One simple change to help you lose weight & eat more healthily

It’s supposed to be simple – eat less and exercise more. But it’s not, is it? If it was that simple, there wouldn’t be so many overweight/obese people. YOU wouldn’t be overweight. It’s estimated that globally at any one time 45% of adults are trying to lose weight.

I decided to write a book to look at all the research: “190 Weight Loss Hacks: What The Evidence Says“. It doesn’t repeat all the fluff and lies that are on the internet about losing weight. It looks at the research, summarising it for you in an accessible and practical way.

So, here’s one of my favourite hacks from the book (my favourite hack is that you buy my book!!!).

This hack is known as the variety effect. Having a large variety of a particular category of food can mean that you eat more of that food.

So, if you want to reduce your snack intake, reduce the number of different snacks you have available. For example, have either crisps/chips or nuts, but not both. Have one type of biscuits/cookies, not a variety. Have just one flavour of icecream, not a variety.

Limiting your options can mean you eat less. Buy only a limited variety of snacks and treats. That way you may open the fridge or cupboard door and not want to eat anything that’s there.

You may feel all the options boring. You may still end up eating something, but there is a chance you’ll just sigh and shut the door.

Laura Wilkinson, lecturer in Psychology, Swansea University, Wales writes:

“… we asked two groups of volunteers to decorate Christmas trees and gave them chocolates to snack on. We found that, in line with other scientific studies, people will eat more from a bowl containing a variety of flavoured chocolates than a bowl containing only one type of chocolate.

“The “variety effect” is thought to be the result of a phenomenon called “sensory specific satiety”. This is where our desire to consume a food of a particular flavour, colour and texture, decreases while we are eating it. This is one of the processes that helps us to stop eating and finish our meal. But this doesn’t affect how much we appreciate other foods – and our desire to eat other different foods does not reduce.

“In this way, switching between foods with different flavours interrupts and delays this decline in desire to eat from kicking in. And after a number of interruptions, the meal or snack time becomes longer, and more is eaten overall.”

But the variety effect can work for in another way too. Ms Wilkinson goes on to say:

“This “variety effect” has the potential to be very helpful if you are trying to eat more of a particular food – such as fruits and vegetables”

In other words, have variety available for foods you want to eat more of and less variety for the things you want to eat less of.

It’s so simple isn’t it, but it is effective.

My book answers some important questions. For example, should you make your weight loss goals public? Should you weigh yourself every day? Can you spot reduce? Is it better to join a group or do it on your own? Are meal replacement shakes helpful? Can you lose weight by exercising? The answers are based on what the evidence says.

It also gives you strategies for dealing with people who try to sabotage you, or who show you love through food (“I baked this just for you!”), or who criticise you for being overweight.

Do you need strategies for what goes on in your own head? This book has those too.

It’s a comprehensive and compassionate look at the research you need to know to develop a positive relationship with food.

The book is almost 60,000 words, 190 hacks and 370+ scientific references. There have to be some that will work for you! This practical book offers hope and help whether you want to lose weight, maintain the weight you’ve already lost, unzip your brain from its food obsession or deal with unhelpful people.

I’ve had some great endorsements for the book. Here’s one of them from Dr Sue Kenneally MBBS MRCGP MSc ANutr DipIBLM/BSLM, UK, GP, nutrition expert, bariatric physician:

“As a specialist weight loss physician, I know the despair associated with believing that you have already tried everything possible to lose weight. This book brings hope to anyone in that situation. I consider it required reading for anyone aspiring to lose weight, and I recommend it unreservedly.”

Go over to Amazon and discover more about this book. Available as a paperback or an eBook. Also available as an audio book on Amazon, Audible and iTunes.