[Muffie's Mom]

Question: My family loves all my traditional family recipes – I can keep cooking them and still lose weight?

Answer: The solution is to keep making them, but make them over into a low fat, lower sugar format. Use little or no oil, substitute cream with low fat yoghurt or “skinny tinny” and substitute herbs and spices for salt in recipes. Trim all visible fat from meats before cooking and choose low fat cereals and breads. Your family won’t even notice the difference, except they will probably all feel better!

Question: I’ve failed on every diet I’ve ever attempted! What’s gone wrong?

Answer: “Diets” just don’t work and will be guaranteed to fail you every time. You haven’t failed, the “diet” failed you. The only thing that will work is to stop “dieting” and think healthy eating instead. Expect to succeed and you will succeed.

Question: Why do people keep offering me food and even if I say no, no, no they still push?

Answer: Unfortunately the more you say no, no, no, the more unhelpful people will push unwelcome food at you! Practice saying “Thanks, it looks great – I’ll have some later”. Try it – it really does work.

Question: Food is everywhere! Why do I get tempted all the time?

Answer: An awareness of why, where and when we eat is an essential part of establishing a healthier eating style. Food does surround us constantly and becoming aware of the traps and working out a strategy to become in control of your relationship to food and resisting constant temptation by food is an important part of losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight.

Question: How do those goodies just find their own way into my supermarket trolley?

Answer: Planning is the key to food shopping. Planning a menu for the week for the whole family, making a shopping list taking your weekly menu plan into account and only purchasing what is on your list is the key. Learn to read the labels and only purchase foods which are natural, low in fat, sugar and salt and without preservatives and chemicals. If you don’t buy it, it won’t end up in your kitchen! You are in control and you have the right to choose healthy food.

Question: The kids demand I buy all those snacks! How can I say no?

Answer: Making healthy food choices is a family lifestyle decision and it’s your decision what ends up in your trolley. Avoid impulse buying, don’t buy food for the kids you don’t feel comfortable buying. A lot of food marketing is directed at children, so solve the problem by shopping late at night and leave the kids at home. The whole family will benefit from eating healthier food.

Question: Why are lifestyle changes are so difficult to make?

Answer: Any change takes courage. Courage is the power to face difficulties. Courage comes from a determination to succeed and to practice new lifestyle skills. When we isolate our problems and work on finding a solution we gain the necessary courage to succeed.

Question: Why do I feel as it my life is stuck in a rut?

Answer: Once we stop learning, we stop growing as a person. Being open to new ideas, new concepts and new learning will mean developing new skills. Starting is the key, because if we want to be successful in any endeavour, we must start sometime. The house of success is built brick by brick.

Question: I can’t afford to go on expensive pre packaged food diets – what can I do?

Answer: No one needs pre packaged diet food! The power to achieve successful weight loss lies within each of us. We alone have the responsibility to develop a healthy weight. When we understand this, we begin to realise that we alone are pushing ourselves forward or holding ourselves back.

Question: There is so much conflicting nutrition information in magazines and on TV! What is really correct?

Answer: It’s a case of sourcing out information and taking an intelligent and informed look at it all. Basically, 80% of what we eat should come out of the ground in the form of fruits, vegetables and wholegrains. We need quality protein to build and repair, dairy products to supply calcium and minimal amounts of fat, sugar and salt. Chemicals, preservatives and colourings in food are a real health hazard, as are sugar laden soft drinks.

Question: I have a family history of diabetes – is it important I lose weight?

Answer: With a family history of heart disease, diabetes, stroke or bowel cancer, attaining and maintaining a healthy weight is imperative to remain healthy. These are the killer diseases which can be directly related to obesity.

Taking charge and gaining control over weight will go a long way towards preventing the killer diseases, many of which show a family pre disposition to developing.