THE CRONIN NUTRITIONAL EATING PLAN
FOR WEIGHT LOSS AND HEALTH.
If you look in any woman’s magazine right now today you will be bombarded with headlines that promise you the perfect body, usually in the shortest possible time scale. Smack front and centre on the cover will be an already very lean body of some supermodel or celebrity with their latest gimmick diet to gain you the bikini body of your dreams in under six weeks.
The reality is that stick thin to extremely unhealthy can be achieved in a lot less time than that. We used to laugh behind our hands at the supposedly enlightened individuals who stated proudly that their bodies were their temples but in fact we have to understand that is exactly what our bodies are. We need to eat to be healthy and we need to exercise to keep the intricate machinery of blood vessels, muscles and joints supple and pain free. Being very thin and able to wear the latest fashions does not make you healthy – only eating the right balance of foods and nutrients and appropriate exercise can do that.
All the money in the world cannot bring you health and if you want a long and vital life then you have to take care of this very precious asset so that it will support you and give you a high quality of life into your 80’s and 90’s.
I appreciate that when you are in your 20’s and even 30’s the thought of being a wrinkly of eighty years old seems too far ahead to worry about, but as I keep reinforcing the younger you start looking after yourself the better.
I am reaping the benefits of my misspent youth. Being 330lbs put enormous strain on my body including joint damage. Today although I walk an hour and swim daily, I still suffer from pain in my right knee which is a direct result of pushing 330lbs out of the car several times a day. Thankfully, internally I seem to have recovered now after twelve years. One of the miracles of our bodies is that they completely rejuvenate every seven years. Your liver can recover in a matter of weeks and your skin is replaced daily. Other parts of your body can take longer and obviously if there has been extensive damage then sometimes the recovery may not be complete. Eating the proper diet containing the nutrients your body needs to rebuild itself is vital and over the next ten issues, I hope to introduce you to an exciting, easy and tasty way to build your health for the future.
It is never too late to change your lifestyle and even if you are not overweight but would like to adopt a healthier lifestyle, the following programme will give you the tools to do the right thing by your body and pave the way for a dynamic and energy filled life.
There are a number of parts to this programme and like any good regime there have to be a few rules to follow so that the process is easy and successful.
I am not going to tell you what you should weigh as there are plenty of tables around that look at both weight, height, frame size, age and whether you are male or female. Do not get too paranoid about being 7lbs or so over the stated target weights as it is better to have half a stone in reserve and be toned and healthy. Do remember these are average weights and you are an individual and as such you need to design a diet that suits you. Later in the programme I will give you some specific guidelines to work within to achieve either your weight of fitness goals.
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The usual ‘diet’ targets a weight loss of 2lbs a week. The reckoning behind this is as follows:
*Average calorie requirement for an average woman with an average lifestyle is 2000 calories.
*Eat a reduced calorie diet of 1000 calories per day creating a deficit of 1000 calories per day.
1lb of fat equates to 3,500 calories. Deficit of calories for week is 7,000 calories = 2lbs. |
The problem with this is that if you are not average i.e. already 10 stone and not too overweight you are tempted to still only eat 1000 calories per day which results in a far greater deficit per week – this means restricted nutrients for your body and therefore an unhealthy diet which might lose you weight in the short term but will result in rapid weight gain a few weeks down the line and a depressed immune system amongst other health problems. |
As a guideline – you should have no less than 10 calories per lb of weight when you are on a diet. Therefore if you weigh 10 stone or 140lbs you should not drop below 1400 calories per day and I would rather you had 1500 calories per day and did a 30 minute brisk walk. The reason for this is to ensure that you are taking in as many nutrients as possible and to illustrate how this can be confused with calories look at the following equations.
| DIET ONE |
3 Mars bars
= 1500 calories (approx) Plus of course lots of fats and sugars.
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| DIET TWO |
Bowl of cereal, with fresh fruit and tea.
Apple and orange
Chicken salad with tomato, lettuce, cucumber, and some new potatoes
2 Ryvita with low fat cream cheese
Roasted salmon with carrots, broccoli and two tablespoons of brown rice.
Bowl of fresh fruit salad and yoghurt.
= 1500 calories (approx) No guesses which is better for your body!
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| If you weigh 200lbs and getting some exercise every day then you should be on a diet of no less than 2000 calories. You can drop this down to the 1500 calories as you lose weight. Again I will go into this in more detail in following weeks. |
In the next issue we will be looking at the Rules for the Healthy Eating Plan for life. In the meantime, please keep a food diary of your normal eating patterns so that you can highlight the areas that might be causing you to be either overweight or suffering from any health issues.
For more information on nutrients and superfoods visit www.justfoodforhealth.com and if you have any questions that you would like included in the Health and Vitality mailbag send them in strict confidence to sally@moyhill.com
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