In last month’s issue, we told our story of how easy it was for us to reverse the trend of increasing weight gain and to lose our excess weight effortlessly. The nature of dieting means restricting something and this can make your body react as if there was a famine, i.e., after some initial loss, you may regain weight. What we are describing here is not a slimming diet, but a nutrition method which works. It is easy and healthy and the weight stays off.

Your body can’t actually tell you when it is short of a particular vitamin or mineral, such as magnesium, phosphorous or calcium, etc. It just stimulates the hunger response. If you respond inappropriately with, say, a doughnut, you will again be prompted by hunger not long afterwards as you haven’t provided all the necessary nutrients. If you follow this with another doughnut, your hunger alert will again be reactivated fairly soon. But, by ensuring that you offer your body all the nutrients it requires, you will soon find that you are easily satiated and not very hungry by evening, making it easier to eat light at night.

How do you know which nutrients your body needs? Simply provide a large variety of fresh fruit and vegetables  and your requirements will be covered. Depleted soils and pesticides result in our food being less nutrient dense so to nourish our bodies adequately, we need to eat way more fresh fruit and vegetables than our earliest ancestors.

Breakfast is an ideal time to incorporate fruit, but you can have what you like as long as you remember your checklist: water, fresh, raw plant food, some Omega 3, plus protein, probiotics and digestive enzymes. If having eggs, serve them on top of spinach leaves – see last month’s issue for further details.

If you feel like food at morning tea time, try an orange, or similar, first. The healthier you become, the more you will be drawn to healthier choices and gradually, avoiding processed foods (and bakeries) will become easier. The visualisations mentioned last month help with this.

If possible, have your main meal at lunch time. Eat what you like but incorporate a huge salad. Mixed lettuce leaves provide a great base. Add diced tomato, cucumber, capsicum, onion/ shallots, carrot, avocado, corn, celery, grated potato, etc. Use any dressing you like and vary it by adding beans, lentils  or chick peas. Beetroot and pine (or any) nuts are great and even broccoli and cauliflower are quite nice raw. Be creative and check you have included plenty of colour. Make a salad of everything, even pizza, by cutting it up and putting small pieces into a salad. You then enjoy pizza ‘bites’ but end up (hopefully) having fewer slices.

Between 3pm and 4.30pm is when many people feel hungry. Even though our tummies no longer growl then, we still enjoy ‘happy hour’. Make sure you have something healthy at the ready before your hunger pangs hit in the afternoon, as a carrot stick doesn’t satisfy once you feel ravenous. However, if you time it right, a healthy snack should suffice. Our happy hour plate usually consists of some apple or pear, nuts, carrot and celery sticks, and often some grapes or perhaps a little dried fruit.

I have recently found some good vegetable dip recipes to add variety and I’ve also discovered I love green smoothies, which are a great afternoon energiser. We no longer look for anything else to eat in the evening after this snack.

Fructose has a fairly low glycemic index but fruit juice has a much higher concentration, as does dried fruit – fresh, whole fruit is preferable to juice or dried for those with diabetes.

Until the desire for the ‘not so nutritious’ food diminishes, and if you really like sweets, the following are a few tips that may be helpful:

• Bake or make desserts only once a week or for celebrations and/or when thereare others to share with.
• Store baked goods in the freezer and only thaw a little at a time.
• Make smaller ‘nibbles’, i.e. tiny rumballs, mini muffins.
• Make your own raw chocolate. Little cashew and cranberry clusters covered in dark chocolate are simple and easy and quite good for you.
• Freeze grapes or berries for a refreshing snack.
• Have only healthy snacks in the pantry e.g. nuts and seeds, etc. If it’s not readily available, it’s easier to avoid unhealthy food.
• Google healthy snack recipes, especially those using raw ingredients and check out recipes and other free stuff at www.gabrielmethod.com/freestuff 
• Cleaning your teeth straight after a meal discourages snacking soon after.

Quick and easy things leave you more time to relax and relaxation (de-stressing) is the key to having your body co-operate with your desire to lose weight.

MOVEMENT/EXERCISE

George – who hadn’t considered that he needed to lose any weight and thus did  not have a photo or definite image as a goal – was subjected to listening to the free GM visualisation CD along with me while it played on the computer next to the bed – refer to part 1. When he inadvertently shed his 9kg and dropped two sizes, he complained that his legs were now too thin; that’s not how he would have liked them. ‘He should have had a specific image (goal) to work towards,’ I thought. However, he is now happy to do some exercises to build up those leg muscles. We find music a great motivator for exercising.

Once you have lost some weight and find movement is freer and easier, and when you feel ready, you might like to introduce more exercise to keep your body flexible and fit, so find something you enjoy.

Of course, while travelling, there are numerous fascinating walks to appreciate, and walking is a great form of exercise, as is dancing. When you stroll around admiring the many wonders Australia has to offer, you may hardly notice you are exercising.

If you saw the ABC documentary, The Men Who Made us Thin, you will realise not to rely on rigorous exercise for weight  loss. Rather than trying to lose weight this way, focus on fitness, health and enjoyment. But some exercise is important to retain flexibility, strength and fitness. One type of exercise that will assist weight loss, however, is to incorporate very short (10-20 sec) bursts of speed intermittently during walking or cycling, if you feel up to it.

We didn’t really introduce exercise other than walking for about six months. Then, after some reasonable weight loss, I decided to join the Gabriel Method (GM) support group but there is no obligation. Until then, following this method hadn’t cost anything (many libraries have the book), but once in the online support group, I learned exercises relevant to me, from the fitness coaches, such as hip stretches and strengtheners.

After a while George and I also introduced some weights to what has now become an established 20 minute morning exercise routine. You can start with soup cans (pic, left) or filled water bottles. So, four times a week we do warm ups, resistance exercise, a short cardio, then stretches.

Research from the University of Queensland earlier this year found that doing just four minutes of cardio exercise was just as beneficial as pushing your body for an hour. Also, don’t underestimate the importance of plenty of rest. Listen to your body and don’t push it too hard.

Recently, a 72-year-old friend, Pat, asked us to trial her 12-week exercise program which is also worth a look, whether you need a starting point or are experienced. Pat ran a gym for several years and has run in the New York and Berlin marathons, but her program, (www.makemybodyideal.com) does not require any particular level of fitness. George and I now incorporate a mixture of what we learnt from both sources.

By including plenty of fresh, raw plant food, relaxing, visualising and exercising a little daily, we are providing our bodies with the best chance to avoid and withstand any ill health. We trust you will find this method as easy as we did, so prepare to celebrate your good health and automatic weight loss.

Category: Features
Written: Wed 01 Oct 2014
Printed: October, 2014
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