How’s your diet at the moment? Is it packed full of all the vitamins, minerals and nutrients a busy mum needs? Or, do find yourself constantly eating on the run, not making time to eat, and you are therefore constantly tired?
Nutrition plays a massive role in weight loss.
With a bit of tweaking here and there to your current eating plan, you’ll feel less sugar cravings, feel less hungry and feel more energised in the process (even when you have the worst night’s sleep ever!).
PROTEIN
You’ve probably heard the food adverts that claim that if you eat certain meals you’ll feel fuller for longer. In theory, yes, if you eat protein-rich meal, it will help fill you up.
In theory, yes, if you eat protein-rich meal, it will help fill you up
It’s important to eat protein-rich meals which include eggs, chicken, liver, fish, seafood, beef, pork and lamb. Eat whatever protein you like, as long as it’s clean and lean - so no creamy sauces, without additives, and make sure any excess fat is removed.
GREEN LEAFY VEG
Pump your body full of green leafy veg at every opportunity - breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Pack your salads full of spinach, rocket and watercress (watercress is particularly useful for ridding your body of cellulite), and eat lots and lots of stir fries on the side, with peas, green beans, courgettes, broccoli, sugar snap peas, asparagus, leeks, mangetout, cabbage, and kale. These vegetables are particularly good at cleansing your system and stabilising your blood sugar levels, because they’re quite low in GI and full of antioxidants.
Have an omelette for breakfast on a bed spinach, rocket and watercress, drizzled with olive oil. Prepare a simple chicken and avocado salad to eat at lunch to keep you going for the afternoon. Complete your day with oven-baked fish and a green stir fry on the side.
Green leafy veg is the secret to weight loss.
Green leafy veg is the secret to weight loss. These types of vegetables are packed full of all the vitamins, nutrients and minerals you need, without spiking your insulin levels sky-high so that 20 minutes after you’ve eaten, you feel as though you need a nap on the sofa because you’re on the come down off that sugar high, and/or you could eat your way through the entire chocolate aisle of your local supermarket because you’re craving something sweet.
WATER
Ideally, you should be drinking at least 2-3 litres of water a day. Bottled, if you can. Tap water is riddled with oestrogen; high levels of oestrogen contributes to weight gain and weight gain encourages excess oestrogen, so you can see how this hormone really affects you as a woman and a new mum.
By drinking water, and lots of it, it flushes your body of toxins and helps restore balance
During pregnancy, your body was busy producing oestrogen and progesterone. If the levels of oestrogen and progesterone aren’t balanced out post-natally, this creates a fantastic environment for your body to store fat. By drinking water, and lots of it, it flushes your body of toxins and helps restore balance.
70% of the muscles in your body are made up of water, so feeding them more water, helps hydrate you, which in turn helps stabilise your metabolism, making your body better at burning fat and ridding itself of toxins.
Dale Bell is the UK’s leading weight-loss coach to mums; sign up to his free daily weight-loss tips here.