It seems that every week a new diet is hitting the market which claims to be able to aid weight lose substantially. Most of these types of diets claim to be ground breaking or revolutionary but often have no medical research to back up their claims and are often just variations on other diets.

Recently a nutrition coach has slammed some views on healthy eating by comparing calories in foods that we assume are healthy to food which we assume are junk.  For example in some pre-prepared pasta dishes, calories can be close to 1000 but if you compare that to a Big Mac, the pasta is nearly twice the amount of calories. For example, 100 grams of superfood fruit and nut mix has the same calories in as two chunky KitKat bars.

Of course, its not all about calories and some foods are better for you and have other benefits, but purely for the purpose of weight loss, it is definitely something to consider.

It’s no secret that the most simple way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you consume, so by eating less calories and doing exercise, you should lose weight.

Type 2 diabetes is on the increase across the UK and much of it is being blamed on obesity and poor diet. Recent studies have shown how much this illness costs the NHS every year and how many people are being affected by it. Scientists are trying to find out ways that they can reduce or reverse the condition and diet seems to be top of the list. A recent study carried out was done to show the effects of a crash diet and how it can reduce the risk of later developing diabetes. The people that were included in the trial had to have their calorie intake massively reduced for 4 weeks to around 600 calories a day. During this time they also did light exercise such as walking around every 30 mins of so.

The results showed that all of the people had dropped out of the pre diabetes area and were fast on their way to reducing their risk completely. The 5 mins of exercise that was done showed to lower their blood sugar levels and therefore help their body deal with their food intake better. This diet is not advisable unless you are under a consultant or doctor.

Many of us try out a diet at some point in our lives and research has shown that most people stop because they cannot stand the feeling of being hungry all the time.

There are many new diets out there at the moment that allow you to eat as much as you like of some foods meaning you should never be hungry and still lose weight. Often people say it is not how much you eat but rather what you are eating that is important and some foods can even speed up the weight lose process.

When looking at your meals you should have at least a third if not half of your plate as salad or vegetables. When eating meat or fish it should be baked not fried and should not have rich coatings on it such as batter or breadcrumbs. Sauces often have a lot of added sugar and sweeteners in, so if you really do want a sauce then why not make your own so you know exactly what is in it.

Little food and often is usually the best way to go to avoid feeling hungry and picking foods that are take a long time to digest can help to get your body to use more energy to break them down whilst still allowing you to feel full.

Over the past few decades, a lot of research has been done in to how beneficial exercise is to not only our physical fitness but also to our mental wellbeing. Many forms of fitness have been proven to help aid a good mental wellbeing and help people to feel happier over all.

Running is a great way to keep fit and the great thing is it doesn’t have to cost anything apart from a decent pair of trainers. Running can be done gradually, allowing you to build up your breathing and fitness levels. Running can not only help drastically with fitness levels but also with toning and weight loss. Running or jogging can tone many different parts of the body and is a great way to get back in shape.

Running can help clear your head of a busy day and help you to feel you have achieved something. It has been suggested that running a few times a week can help boost your mental wellbeing and aids overall fitness levels.

Multiple studies have concluded that regular aerobic exercise and primarily running or brisk walking reduces the symptoms of clinical depression.

If you are trying to lose weight you have a number of ways in which to do so. You could base it entirely on what you eat, cut your calories down to about 1200 (for women) 1700 (men) and try and makes sure that you drink water. But for some, a diet alone isn’t enough and even if you do lose weight, you may end up with saggy skin if you don’t tone up at the same time. If you have tried fitness classes and the gym and not got on with it, then why not try walking or running. The beauty of walking or running is you can do it pretty much anywhere and it costs nothing apart from a pair of trainers. If you are going to be doing running then I would strongly recommend investing in a good quality pair of trainers to ensure you do not injure yourself by wearing the wrong footwear.

Doing exercise along side dieting can be a very fast and effective way to lose weight and tone up but always make sure that you still eat enough calories to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Cutting down too much on calories can make your body go in to overdrive in storing fats and this will mean when you do eat, your body will simply hold on to more of the food.

Over time there has been many changes in the ideas of what foods are really bad for us. For example, fatty foods and sugars were not seen as a major issue fifty years a go but recent research has shown that these can cause long term effects on our health and that sugars can be especially bad for young children.

Some foods are not necessarily bad for us but can cause weight gain and bloating feeling like too much bread. For this reason many people try to cut carbs out from their diet completely or have as little as possible. Fruit and veg are always good to have, but some fruits do contain more calories than others and natural sugars, so it may be worth bearing that in mind.

Almost all of us do not drink enough water. With the average person only drinking a few glasses a day, we may well be missing out the other 4 – 6 glasses that we should be having to keep ourselves healthy. Not only is water needed for our body organs to function correctly but it can also help with improving our skin and our hair.

Many of us go through stages where we want to lose weight, this may be for health reasons, for a special occasion such as a wedding or after having a baby for example. There are a huge number of diet plans out there and often it is a game of trial and error to find out which one, if any suit you. If you find that you cannot stand to be hungry, then a diet that limits your meals and involves no snacking is probably not going to be the right one for you. If however you feel that you issue is what you eat not really the quantity then you may find a diet really helpful.

To start with you need to keep a food diary for a week or so to get a true picture of what it is you are eating. For some people this is enough to allow them to see where they are going wrong and they are then able to substitute some of their unhealthy snacks for healthy ones or cut them out completely.

Two of the major dieting companies are Sliming World and Weight Watchers. Both of these companies say that they do not really do diets, it’s more of a permeant change in the way we look at food and choices we make when it comes to eating.

Many health experts claim that we should not need to take vitamins and minerals if we are having a healthy diet, but although many of us may think we eat reasonably healthy, the chances are we are not having the daily recommended amount of vitamins and minerals as suggested.

Some people swear by taking a multi vitamin as it is not known to cause you any harm and will just top up your body with anything it is lacking. If you are finding that you are feeling tired all the time then you may need to start taking an iron supplement.

Echinacea is extracted from a plant and given in the form of a tablet. This is said to help not only get over a cold or flu virus but also prevent you getting one in the first place. If you are struggling to get your child to eat enough fruit and vegetables, then you could give them a multi vitamin to be sure that they are in taking what they need to. Always check the ages on multivitamins as babies will require one sort, older children and different sort and adults another sort of tablet or medicine again. It is always worth checking with a health advisor as to if it is recommended to give a young child vitamins.