1. Don’t be impatient and expect instant results you have to be able to maintain whatever changes you make for the long term. It is very easy to set yourself up to fail, try and take a long term view.
2. Allow yourself mistakes, the all or nothing approach doesn’t work, remember the weight loss in some respects is the easy bit keeping it off is when the hard work really starts. It is important to overcome setbacks and move on.
3. Try and get to the root cause of the weigh gain and address it, for instance was it stress that caused increases in appetite or comfort eating.
4. Make sure you add in plenty of rewards to encourage compliance.
5. Avoid weighing yourself daily your weight will fluctuate and an unexpected reading can really set you up for a bad day. You have no control over what the scales say but you have control over your food focus on that.
6. Avoid going for long times eating very little and feeling hungry all you do is slow down your metabolism so weight loss becomes even harder.
7. A diet that focuses solely on calories counting and doesn’t consider the quality of the food can leave you nutritionally deficient tired, hungry and depressed, all three of which make it unsustainable in the long term.
8. Losing weight is around 80% diet and 20% exercise whilst adding in some exercise will help don’t be fooled into thinking weight loss will come without changes to your diet.
9. Find a source of personal motivation and refer to it often. Remind yourself why you want to lose weight.
10. Only a true lifestyle change can make weight loss sustainable and it can take time to change a lifetime of habits, however everyone can do it.

A diet that encourages weight loss over time will inevitably help you to form better habits and become the beginning of a lifetime of healthy eating.

In my opinion a good detox is a month of eating a very healthy diet and cutting out all of the alcohol, caffeine and sugar, fat and salt-laden processed foods that can make up a large part of people’s daily food intake. It shouldn’t be too extreme so as to omit essential nutrients but a healthy balance. Whether this allows your body to release toxins or not is controversial. All I know is that you sparkle at the end of it. The ultimate aim of a detox has to be to feel terrific. Quite often clients feel worse before they see improvements but the ones who stick with it report increased energy levels, a clearer head, brighter eyes and skin and weight loss. In a number of cases problems that people have been plagued with for years such as bloating, headaches or skin problems have improved or disappeared. The long term aim is to improve the diet for a lifetime rather than a short period and quite often habits developed during this time become life long. These good habits include eating more fruit and vegetables, drinking more water and cutting down on junk food and processed foods. They also help you to think about what you’re eating, force you out of your food comfort zone to try new things, experiment and find tasty healthy food. It can be very motivational taking charge of your health.

If you would like to try a detox to help improve your health or achieve your new year’s resolution why not get in touch.

1.  Write down your resolutions, make them specific, positive and realistic and don’t be greedy one or two is enough.
2. Reward your self for achieving. Break your goals down and plan rewards for various stages.
3. Get some help – trying to make changes on your own gives your inner saboteur plenty of chances to derail your best intentions.

Creamy Dahl Soup (serves 6)

 1 large onion, roughly chopped

2/5cm/”” fresh ginger, peeled and grated

3 garlic cloves, halved

15ml/1tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 heaped teasp each of ground cumin, coriander and turmeric

2 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

2 parsnips, peeled and roughly chopped (or use 2 very large sweet potatoes)

350g/12ozs/1½  mugs of split red lentils

1.75 litres/3 pints veg or chicken stock* or water

Black pepper to taste

Natural yoghurt to serve

Fresh coriander or parsley to serve (optional)

 Sweat the onion, ginger, garlic in the oil and 1 dsp water, cover with a lid, for a few mins, then add the spices and cook for a further 2 mins.  Add the carrots, parsnips, lentils, stir well, then add the stock or water.  Bring to the boil, cover and simmer 30 mins, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender. Puree in a blender,  and season to taste. Serve with a small dollop of  natural yoghurt and, if you like, a scattering of coriander or parsley.