Also, is it better to more look at the fat in what your eating, than the calories?.

Thanks for any sensible answers.

xx

low carb diets are best. the key is to watch how foods affect your blood sugar, namely insulin. if you eat foods such as rice, bread, potatoes etc, they are broken down into simple sugars (glucose) and flow into your bloodstream. when your blood sugar rises above normal levels insulin is released to lower the amount in the blood. the only way to do this is to store the sugar in muscles or the liver. when these stores are full, it gets stored as fat. (this means jacket potatoes, rice and especially fruit, can increase body fat!)

the trick is to eat slow burning high fibre carbs such as oatmeal, wheatabix etc as this doesnt have as much of an effect on insulin.

high protein meals keep insulin low and arent converted to fat as easily but still keep you full so eat as much chicken, fish, steak and eggs as you want.

if you must eat pasta or potatoes etc, a good tip is to eat fibrous vegetables with it such as brocolli or green beans as the high fibre content slows down then digestion of the carbohydrates and helps them enter the blood stream more slowly which means the insulin release is much lower helping to prevent fat storage.

on the flip side, if blood sugar is below normal, glucagon is released (the oposite to insulin) and this breaks down fat for the body to use as energy, this is what you want.

bottom line, low carb diets are best, easier to follow long term as crash diets never work. keep meals high protein, lots of veg, go easy on fruit and drink lots of water.

also make sure you exercise on a daily basis, even if its just a long brisk walk. the best time is first thing in the morning before eating as you havent eaten while your asleep so your blood sugar is already low and your body will burn fat for energy.

one last thing to answer your question, its important to look at the fat content of the foods you eat obviously BUT the important thing to look at is the simple carbohydrate content. as i was saying earlier, its the effect on insulin that matters rather than calories.

for example, a bottle of lucozade has zero fat but is simple sugars. if you drank this regularly, you’d put alot of weight on as it goes straight to the blood.

hope this helps