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Back in the 1970s, when I was writing my early diets, it was all about counting calories. Up to this point, being overweight wasn’t a big issue as money was limited, eating habits were simple and ‘fast food’ was a rarity. A takeaway then was likely to be fish and chips for a treat!
As food became more plentiful and wages increased, we ate more and walked less and the inevitable weight gain crept on for many. Soon ‘slimming diets’ and ‘slimming clubs’ became popular.
All the diets at the time were based on calories, and sadly, I don’t think anybody associated exercise with weight loss because as a nation we hadn’t needed to think about activity - it was just a part of everyday life. With fewer TV channels, no mobile phones or social media we were more likely to have played sports, joined a local keep fit class or a dance session as a social activity and somewhere to go, rather than because we wanted to slim down. We recognised that going to a fitness class helped us to get fitter but I’m not sure we thought it would hasten any weight loss.
Of course, today we live in a totally different world where food is plentiful, manufacturers and supermarkets are experts at tempting us to spend more and eat more, plus we drive everywhere. Dining out or sending for a takeaway is commonplace for some folks – but these are not without a real cost to our health and wellbeing as well as our wallet!
We are all very much aware that the NHS and the social care sector in the UK are breaking under the strain of unhealthy patients, and the elderly living longer but unable to live independently through ill health or frailty. Something has to change in the way we live our lives if that trend is going to change.
Thankfully, the understanding of nutrition and exercise has advanced tremendously since those earlier days. We now know that all calories are not equal and that exercise is fundamental to weight management. We also know that what we eat really does matter as it affects our health.
 I remember as if it were yesterday, writing my Hip and Thigh Diet, (first published in 1988), when I suggested readers should cut right back on fat, and not worry about anything else - including sugar. I was even suggesting meringues and low-fat cakes with sugar in the ingredients as part of the diet. At the time, the diet was pretty revolutionary and it really worked. The book went on to sell a couple of million copies worldwide but, looking back, the nutritional advice could have been better. I now acknowledge that for optimum health, a little of the good fat is good for us and eating too much sugar is definitely not!
It is wonderful that today nutrition science has come on in leaps and bounds, as has the understanding of how beneficial it is to exercise regularly. We are now so much better informed than we have ever been and I know our readers of this newsletter appreciate the fascinating scientific facts brought to us each week by Mary.
Over the years I modified my diets to be less strict, culminating in The 28-Day Immunity Plan which Mary and I wrote together in 2021. It was a big shift from those earlier eating plans. The health benefits from that Plan are dramatic and it is a way-of-life programme rather than a diet. It brings everything into a wonderful synchronisation of healthy food and safe and effective progressive exercise. Tried and tested many times with different teams at Leicestershire Police, Mary and I are delighted that we created this special Plan during lockdown because it made everyone feel so much better.
Yes, we should still cut back on fat if we are trying to lose weight as it is twice the calories compared with carbs and protein, but we don’t have to be paranoid. Try to avoid the type of fat that’s called ‘trans-fat’ though, as this is a byproduct of a process called hydrogenation that is used to turn healthy oils into solids and to prevent them from becoming rancid. Trans-fats are really unhealthy so if you are going to use any fat, try to look at what is 100% natural.
When it comes to sugar – again we don’t need to become paranoid. Sugar brings us no nutrients, only empty calories. Cut it back as much as possible and you will be helping yourself toward a healthier body and saving some weight-reducing calories at the same time. Mary explains the hidden traps where sugar may be lurking unnoticed…
We only have one body, let’s look after it!
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