maintain control, walk away from the Vhristmas dinner feeling great, and… we’re going to enjoy it! Here’s how:

1. Drink two glasses of water before the meal. A new study shows that drinking water before a meal time can help promote weight loss by helping you to feel fuller, thus consuming less food. So while you’re waiting for the turkey to finish cooking, take out a glass and have a drink!

2. Don’t break your routine by “saving your calories for when it counts”. Consider Christmas as just another meal (albeit with special, traditional choices) and go about your daily meal routine. Our bodies are hardwired to eat more to make up for the deficit after limiting food intake, so you’re actually hurting your diet by doing this.

3. Nothing is better than that first bite or two, right? So stick with that! Look around the table and decide what you would like to try and create a sampler for yourself.  Take the time to slowly savour each bite of the food you’ve selected (it’s not a race to finish), and you should find yourself full in the end. Remember: It’s about moderation, not deprivation!

4. Take the focus off food and desserts and get back to the real meaning of Christmas. Christmas isn’t just about food. Think about what it means to you and focus on this.

I’m sure many of you have other tips for handling Christmas, so feel free to leave them in the comments section below.
I love reading your comments and about your experiences and writing about topics you ask for (so feel free to leave a comment or email me at kate@dietdeli.ie).

Survival Guide to Dieting during the Christmas Season

Make time to exercise
Let’s face it, food is even more available during Christmas – people always have it around it. So to be safe, make time to exercise! It’s your best defense! It will make you feel great, but remember it’s not a permission slip to cheat!

Keep track of what you eat at all times
This time of year is easy to forget what you’ve eaten, since the opportunity is always there! Carry your weight loss journal around with your in your purse, set an alarm on your phone to remind you, or leave yourself notes at work or home!

Say Goodbye to leftovers
Keeping extra food around will tempt you to eat what you want, when you want.  Make smaller portions if you’re worried about wasting food.  If you’re hosting dinner send your guests home with a doggy bag!

Eat before you go
Going to a friend’s house for dinner shouldn’t be a hardship for your weight loss programme. Since you can’t control the menu- Be sure to eat something before you attend dinners and parties.  You will thank yourself later when you eat only a small amount at dinner!

If you fall off the horse- get right back on
Setbacks happen to all of us, the important thing to remember is to not beat yourself up about it and don’t quit.  Don’t wait to start again, it’s much hard to get back into it so accept it and move on.

Good Luck!

Proud as Punch

Our intrepid ambassador Triona McCarthy is doing well …

Hello DietDeli Divas!

I’m only delighted with myself – I’m now down over 10lbs – yes that’s correct 10lbs since I started my DietDeli programme!  I had a really stressful week last week and slipped up but that made me even more determined to get back on track and wasn’t it worth it!

Weight can fluctuate dramatically, especially for women, depending on, time of the month, etc. so I just had to believe in the DietDeli process. It’s about creating a lifestyle that you can stick to forever.

I had to speak at the NBCRI lunch in the Merrion Hotel last Friday and I worked myself up into a right tizz over it. The NBCRI is a fantastic breast cancer research charity I am heavily involved with and they asked me to speak about my darling sister Tricia’s battle with cancer.

I wanted to be as positive as possible as I knew there would be women attending that would be going through treatment.  I was also afraid I was going to cry but thankfully it all went really well and I hope I made Tricia proud.

I was able to wear a size 12 dress I couldn’t fit into a month ago so that gave me confidence standing up in front of everyone.  I am usually that girl in front of the mirror cringing at my body but losing 10lbs makes all the difference!  I really want to be as healthy as I can as I want to live a long life and by keeping my weight under control with DietDeli I hope to do that.

I’m sitting here typing this proud as punch and honestly readers if I can do this diet than so can you! Make the choice right now – make the commitment to being healthy.

Go on try it! I dare you!

xx

– Triona

Confused as to which DietDeli Meal Plan will suit you best?

All our Meal Plans contain same amount of calories so if followed correctly, you should loose the same amount of weight on each one.

The difference between them is how much CONTROL you need with your diet. The Select Plan is good it you like having 3 regular meals (we will tell you what to eat!) and want to control your snacking. The Total Plan is excellant if want to focus on your weight loss and are happy to cook just your own dinner. The Balance Plan is a compromise between the two – you use DietDeli Nutritional Foods alongside regular grocery foods through out the day.

If you have a lot of weight to loose, the Total Plan may be the best one for you. With only dinner to prepare yourself and plently of DietDeli foods to eat during the day, you may find it easier and more managable to loose that weight and less likely to be tempted by forbidden foods!

Why eat 6 times a day?

DietDeli meal plans are based on eating 6 times a day. I know that you may think that is alot! There is reason behind the theory! Eating every 3 to 4 hours help to control your sugar levels and hunger and puts you in control of your eating.

You may think that you are being really good not eating anything between breakfast and dinner but in fact your body goes into starvation mode, your metabolism slows down and you play havoc with your sugar levels. As a result you are more likely to be absolutely starving by dinner time and eat far too much of the wrong foods! You will also probably be cranky, lack concentration, irritable and tired as well. We’ve all done it but it just does not sound healthy or productive!

Instead try eating 6 times a day! How do you fit that all in?? Eat small amounts regularly. Start the day with breakfast! It kick starts your metabolism. Add some nuts to your breakfast cereal or have an egg. Eat again at about 10 or 11 – just something small – a piece of fruit and some nuts. For lunch have some lean meat and a salad or a vegatable and bean soup. Have another snack at about 4 to boost your energy levels. Make sure includes some protein, try a DietDeli bar! For your dinner have some protein, veg and carbs but remember portion sizes. And last but not least have a snack in the evening – maybe some cheese on a rye cracker.

So there you go – how to eat 6 times a day! It helps balance your sugar levels and keeps you feeling fuller for longer. It puts YOU in control of your appetite! DietDeli has great Weight Loss and Maintenance Meal Plans to keep you on track. Even if you are not on a weight loss programme, you could use our Maintenance Meal Plan and Nutritional Foods to allow you maintain your healthy weight and healthy diet!