WHAT’S THE ROLE OF HEALTH SPAS IN DIETING?

The health spa is far from a new idea.

The ancient Romans had ‘healthy towns’ that they visited occasionally to take various forms of health cure though the idea of really took off in 18th century Europe when spa towns and “taking the waters” became all the rage.

In terms of dieting, it’s important to recognise that there are health spas and health spas.

Some institutions of this nature might typically focus more on cosmetic treatments rather than dieting. Others may place rather more emphasis on fitness and although weight and fitness are clearly related, such spas may not in themselves concentrate on the losing weight aspect.

While others do focus on what they might call a “weight loss blitz” in reality we’re not completely convinced that this approach makes sense because it is very difficult to achieve the systematic change in your eating habits that will be required to lose significant amounts of weight over say just two or three days in some form of spa.

In certain cases it might also be closely linked to the idea of a fasting-type diet and that is something we most certainly do not believe in.

Whilst spas can be extremely beneficial in terms of providing a range of physical benefits as well as a psychological boost, they are in no way a replacement for professionally constructed weight loss programs. They can sometimes play a useful role in supplementing and reinforcing some of the disciplines of your formal diet but it might be unwise to consider them to be an alternative.

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DEMOLISHING THE MYTHS OF DIETING

It’s a sad fact of life that many people, who would undoubtedly benefit from dieting, are sometimes put off by a variety of myths. Here are some of the more common ones we encounter:

1. When dieting, you are always hungry.
2. Diets always involve mushy tasteless food and nothing solid.
3. You only see benefits if you have been dieting for 6, 9 or 12 months.
4. You need to do lots of exercise like running and weightlifting to lose weight.
5. Many foodstuffs are permanently banned.
6. You have to watch everything you eat and keep long lists of calorie intake.

 While some of these things may have been true of many twentieth century diets, our scientific approach means that they can all today simply be disregarded as part of ‘wrong turns’ taken by diets in the past.

Our modern weight loss programs are simply just not about any of the above things because they don’t need to be. Yes, it is important to be aware of what you are eating and to be selective. It’s also important that you review your progress and adjust your diet as is required over time.

Yet none of that means being hungry, eating tasteless mush or spending endless hours each day counting calories.

We also recognise that not everybody has either the time or the physical prowess necessary to undertake extensive exercise programmes.

Space doesn’t really permit us to go into more detail here. Instead, why not contact us to find out more about our bespoke dietary program solutions based upon science rather than the zealous belief in one particular diet over all others. We’ll help you to
define a diet that is optimal for you and the way you live your life.

We guarantee that you will quickly realise that all of the above myths are exactly that – myths.

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SHOULD I TAKE DIETING PILLS?

This is perhaps one of the most commonly-asked questions we encounter.

It is possible that, for one of several reasons, your Doctor might prescribe medication designed to help suppress or control your appetite. We are not qualified to give medical advice but typically these pills are prescribed in situations where the patient is extremely obese or suffering severe psychological effects as a result of being overweight.

In our opinion, you should never take dieting pills that you have purchased over the counter or from a private source, unless you have first consulted your medical practitioner or a specialist dieting consultant such as Adventures in Weight Loss.

There are many reasons why that is the case.

Firstly, some drugs purchased privately or over the Internet can be at best a complete waste of your money and at worst potentially dangerous if they contain harmful or banned substances. Secondly, in the vast majority of cases, being overweight is about your lifestyle choices in terms of the type of food you are eating being inappropriate for your body’s requirements.

So, in many cases dieting pills may be entirely unnecessary.

It’s important not to confuse dieting pills with dietary supplements. That latter category might include things such as essential vitamins, which our specialists might advise you to purchase and use as part of our bespoke weight loss programmes.

Any supplements we recommend you take will be entirely legal, completely safe and sourced from entirely accredited suppliers. The supplements do not work in any way to suppress your appetite.

This is though a very big subject and not something that can be covered too easily in a brief blog of this nature.

Once again, as we regularly suggest, why not give us a non-committal call to discuss this subject further as part of understanding just what we can do to help you lose weight?

OBESE CHILDREN – WHAT SHOULD A PARENT DO?

Most medical experts will confirm that obesity in childhood can create serious medical problems for the child concerned and store yet more up for them later in adult life.

The problems associated with things such as some forms of diabetes are now known to be sometimes directly related to poor diet and obesity. So, there is a major incentive for parents to get to grips with the issue as soon as possible.

Whilst we need to say again that we are not offering qualified medical advice here, there are a few general points you may wish to keep in mind.

1. In some cases, though perhaps a relatively small percentage overall, obesity in children may be related to an underlying medical condition. It is advisable to get a doctor to consider whether or not there are factors that may be attributable to something other than eating habits.

2. Many children learn their eating habits from their parents and immediate family. It is therefore essential that the adults in their family are seen to be eating healthily and paying attention to maintaining a degree of physical fitness and an appropriate weight. It is difficult to educate children to do something that you yourself are unwilling to commit to.

3. It is true that children are also affected by advertising and the behaviours of their peer group. This is extremely difficult for parents to deal with but again if you educate your child well in the dangers of uncontrolled eating and the consumption of unhealthy foodstuffs, they may be able to resist outside pressures of the above types.

4. Up until a certain age, most children will largely consume foodstuffs provided for them by their parents and carers. So, make sure you feed them healthy food that is not high in fats, sugars and so on.

However, it may not be advisable to simply put them on a diet. Young people have very different foodstuff requirements to adults and you should always seek specialist medical input before putting your children on any sort of personalized weight loss program.

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WHAT’S THE TRUTH BEHIND FIZZY DRINKS?

Few subjects in dieting have been more controversial over the years than the role of fizzy drinks.

Sometimes the criticisms of these beverages have confused a number of different issues, including things such as their calorie content, added chemicals, artificial sweeteners, sugar content and so on. Clearly, some of these are related to several different aspects of health and wellbeing and not all are directly pertinent to the subject of obesity and weight loss. We will try to summarise our position here.

Firstly, there is an entire area of debate relating to chemical additives and artificial sweeteners in fizzy drinks and just how they may or may not affect human health in various ways.

We’re not qualified to comment on those individual aspects and if you are worried about the additives in the food or drink you consume, you should discuss your concerns with your doctor.

Secondly, there is the question of what such drinks may or may not do for you when you are dieting.

As a general rule, our diets don’t exclude, under all circumstances, any particular form of foodstuff or drink. What we do believe in though is a balanced and healthy diet that has been crafted for the requirements of your body. We also know that if you follow it, you will lose weight.

The consumption of any individual thing to excess will clearly not form part of any meal plan for weight loss. Fizzy drinks will certainly be included in that, as they may, if they are sweetened versions, contain a very high calorie and sugars count.

So, your consumption of fizzy drinks may need to be defined and controlled, as part of your balanced diet going forward, rather than totally banned under all conceivable circumstances.

Rather than making assumptions for the worst, in terms of your favourite foodstuffs, arising from a diet, why not contact us for an informal discussion? You may be very pleasantly surprised at what you hear!

TOP 5 WAYS OF MAINTAINING YOUR TARGET WEIGHT

So, the long-awaited day has finally arrived.

You’ve got to your target weight, done the lap of honour and received the admiration and adulation of your family and friends.

What’s next?

One of the commonest syndromes associated with dieting are weight loss success stories who then slip back to being overweight once they have achieved their target. It’s easily done once you start easing up on your self-discipline.

So, here are our top five tips for how to avoid slipping into this problem.

1. Weigh yourself regularly. If you see a kilo or two going on that shouldn’t be there, then take action immediately and don’t let it get out of control again.

2. Don’t go back to all your old bad eating habits. You may be able to ease off a little in certain areas but don’t overdo it.

3. Keep up your exercise routines. They’ll not only help you to keep your weight under control but also to stay fit.

4. Keep in close touch with your diet regime provider and anyone else you have been dieting with. It’s often important to have on-going reinforcement and support from your networks, even though you may now be looking perfectly svelte. Some diet regimes will also have a transition program that allows you to manage your eating in order to maintain your weight. If they do, make sure you follow it.

5. Go out and buy yourself some relatively expensive clothes that are perfect for your new dimensions. Nothing is likely to bring home to you that you are letting things slip a little than if your hard-earned dollars start to feel a little bit tight around the waist or chest again!

True, it’s not always easy but with a little bit of effort you should be able to not only lose weight but also keep it off.