Here's some ideas for you about how to sort out your food problems: Try keeping a food diary for 3 days, including a weekend day.
Everything you eat and drink - EVERYTHING - goes on that list, together with the quantity and the time of day.
Also write down how you felt - were you actually hungry? Or maybe just bored and a bit fed up? Did you eat that slice of cake just because it happened to be there? Be honest - the Food Police aren't going to come crashing through your kitchen window just because you've pigged out a bit!! After the 3 days, have a good hard look at your list.
Can you see any pattern emerging? Do you skip breakfast every morning because you're too busy and then grab a latte and a Danish at 10am? Do you gobble half a sandwich at your desk at 1.
30, then succumb to the lure of that KitKat at 3 because you feel faint with hunger? Then, when you get home, you're hungry enough to eat a horse and chase the rider halfway to Paris.
And you're tired and probably stressed out.
You just can't face cooking, so you order a takeaway, succumb to a few glasses of wine and before you know it you're sitting on the sofa chomping your way through a family - size bag of Maltesers.
Sounds familiar? Well, believe me, you are not alone! It's habits like these that you're trying to pinpoint.
Sugary snacks and pastries add calories without nourishing you, and most takeaways are fat-laden processed junk.
You wake up next morning feeling absolutely grotty, and it starts all over again! Your body is a machine.
Cleverly designed and perfectly engineered.
And you only get one! This wonderful machine deserves five-star fuel, surely? You wouldn't run your precious new car on poor-quality petrol, would you? So why do that to your infinitely-more-precious body?! Here are some ideas for changing your eating habits to make them healthier.
No, that doesn't mean you should live on beansprouts and tofu.
Trust me - I love food.
Unlike many Personal Trainers, who eat to live, I live to eat!
Trouble is, most of us do it the other way around! Happy munching.
Everything you eat and drink - EVERYTHING - goes on that list, together with the quantity and the time of day.
Also write down how you felt - were you actually hungry? Or maybe just bored and a bit fed up? Did you eat that slice of cake just because it happened to be there? Be honest - the Food Police aren't going to come crashing through your kitchen window just because you've pigged out a bit!! After the 3 days, have a good hard look at your list.
Can you see any pattern emerging? Do you skip breakfast every morning because you're too busy and then grab a latte and a Danish at 10am? Do you gobble half a sandwich at your desk at 1.
30, then succumb to the lure of that KitKat at 3 because you feel faint with hunger? Then, when you get home, you're hungry enough to eat a horse and chase the rider halfway to Paris.
And you're tired and probably stressed out.
You just can't face cooking, so you order a takeaway, succumb to a few glasses of wine and before you know it you're sitting on the sofa chomping your way through a family - size bag of Maltesers.
Sounds familiar? Well, believe me, you are not alone! It's habits like these that you're trying to pinpoint.
Sugary snacks and pastries add calories without nourishing you, and most takeaways are fat-laden processed junk.
You wake up next morning feeling absolutely grotty, and it starts all over again! Your body is a machine.
Cleverly designed and perfectly engineered.
And you only get one! This wonderful machine deserves five-star fuel, surely? You wouldn't run your precious new car on poor-quality petrol, would you? So why do that to your infinitely-more-precious body?! Here are some ideas for changing your eating habits to make them healthier.
No, that doesn't mean you should live on beansprouts and tofu.
Trust me - I love food.
Unlike many Personal Trainers, who eat to live, I live to eat!
- If you can't resist snacks like crisps and chocolate, simply don't have them in the house.
The same applies to alcohol.
When you find yourself walking a mile to the shops in a thunderstorm just to get some booze and a bag of Cheesy Wotsits, you're beyond any help I can give! - If you keep them in for the kids (do you really want them eating that rubbish??), have them in just one cupboard.
Buy a very small quantity once a week, and when it's gone, it's gone.
I find I'm reasonably safe as long as I keep away from that particular cupboard.
When my daughter opens it to get her "ration", I can smell the chocolate from 3 rooms away!! (You think I'm joking??).
As to the small amount you allow yourself, enjoy every mouthful. - Never allow yourself to get mega-hungry.
Eat 3 or more SMALL meals a day and snack in between on a piece of fruit or a handful of dates or similar.
You should go no more than 3 - 4 hours at the most without food. - ALWAYSeat breakfast.
Your mother was right! It doesn't have to be complicated.
Oatmeal porridge with semi-skim milk, or wholewheat toast, or just yoghurt with fruit if you can't face anything else.
I have friends who take wholegrain cereal, milk, bowl, the lot to work with them. - Plan your meals in advance and shop for what you need.
So that you've always got something that's easy to put together for a healthy, tasty meal.
Things like chicken breasts, pork fillet, salmon steaks.
Have a selection of veg in your freezer; potatoes, rice (brown or Basmati), wholewheat pasta, and couscous in your pantry and you have the basis of several easy, healthy meals.
Use spices and herbs for flavour as opposed to salt.
Trouble is, most of us do it the other way around! Happy munching.