Weight Management

The “Traffic Light Clock” shows when which foods can be eaten at what time of day.

Green circle: Foods may be consumed all day, contains  fruits, vegetables,

Light green circle:  may be eaten all day, contains protein like fish, meat, milk,  eggs, etc.

Yellow circle: should be greatly reduced from 5pm, “good carbohydrates”,  like pasta, bread, rice, etc. They provide the brain with energy, ample of these foods should be eaten in the morning, from noon they should be reduced. Otherwise the body only deals with there burning instead of burning the fat.

Red circle: shouldn’t be eaten after 5pm at all. Red stands for “bad carbohydrates” like biscuits, cakes, chocolate, white bread with jam, sweetened drinks. Eating these foods our body stops fat burning instantly and transfer excess fat to the depots.

Nuts: are top protein suppliers. Since they contain a lot of fat, you should not eat carbohydrates for three hours before and after nuts consumption. The body otherwise would store the fat of the nuts.

Legumes: Beans, peas, and lentils provide plenty of protein for the muscles as well but also more carbs than are conducive to nightly fat burning. Therefore they should – like fruits – be eaten only in small quantities, starting from 5 pm.

Fruits: have (albeit little) carbs. Therefore only little of it should be eaten after 5 pm, because the fructose slows down the burning of fat at night. In the case of nocturnal sweet-craving, they are more beneficial than fruit gum.

The “Traffic Light Clock” used in combination with the “Principle of OptimiX” is the nutritional part of my programme.

Why does nothing seem to work even though you have that strong desire to lose weight? Maybe many attempts to shed off weight failed. You know what you should be doing you made a plan only to find yourself halfway through that pack of biscuits thinking “I did it again” – leaving you feeling frustrated and ashamed.

What finally make the difference in your quest to lose weight? It is not only changing eating habits or a lack of activities. The answer is

YOUR EMOTIONS.

Emotions like, fear, anger, resentment, and guilt are stealing your best intentions and influencing you on a deep biological level, for example the negative emotions are keeping your stress hormone cortisol levels up
which consequently makes it nearly impossible to lose weight.

I help you to

• Change your eating habits but still enjoying food
• Get moving in your own suitable way
• Reduce your stress levels
• Solve emotional issues in the background

This programme is about you and is tailored to your personal needs.

Using all of these four parts you will be unstoppable on the way to your goal.

There are a few things you can do to make Weight Loss easier.

• Eat Slowly
• Chew thoroughly
• Take breaks
• Drink a glass of water before eating
• Take a sip of water before every bite
• Rarely fill your plate twice (if so, take vegetables)
• Eat and drink regularly (small portions, 5 times a day)
• Drink coffee, (in moderate amounts). Studies show that the caffeine in coffee can boost metabolism by 3–11% and increase fat burning by up to 10–29%.
• Drink Green Tea – Though green tea contains small amounts of caffeine, it is loaded with powerful antioxidants called catechins, which are believed to work synergistically with caffeine to enhance fat burning.
• Use Smaller Plates – Using smaller plates has been shown to help some people automatically eat fewer calories.
• Eat and drink only, don’t do anything else while eating (Don’t eat in front of the TV)

Health is not everything, but without health everything is nothing.

For all living things food has primarily three important biological functions:

• to provide energy for heat production and muscular work
• to provide ingredients for replacement of body substances and
• to provide special ingredients that are necessary for biochemical processes.

Therefore, food is a very important energy and material basis for all life processes.  The biologically active substances in food are called nutrients. They are present in food as energy-delivering macronutrients in the form of carbohydrates, fat and protein and micronutrients as in the form of vitamins, minerals and secondary metabolites. Just as important as the nutrients are the supply of liquid (ca. 2l/day) and the consumption of dietary fibre.

Proper diet is one of the most important actions of health promotion – and it is all the more effective the sooner it is begun.
A diet is considered healthy when it

• ensures optimal physical and mental development
• promotes concentration – and performance efficiency and
• prevents so-called civilization diseases such as cardiovascular diseases (CVD), hypertension, osteoporosis, gout ….

To ensure this, all the nutrients (protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and water) are to be supplied to the body in a balanced proportion. Find out more about nutrients in my e-book.

As an unborn embryo we cannot choose our food, but we are fed on the umbilical cord of the mother. Even after birth, the infant´s diet is directly dependent on its social environment.

In the first year of life babies put everything in their mouths. In this way they get to know the idiosyncrasies of things and perceive their environment (oral phase). Accordingly, the food experiences are imprinted in this first phase of life. Normally, a healthy child develops a feeling of hunger and a sense of satiety finding his own rhythm of meals by themselves. When meal times are fixed, the child does not learn, however, the interaction of hunger – food – saturation. If the crying of a baby is always answered with the “calming bottles”, the foundation stone for faulty eating habits might be established. If we try to soften or eliminate a child´s tension and pain sensation with food, it also learns to react in similar situations like that at a later age. Children, who are forced to empty the bottle or eat everything on a plate, take on food beyond satiety. In this way, children lose their natural sense of hunger and satiety.

Eating behaviour is thus already learned from infancy on.

The role of heredity in the development of obesity is not clearly established. However, research indicates that there are dispositions to “get fat” and that a gene called “beta-adrenergic receptor-3 gene” may stimulate the fat cells for the production of a protein substance, which in turn stimulates the metabolism. When this gene is altered by heredity or environmental influences, and emotional parameters the calories are burned to slow in the body.

Nevertheless, the fact remains unaffected by genetic factors, we can only increase in weight when the energy balance is positive, i.e if energy intake from food exceeds energy expenditure.

In addition to the eating habits we learned and the genes our food intake depends on several situational conditions, such as

• type of food procurement and selection
• methods of preparation
• regularities in eating
• social/emotional organization of meals

The inherited assets are not to be changed. Learned behaviour and the situational factors may very well be affected. A successful long-term weight reduction can therefore only work on the change in eating habits and the solving of influencing subconscious emotional backgrounds. The earlier one starts with the re-education of eating habits, the easier it is feasible.

BMI stands for Body Mass Index, the relation between body height and body weight (to calculate your BMI please see article “What is overweight or obesity“).

The value of the BMI is not absolute. I only use the BMI as an approximate guideline. For example sports people may have an high BMI even though they are slim and well trained. Because of their high lean muscle mass the BMI index is high. Also I think that the BMI normal range should be increased for people over 60 years of age from 25 to 26.

Overweight occurs, when over a long period of time more energy is consumed in the diet than your body needs. The surplus energy is stored as fat. Overweight and obesity are serious health problems! They are counted as chronic diseases. The longer one is overweight, the more harmful it is. So if children are already suffering from overweight and become fat adults, they have a high risk of suffering from various diseases.

Body weight is always seen as dependent on the body size. From these two quantities, a special weight index can be calculated – the Body Mass Index (BMI). With its help, you can read from weight curves, how the weight of a person is classified. The BMI is used because, for most people, it correlates with their amount of body fat. It is important to remember that although BMI correlates with the amount of body fat, BMI does not directly measure it.

As a result, some people, such as athletes, may have a BMI that identifies them as overweight even though they do not have excess body fat, but perhaps more muscle mass. The BMI can therefore only provide a general guideline and should not be used as an absolute value.

Here the way how the BMI is calculated

The metric system is used to calculate the BMI. To get your BMI and the corresponding British measures and weights have a look at the BMI chart.

For adults it is recommended to try to maintain a BMI in the range 18.5 – 25.

You are overweight with a BMI between 26 and 30, with the BMI value higher than 30 you are obese.

Calculation sample:  a body weight of 60kg (9st 6lb) and a body height of 1,65m (5´5´´) results in a BMI of 22.2. This is very good in the recommended BMI range.

The BMI for children is calculated the same way. Only the normal values ​​of BMI are different in children than in adults.

In my opinion the BMI depends on the age group you are in as well. For people over 55 years of age the normal range BMI should be expended up to 26.

Regardless of your height or BMI, you should try to lose weight if your waist is:

• 94cm (37ins) or more for men
• 80cm (31.5ins) or more for women