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Natural Dieting: 21 Ways to Eat yourself thinner

Not everyone can afford a Personal Trainer, Personal Chef, Personal Dietician, Lipo Suction, or custom cooked Calorie Controlled Meal Service that delivers to their door everyday, as used by some Movie Stars. But loosing weight does not have to depend on how much you can afford, with a little Common Sense and Control, a lot can be achieve with a Consistent Approach.

A Good Diet is not all about what you eat but how you eat too! It’s also about increasing the Calories burnt and decreasing the Calories eaten while getting all the Nutrition your body requires. Sometimes, re-arranging and changing the way you eat makes a difference. Good eating habits maximize the absorption of Nutrients as well as keep off unwanted fat. It’s important that, before starting any diet, always see your doctor first for a check up, to make sure that any weight problem is due to diet or lifestyle and not an illness. Tell your doctor exactly how you intend to loose weight so that you can be advised on whether your weight loss plan is suitable for you.

Here are some easy Healthy Eating Tips, you don’t have to do ALL of them, different people respond differently to the same changes, just pick the ones that work for you, or a few that you can actually stick to, because when it comes to losing weight, consistency with little steps is more important that big steps that don’t last.

plate 1. Smaller Plates, Bowl and Cups: Down Size all your Crockery and Glassware. Use a smaller plate or bowl to eat your food with. Use smaller wine glasses and cups for coffee. When it comes to Food, size matters, Food is about visual stimulation, as well as taste, the larger the food looks on a plate or in a bowl, the less hungry you will feel. This is an easy portion size trick that some restaurants use to save costs.

2. Time Limit for Eating: Try to stop eating 2-3hrs before going to bed. You don’t burn as many calories in your sleep so don’t pile it on right before you go to bed. Only eat if you are still going to be active for a few hours after. This goes for middle of the night snacks too, if you are someone who can’t get out of the habit of waking up to eat something in the middle of the night, stick to light liquids, nothing heavy, try drinking warm water or microwave some vegetable soup for something savoury, for something sweet, try warm Soya milk with Honey and Vanilla or Cinnamon.

coffee 3. Cut down on Coffee: Too much caffeine can raise insulin levels which slows your body's ability to burn off fat. If you can’t live without the taste of coffee, opt for the decaf option, look for Dandelion Coffee or water it down, use less coffee powder, reduce from, for example, 2 teaspoons to ½ a teaspoon. Switch to light Soya lattes using the minimum amount of coffee, just for flavor. Use a handheld battery operated foam whizzer to make great Lattes without the fuss, with the Professional Capuccino style Foam on Top.

gum 4. Don’t Snack while Cooking: Chew sugar free gum when you cook, it’s a lot harder to munch away on something savoury during food preparation if you already got a minty taste in your mouth, it’s like mixing toothpaste with soup. Chewing also stimulates digestive juices for when you start eating your meal. If you are not a gum person, try sugar free mints instead.

diary 5. Keep Track of what you eat: Keep a log of everything you consume all day. You can either use a notebook, some recycled paper, a cell phone or PDA with a diary feature, just enter whatever you eat while you are on the go. This is to give you an overall picture of what you are eating and how much you are consuming, it can be surprising when you add everything up, before you know it, you may have actually eaten more than you intended to. A food diary also allows you to plan portion control and target foods that can be substituted with healthier options.

eat 6. Eat Properly: Eat only if you are hungry, and not because you are Bored, Stressed or Upset, don’t use food to comfort eat away Emotions, food is for Nutrition only. Don’t confuse hunger with thirst, if you feel hungry, dry a glass of water first, if you still feel hungry then eat.

7. Chew Everything Thoroughly: Don't gulp your Food Down, Chew it Slowly and drink water while eating, properly chewed food not only allows you to absorb more nutrients, but also make you feel full while eating less. In Paul McKenna's TV weight loss experiment, people who put their utensils down while chewing their food, actually ate less but felt just as full. So the more you chew your food, the better.

8. Hunger Control: Just eaten and already feeling hungry? Loose that hungry feeling for longer time periods. Your stomach is like a sieve, liquidized foods take longer time to sieve through, Read more about this BBC Study, chunky food is not well combined with water allowing the liquids to pass through faster, this cuts the time until you feel hungry again, because when solids combined evenly with liquids, it's absorbed into by the body at the same steady rate. Ever seen a Chef force a thick puree through a sieve with a spoon? it's the same principle, thick and gooey takes longer to pass through. Try to replace one meal a day with a thick Soup or Shake to keep you fuller for longer, here are some quick easy recipes:

Vegetable Soup: If you don't have time to make soup, buy low calorie ones from your Supermarket.
Banana & Soy Shake: Whizz up a Banana with a cup of Soya milk in a blender, add 1 teaspoon of dark Cocoa Powder and turn it into a chocolate shake if you want.
Tomato Juice: A cheap source of Tomatoes are canned ones, just whizz it all up in a blender, add a pinch of salt, dash of Worcestershire sauce or Tabasco chili to spice it up.
Cereal Drink: Warm up about half a cup of Soya milk in a microwave, add Honey or a teaspoon of dark Cocoa Powder and crumble in a Weetabix.

cooking grill 9. Cook your own food: Prepare your own food, don't always reach for the phone and dial in a take out, not only do you use up calories chopping, cooking and washing up, you also see what goes into your food, if you control the indgredients, you can cut out excess fats and preservatives, you can choose better quality ingredients that are naturally more tasty and lessen the need to add flavor.

Prepare your own food as much as you can, even if its just one meal a day. Make your own lunch to bring to work, or make soup for a quick lunch, that way, you don’t get tempted buy what’s out there. Processed foods can rely heavily on flavor enhancers, preservatives that can alter your hormones (too much estrogen gives you Man boobs) and not much nutrients, actively preparing your own food not only burns calories, but allows YOU to decide what you eat. Don’t add fat during the cooking process; opt for Steaming or Grilling like with the George Foreman Grill that drains fats away, give up deep full fat frying.

hunger 10. Compulsives Nibblers and Munchers: Have a stash of Emergency low calorie munchies, Swap High Calorie Snacks with Healthier ones, stock up and surround yourself with Low Calorie Sweets & Snacks, put them conveniently within reach so you can swap out the unhealthies. Match your taste to what you actually want, if you want something sweet, pick the sweet tasting healthy version, don't substitute sweet for salty or sour, chewy for crunchy because if you satisfy your taste buds, you are less likely to eat more. Aim for snacks of up to 150 calories.

Swap Sugar Ladened Cereals for Bran or Wholemeal, try instant Oats, that can be micro waved with Soya milk, add honey and vanilla or cinnamon to taste.

Make your own Popcorn, don't drown it butter, oil or syrup, just dip each one lightly with Honey, just touching it with minimal contact, this will give the sweetness without most of the Calories.
Swap a Full Fat Latte for the Soya version or pick up a herbal tea like, Peppermint, Green Tea and Blackcurrant.
Swap a Chocolate Bar, Pastry, Fat filled Cream Cake or Jam filled Doughnut for a Granola or Wholemeal Bar like Harvest Chewee, these are kiddie lunchbox snacks and are smaller in size, each bar has only 90 calories!
Swap Soft drinks like Sugar filled Cola for the Sugar free version or better still, have water instead, if you miss the bubbles, have carbonated mineral water with a twist of lime or lemon.
Swap Sweets and Cookies for dried or fresh fruits, you can eat a load of Strawberries, Kiwis and Grapefruit without counting calories. Try Munching on Nuts too. Can’t give up Toffee or Caramel Chewy sweets? Try Calorie controlled sweets like Lite Bties (R)
Swap Ice cream for Agar jelly, a very popular Asian dessert, you can add coconut or fruit flavors, it's nearly all water, so you can eat as much as you want.

Snack on High Fibre low Sugar cereals, crunch away.
Swap Chips and Crisps, with DIY savoury crunchies in a food dehydrator, if you use potatoes, and leave the skin on. Experiment with other vegetables like Zucchini, Greens and anything you can slice thinly.
Swap Sandwich Bread for Wholemeal Pita Breads, they are easy to crisp up in a toaster, and have a limit on how much you can stuff in it.
Swap Crackers for Ryvita.
Swap Milk for low fat alternatives like Soya or Rice Milk, use it in teas, coffees, baking and cooking.
Swap Sweets for Tic Tacs, they have 1-2 calories each.
Swap Chewy Mints for Sugar Free Mints.
Make your own low Calorie Truffle, Click here for recipes from the Fabulous Cook Yourself Thin TV show.
Make our own Agar Turkish delight. Stay away from gummy sweets or pastilles made of gelatine, these are boiled cow or pork hooves, which is not good for digestion, always read the label.

11. Get complex, Brown is the new White: How would you like to burn calories while eating? Which foods make you burn calories while you eat? The answer is unrefined complex carbohydrates, which takes your body about 25% more calories to burn complex carbohydrates than it does fat? It’s not hard; just choose the brown version of everyday foods such as: Brown rice Brown or wholemeal bread, pitas. Wholemeal, Bran or Oatmeal snacks or cereals. Brown sugar, Muscavado or Demerara sugar.

bloat 12. Water Retention: Feeling Bloated? Here’s an extract from Gist Support with a list of natural diuretics: Asparagus contains asparigine - a chemical alkaloid that boosts kidney performance, thereby improving waste removal from the body. Brussel Spouts help in stimulating the kidneys and pancreas. This helps in better cleansing of cells. Beets are natural diuretic foods that attack floating body fats and fatty deposits. Oats contain silica - a natural diuretic. Cabbage is known to aid breakage of fatty deposits, especially around the abdominal region. Carrots are a rich source of carotene that speeds the metabolic rate of the body and hastens removal of fat deposits and waste. Lettuce aids better metabolism and flushing of toxins. Tomatoes are rich in Vitamin C that aid the metabolism and release of water from the kidney to flush out waste. Other than the other excellent properties that Garlic possesses, it is a natural diuretic food that aids breakage of fat. Horseradish, raw onions and radish speed up your metabolism.

13. Constipated, feeling clogged up? Eat to poop, eat natural laxatives like Prunes, Coconut, don’t like fruits? try plant based fibre drinks. Instantly boost your fibre intake by eating Bran or the skin on fruits and vegetables, (after washing thouroughly) this saves time on peeling too! Exercise alleviates constipation as well.

counter 14. Burning calories – Keep Moving all day. To loose weight, Calories burnt must be greater than Calorie Intake, keep active, strap on a movement counter or pedometer to measure the calories burnt and keep a food dairy to total up the calories you eat, as long as that’s less than your output, you will lose weight, here are some everyday stay active tips:

If you have an all day desk job, supplement calorie burning by being active in the evenings or weekends. Join a class like gym, yoga (ashtanga variant) or any sports that required regular participation, once you are there, you will be more motivated to do something. Join a sports team so that you are part of and will be more likely to attend regularly. There are many sports offered at your Local Y or sport center that don’t cost a fortune.

active If you have dog, walk it, if you don’t have one but like animals; offer to walk your friends, neighbor or family’s dog when they are too busy or unable to do so. You can also make extra money too! Walk whenever you can, walk to work, walk to the store, walk to the post office, walk your dog.

Do you own Housework, Cleaning, Laundry, DIY, Painting and Decorating.

Volunteer for manual labor at your local charity, like a local soup kitchen (pick an active duty like cutting food or washing up) or hospice (again, pick something lab our intensive like changing beds, cleaning floors over huge areas.) If you love children, there are volunteer activity camps for disabled kids that required constant one to one attention during outings, not only do you give your time to someone in need, you also keep active. If you love animals, there are plenty of local animal shelters that need dog walkers.

wii wiifit Get a Nintendo Wii, avoid sedentary video games. If you are a couch potato computer game junkie, try Wii games to get the body moving, rather than a sit down all day clicking the mouse only. For those who lack motivation to exercise, there's always the super cool Wii Fit for Yoga, Hoola Hooping, Soccer and Workouts. It's something you can do at home alone or share with family and friends.

Go on active holidays or resorts with physically challenging days like hiking, mountain climbing, cycling, skiing, water polo etc.

When watching TV or talking on the phone, use a home fold away exerciser like a lateral Thigh Slider or Vertical Climber and Tony Little's Gazelle, there are many affordable fold-away excercisers available online brand new or as second user machines.

Take the stairs whenever you can, avoid escalators and elevators.

portion 15. Small and Regular Portions: if you feel like you are dying of starvation between meals, split your meal into 2, and eat at intervals that spans evenly in between meals, that way you make the same amount of food last longer. Plus you burn calories before and after the meal. Stretch and split it, portion control also applies to sweets and snacks, for example, if you have a chocolate bar, don’t gobble it up in one go, break it up and make it last for the whole day while you are on the move and burning calories. Avoid all you can eat buffets, eating for value is not eating for health. Eat only 2 ounces of protein at any time, because your body can only metabolise this amount at any one time, fill the rest of the plate with vegetables and have lots of fruits. Divide and conquer, the same rules apply for alcohol, give it up or divvy it up and make it last, use smaller glasses and split one glass into 2 and absolutely give up Binge Drinking. Check out Healthy snacks for children section of the supermarket, these will already be in smaller portions that you can pick up and go, like the Chewee Bars Lunch Box.

16. Temptation: Set up a fail safe environment for yourself, do not keep sweets, snacks, cakes or anything unhealthy in the house. A lot of people snack out of convenience, on anything within reach, so fill your home with conveniently located healthy snacks. Do not bulk buy anything you are trying to avoid or cut down on, make a deal with yourself, if you want a not so healthy snack, you have to WALK to the shop to get it and WALK back home. Balance something ‘unhealthy’ with something good, e.g. for every not so healthy snack, drink 2 glasses of water or take a walk.

17. Eat Out at Healthy Places: Eat only at places that show the calorie count like Subway and they also make it fresh in front of you, so you see exactly what goes into it. Places that are willing to display their calorie count are also less likely to sell anything unhealthy.

18. Aversion Therapy: Free but not for the faint hearted. Feel like a Creamy Trans fat filled Doughnut? Go stand on the scale then see if you still want it. If that’s not enough, for desperate out of control obsessions with an unhealthy food or drink, whether its too much beer, cola, cakes, chocolate bars and other snacks full of saturated fats, try mixing it with something you cannot stand, preferably something that makes you feel sick, like mixing a bottle of cola with the contents of your vacuum cleaner bag (gag!….), anything that grosses you out, look at it, remember it and use the image to counter act any out of control desire for sugar stuffed cola. This psychologically changes the way you feel towards ‘bad’ foods that you have lost control over. It’s a way for you to control how you feel about food, and not give into food controlling you. Inspired by World Renowned Hypnotist Paul McKenna, this is not for the faint hearted and could change your relationship with your favorite foods forever, so use it wisely in essential situations after everything else has failed. Some foods don’t even need any aversion conditioning, they speak for themselves, if you actually think about what's inside; if you are addicted to chewy jelly type sweets that contain gelatine, think of gelatine as bovine, porcine hoof shavings a.k.a. cow and pig toe nail clippings or if you can't walk past a hot dog stand without buying one, think of what could be inside a cheap hot dog with a low % of actual meat cuts, pretty much anything can be sold as meat, like pig snouts, ears, skin, poop chute etc etc, you get the picture……. Another good one is Vanity, if you feel the need for a Full Fat Cheesecake, look at the part of your body that's oversized or over-flabby, like a pot belly (muffin top) that hangs over the trouser line or any folds of excess fat anywhere else, and you might find that you don't want it after all. Think of anything that takes away your appetite, it can be as simple as clothing size or standing on a scale, whatever kills of the urge to binge eat and use it as a snacking deterant.

veggies 19. For the Veggie Phobes: If you don’t like vegetables, use clever recipes like those on Cook Yourself Thin to sneak in the veggies without changing taste where you can make a low calorie Chocolate Fudge Cake with beetroot or Brownies made from pumpkin that don't taste different from normal fatty ones. This is also a fantastic way of sneaking veggies in to kiddy snacks.

caveman 20. Caveman rule: Restrict what you eat to only what you can kill, if you can’t stomach watching animals being electrocuted and chopped up in slaughter houses, stick to veggies, just imagine if slaughter houses where made glass. Meat does not grow on trees, think about where it comes from, there are plenty of slaughter house and meat processing videos online, if watching it makes you gag, don't eat it. This is an easy one, if you can't see yourself gutting out an animal, don't eat it. (Just in case it’s not galactically obvious, this in no way implies that anyone should even try to kill an animal.)

21. Be in Control: Remember, You are the Boss, You Control Food, and not the other way around. Divert cravings for unhealthy food with something else you enjoy, like a good movie, a good book or a new hobby, take a class and learn something new. Distract yourself with non-food activities. Get enjoyment from sources other than food. Pick an environment with a good vibe, somewhere that takes away negative feelings. Some people get buzz from helping others and take up regular volunteering, focus on the positive, and amplify it.

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