“From a healthy eating

perspective, clients know what they should be doing; what they require is some support when they are not doing it”

it impossible to eat regularly and follow traditional meal patterns. Skipping meals and leaving long gaps between eating can result in low blood sugar levels. Research has shown that adopting a “grazing” approach to eating keeps blood sugar levels steady, helping to maintain energy levels, avoid hunger and tiredness and aid weight control. Dividing daily food intake into 5 or 6 lighter meals or snacks provides the body with a steadier supply of energy and nutrients and food is easier to digest and absorb. When encouraging this approach it is important that meals are planned in advance to avoid getting caught out and grabbing foods with a high fat and sugar content.

From a weight loss perspective despite the desire and need for quick results, it is within the bounds of good practice to encourage your clients to avoid dietary practices that:

l Promise a quick fix and make claims that seem too good to be true l Promote avoidance or severe restriction of food groups l Promote a single or ‘few foods’ approach

l Recommend eating only in a particular combination l Suggest weight loss beyond 1kg (2lbs) per week

The sensible approach would be to encourage clients to: l Keep a diary and become more aware of eating habits l Watch portion sizes and snack food choices l Have regular meals, starting with breakfast l Plan ahead

l Be realistic by attempting to make only 2-3 dietary changes at a time

l Watch what they drink; many drinks, including alcohol, are source of unwanted calories

l Enlist support…and accept occasional lapses

Currently there is still a high level of conflicting advice available to your clients. It is vital that all parties with a genuine interest in health and fitness work together to promote consistent and evidence based healthy eating messages.

are your clients sabotaging their efforts..? l Most dieters are looking for quick fixes rather than changing eating and exercise habits for life. Losing weight is actually relatively easy to achieve in the short term, it is long term maintenance of weight loss that is difficult.

l Skipping meals is disastrous; it only leads to overeating at the next meal.

l Dieters often deprive themselves of their favourite foods and then feel guilty when this results in bingeing on them. Remember there are no good and bad foods, only good and bad

20

a day in order to prevent low blood sugar and sustain energy levels:

Q1 Q2

many grams of fat per 100g: Q3

NB. do not attempt to answer the questions in the interactive version of this magazine

The REPs Journal 2009;15(Dec):18-20 to be deemed a low fat food a product must contain less than how

uses of food and some that should feature daily in our diet and some that should be occasional foods; you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what these might be.

l Allowances should be made for days when overindulgence cannot be avoided such as weddings, parties or meals out. l Falling into the ‘Fad Dieting’ trap; the more outlandish the claim the less likely it is to work long term. l Misled by reduced fat foods; these only have

to contain 25% less fat than the standard product, so reduced fat mayonnaise is never going to be low fat mayonnaise. To earn the low fat tag a product must contain less than 5g of fat per 100g.

l Scale hopping; standard bathroom scales do not differentiate between fat and muscle weight or daily fluid fluctuations.

Remember…..

l Encourage your clients to keep a food diary – this helps identify good and bad eating habits.

l To offer advice and nutritional strategies in line with the Eatwell principles

l To educate on portion sizes.

l Planning ahead not only ensures clients meet their weekly requirements for servings of fruit, vegetable and dairy produce but also helps avoid impulsive eating.

the author

Louise Sutton, performance Nutritionist - a fitness professional with a background in clinical dietetics, Louise has been a recipient of the re-energise Nutrition awards fitness

professional of the year award for her commitment to raising standards in nutrition education and training in the fitness industry. She currently manages the carnegie centre for Sports performance and wellbeing and can be contacted at l.sutton@leedsmet.ac.uk.

aNSwer the foLLowiNg queStioNS oNLiNe to earN cpd poiNtS

Please login to the members area of the REPs website to give your answers

ideally how many servings of milk/dairy foods should people

have each day?

how many lighter meals or snacks should people be encouraged to take

a. 2 b. 3 c. 4

a. 3-4 b. 5-6 c. 7-8

a. 3 b. 4 c. 5