I can’t seem to lose the weight despite continuous efforts to do so; I just keep craving and bingeing…

If you could only put down the fork and back away from the table then maybe, just maybe you wouldn’t have such a problem with food. If you could only walk past the shop without caving and going in to buy a chocolate, then maybe, just maybe you wouldn’t pile on the pounds. If you could only stop going out late especially to buy junk, then maybe just maybe you might not be so miserable.

You feel greedy.

You feel weak.

But honestly, you are neither.

If it was that simple, don’t you think you could have done it by now?

Food cravings unfortunately are a subtle type of addiction in some respects. Society doesn’t recognise food as addictive in the same way that drugs and alcohol are. Where as someone who craves alcohol would be encouraged to seek help, those of us who crave sugary snacks are often – if not all the time – encouraged to indulge in our addictions. And if we don’t indulge we will often hear the retort:

“Why are you depriving yourself?”

“A little isn’t going to hurt!”

It’s why we have the word “craving”. It belittles the whole experience that many of us go through when we need to have a particular food.

Now you may be thinking that the word addiction is a little too strong for your case of cravings or you may be thinking it is exactly what you experience. Either way let’s explore this further.

Most of the foods that we crave usually involve sugar like chocolate, candy, cakes, biscuits and cola. These foods have no real nutritional benefit. The white sugar found in them is an unnatural molecule that has no nutritional value whatsoever. It is completely devoid or nutrients – it is an empty calorie. But this is what we crave.

So why, other than comfort and pleasure, would you crave sugar? Why would you eat foods full of nutritionally empty calories if not for pleasure and comfort? You certainly aren’t eating them for nutrition. And that is a key concept you need to grasp and that is lost in a society that uses food for many more things than just nutrition.

Food has a function and that is to fuel our bodies. When we were babies it did also have the function of comforting us. Mother’s milk is sweet for a reason. When one merely tastes sugar impulses are sent through our nerves leading to the base of our brain. Along the way our pleasure centre is activated causing a release of natural opiates. This is all quite natural. However as we grow we learn to become more independent and less reliant on our mothers. We naturally wean between 4-7 years old. Food then is just a function but most people do not use food in this way.

I am not saying that eating shouldn’t be pleasurable. What I am saying is that pleasure should not override the first function: nutrition. They can go hand in hand, it’s just most people have numbed their taste buds too much to allow it!

Maybe that isn’t enough to convince you that you have an addiction just yet but bare with me…

Loss of Control

Addiction is anything that has become stronger than your willpower to change.

Food addiction is a loss of control over eating.  Loss of control can mean many different things.  It can mean eating in excessive quantities. For some, eating three square meals a day is kept to with out snacking only because the portion sizes are extortionate.

For many not eating at all is something much easier to deal with then trying to quit once started. This can lead to one not eating all day and then bingeing in the evening.

It can also mean that we get strong urges in our head of that craved food that we just can’t resist and no matter what the time we have to go out and get it. The drive can be so powerful yet almost unconscious that we aren’t really aware of what we are doing. On reflection of my own food addictions, once I had more self awareness of my issues, I couldn’t believe how I hadn’t noticed before. I used to obsess over food – picture a nice chocolate cake in my head and could even feel it melting on my tongue.

The Affect On Your Body

Physical dependence or physical addiction to food simply means that something has altered inside you in some way.

When addictive foods are eaten repeatedly, the body adjusts homeostasis to be balanced with the food in the system. It attempts to operate and function normally despite the imbalance created by your sugar/food addiction. Over time the body will become dependent on that substance for homeostatic balance and its removal will cause withdrawal. The body cries out for the missing substance as just intense hunger cries for food

If you have been eating sugary/salty/refined/processed foods, eating irregularly, or eating more than your body needs – your natural appetite is distorted.

Brain Chemistry

As mentioned above sugar, including chocolate, triggers the release of natural opiates in the brain. Sugar isn’t the only thing that affects us in this way. For example, cheese and dairy products contain morphine. In 1981, Eli Hazum et al discovered that cow’s milk contains morphine. This is because cows produce morphine in their bodies (cited in Breaking the Food Seduction). The morphine in cow’s milk produces a calming effect on their young. It is there to help the mother-infant bond and to make sure the infant gets the nutrition it needs.

Many foods also contain heterocyclic amines (HCAs) which are both indirectly and directly addictive. Some of these HCAs can cause sleeplessness, mood issues (ever feel moody after certain foods even a day later?), can contribute to cancer, brain diseases and also depression (see www.waisays.com for more information).

It doesn’t end there though. I have only lightly touched on some of the issues surrounding our favourite foods in this article. There is a lot of consequence in the hidden properties of foods and most of us are totally unaware of them. Becoming more self aware, eating consciously and preparing food ourselves instead of leaving it up to prepackaged foods is something that we all need to do in order to live a healthier, lighter life.

Stop Cravings

Check out my new site: Food Addiction 101

Junk food is alluring in many ways. It’s physically addictive and emotionally addictive. In this post I just wanted to address one reason that I think is fairly common when it comes to junk food cravings and emotions.

The worse time for junk food cravings tend to be in the evening. The evening is the time most people sit in front of the TV to “relax” and unwind from a hard day at work. We kick our feet up after dinner and then not too long after we head to the kitchen to find something to nibble on. Why?

Well we very well may still be hungry because the dinner we threw together was nowhere near to being nutritious or of any substance to keep us full. But the most common reason is boredom. That relaxing time in the front of the TV is not relaxing at all. I mean do you find boredom relaxing? I certainly don’t.

The best thing that you can do for yourself is to either put the TV away for a few weeks (and make it really difficult to get a hold of to watch) or chuck the TV out completely. I don’t have a TV anymore and it has been the best decision I ever made.

You may still be holding on to the idea that TV is relaxing and thus thinking “Well what the heck am I suppose to do in the evening then?” The answer? Whatever your heart desires!

The reason we eat in the evening is to numb our feelings of boredom. We do this instead of actually addressing those feelings and fulfilling our emotional needs. You may have a desire to be creative, a desire to fulfil a passion of yours or just to get up and go out and exercise. You probably don’t even realize you do.

So first things first write a list of activities you can do instead of watch TV. Write down things you have always wanted to do, things that you are interested in. The bigger the list the better. You could start your own vegetable garden, join a yoga class so you can PROPERLY relax after work (or you may even want to start on your own at home) or start reading a book, learning a language. The possibilities are endless and far more exciting than coming home to pig out in front of the TV. Trust me.

So go without your TV for a week or so. Do this one little thing and you might just spark a new interest in life that has long been waiting to emerge.

Stop Eating Junk Food

So by you probably have a better indication of the type of person you are, how you eat and what specific goals you would like to obtain when it comes to losing weight.  So in the next few posts I just going to go through specific disciplines or aids that will help you stay on track with your progress and success.

Believe You Can

So you have decided to go on a diet 6 times and now you are on your 7^th. No one seems to be supporting you, your family entices you into eating something you love at every moment, telling you, you are silly and you don’t need to lose weight. If you are honest, you really don’t believe you are going to do it, do you?

And that is where the fault lies. You need to believe in your self.

Having faith in you is a decision. Many of us battle with this – we don’t believe we can lose the weight, curb the craving or make it past the front door alive! But faith is the foundation of behavior and it is a decision you can make.

Believing in yourself or rather making the decision to believe in yourself can be one of the simplest things you do and be one of the most helpful in combating your cravings and reducing your weight. This mindset will bring about the you want. It will lay the foundation for positive outcomes.

Don’t wait until all the doubt, unbelief and unanswered questions have been taken care of before you decide to put your trust in yourself. Face it all with confidence.

(Another help article in reference to beliefs: 3 Beliefs You Need)

Stick to It

Counting the cost of the large step you have made will help prepare you for the dark times, the low moments when you think your decision seems foolish, useless and a major inconvenience.

Rationalization has been responsible for sabotaging millions of decisions all over the world. Have you rationalized making a certain decision when it comes to your weight loss like these?

“It’s really not that bad”.

“I’ll start tomorrow”.

“It won’t hurt this one more time”.

“This will be the last one”.

“I shouldn’t oppress myself”.

“I’ve worked really hard, I deserve it”.

“Just a taste”

First of all, get it in context.

A craving creates tunnel vision – in the midst of a craving all that matters is that craving – it’s the most important thing in the world at that very moment. You need to step back and count your blessings. An important part of sticking to your diet plan is to allow for failure or slip-ups. Failures are building blocks for success in a way. Most people don’t have the courage to risk failure so put their selves out of the situation and don’t lose weight or attempt a lifestyle change i.e. their diet.

When you fail, which you will at times, don’t get discouraged. See it as a learning experience. Note how you felt before, during and after your slip-up.

Did the food have the desired effect you were looking for?

What do you think made you slip-up?

Slip-Ups can tell you a lot about yourself and also can be very eye opening. When I first changed my diet in the way I will lay forth to you, I was amazed at how often I turned to food for emotional comfort not to mention how many different cravings I had and how they made me feel physically and emotionally. I often discovered that after a while of being aware the food I had wanted and had given into just made me feel very tired or simply was not giving me what I used to get from it: comfort and joy.

Refresh Your Decision Daily

Now that you have written your decisions down, keep them by your bedside. When you wake up in the morning and lift your head off the pillow, grab that piece of paper and read through your decisions. I know this may sound like the hardest thing to do in the morning if you aren’t the morning type, but it is important to start your day on the right side of the bed as opposed to the wrong.

Read through your decisions and believe in them. Make yourself aware of them. This is your time to organize your day to succeed.

Related Articles:

Weight Loss Mindset 1: Making The Decision To Change

Weight Loss Mindset 2: Being Honest With Yourself

Weight Loss Mindset 3: Figuring Out The Why

Weight Loss Mindset 4: Starting On The Right Foot

Weight Loss Mindset 5: Believe You Can, Stick To It & Refresh Daily

There are many decisions that can be successful only when they are made on the backs of other decisions. For example, if you do not decide to eat healthier foods, you will not lose weight.

Your success in quitting the junk and eating better to lose weight will be dependent on your ability to remain focused as you deal with the withdrawal from certain foods you love (like chocolate, bread, dairy).

One of the keys to succeeding is to treat decision-making like building a house. You lay the foundation before you build the walls. Although it is exciting to add the final touches – decoration – they can be completed only when the rest of the house is finished.

We would all love the blessings of freedom from bad habits, bad food choices, irritating compulsions to eat, and bingeing but first we must lay the foundation.

Bundling Your Decisions

Often, one large decision will involve many smaller but equally important decisions. Let’s look at an example. Say you are trying to get over a sugar addiction. You can’t keep away from your sweets to save your life! This may involve your decision to stay away from donut shops and other places where temptation rears its ugly head. It also may mean avoiding situations that are stressful because stress is another factor that can lead you to your sweet treats.

You may therefore need to make a list of hot places and avoid them for a certain period of time until you are confident you can resist their temptations. Often failure of a large battle is as a result of the small battles, which we all face throughout the day. Making a hard decision is very stressful too. When you feel like you are one step away from failing, decide right then and there to get alone and recharge.

The next points to consider, and that will be considered in the next few posts, are going to evolve around disciplines that will become the foundation of all the decisions you will make and are important in ensuring you stay on track!

Related Articles:

Weight Loss Mindset 1: Making The Decision To Change

Weight Loss Mindset 2: Being Honest With Yourself

Weight Loss Mindset 3: Figuring Out The Why

Weight Loss Mindset 4: Starting On The Right Foot

Weight Loss Mindset 5: Believe You Can, Stick To It & Refresh Daily

In Part 2 I talked about being being honest with yourself. I think many people fool themselves into a false sense of honesty and this is something that we must address if we want to feel better about ourselves and also to achieve our goals. In Part 3 I just want to get you to think about exactly why you want to lose weight and what you

It is easy to make decisions in the heat of guilt (you just gave into a large slice of chocolate cake drizzled in cream and vow never to do so again!) but remorse is a poor base for decision. Emotions change like the wind and we soon forget the guilt we felt for eating what we shouldn’t and do the same thing again.

This is why deciding to go on a diet after a binge is destined to failure. Guilt can be a great motivation but it doesn’t last and it becomes a vicious circle. So what you really need to do is delve deep down inside and get your TRUE motivators for wanting to lose weight, give up chocolate etc. Knowing the real reasons for your decision and not quick guilt will help you stay on track and firmly.

The decision that you make today will affect you for years to come. To deal with compulsive eating or any craving and addiction will force you to face painful things inside your heart and they will rise up in power if they are disturbed through decision. This is why it is important to get a clear image of what you want and why exactly you want and need it.

Related Articles:

Weight Loss Mindset 1: Making The Decision To Change

Weight Loss Mindset 2: Being Honest With Yourself

Weight Loss Mindset 3: Figuring Out The Why

Weight Loss Mindset 4: Starting On The Right Foot

Weight Loss Mindset 5: Believe You Can, Stick To It & Refresh Daily

I was talking to a friend just now about her craving issues and how she struggles a lot with keeping them under control. She revealed that she rarely ever gets breakfast in and ends up drinking coffee all morning, which doesn’t really help with her hunger.  I told her that if she wants to overcome her cravings then the first step is to get a good breakfast!

So this article is just a quick overview of why it is important to eat breakfast and make a regular habit of it. WHAT you eat is just as important as eating. In Neal Barnard’s book Breaking the Food Seduction he mentions a study done where for 1 week volunteers had instant oatmeal and for another week they had regular oatmeal. Volunteer’s cravings and snacking reduced by 35%. The difference in these bowls was the amount of fiber. More refined foods have less fiber so make sure you have a fiber rich breakfast to sustain you until lunch.

A Breakfast To End All Cravings!

Breakfast is considered by many to be the most important meal of the day. Although I don’t necessarily agree with the “breakfast” part I do agree that the first meal you eat of the day is going to have the biggest impact on cravings and energy levels. I know that if my first meal is small and not very nutritious I will tend to crave like my by the time lunch has come around or very soon after. This feeling will often spill into the afternoon as well. If I have a nutritious breakfast then I tend to feel sustained throughout the day. So from my own experience the first meal I eat is usually a fairly hefty size

As stated above having a breakfast full of fiber is important as it keeps you from snacking. I also feel it is important to keep it simple, make it easy on your digestion and also quick for you to obtain the nutrients you need from it. This is why I start my day with a large banana smoothie (5-6 bananas or more! with some added water to blend). My smoothie will give me about 500-600 calories maybe more depending on how greedy I am. I tend to have this after being up out of bed for an hour as I don’t get hungry straight away.

Fruit to me is the best starter of the day – full of fiber, easy on digestion and quickly digested. The key is to eat plenty of it to feel satiated.

So if you want to lose weight and avoid cravings, make breakfast an important part of your day. For me, it was the easiest part to get right about my diet and the most crucial part to get right for my weight loss and well being.

End Cravings

Negative thinking can prevent you from living the life you want to live and becoming the slimmer lighter you: the you, you want to be. We may not even be aware of how negative we are as individuals as it can become part and parcel of who we are and the people we are around.

As children we seek acceptance from others around us, especially our parents. So we tend to absorb those ways of thinking and being into our own patterns without question. If we have negative parents and negative friends, we can become negative ourselves. I didn’t fully realize the extent of my negativity until someone pointed it out to me – since that time I have been able to turn it around quite substantially, but sometimes all habits creep in.

When we decide to look at the world honestly we might feel truly entrenched in these negative thought processes and feelings may arise against our ideal vision of ourselves.

Becoming aware of the negativity in your thoughts, speech and writing is the first step to changing it. By becoming aware and changing the way you perceive the world and how you choose to address others and talk to others can have a dramatic effect on your health and well being.

The more often you choose to focus on the positive the more you will notice the negative and will be able to step away from it.

Always focus on what you do want, what you love, what you enjoy and what you desire rather than on anything you perceive as a problematic. This will have a huge impact on your weight loss success.

Thoughts are extremely powerful and can help you get to where you want to be but can also hinder you and prevent you from losing weight.

What do you want to experience? Do you focus on your joy and love? (The slimmer fit you) Or do you focus on how difficult it is for you to lose weight and how unlikely it is you will lose weight or be able to stop overeating?

Keep your outlook light. This doesn’t mean be unrealistic – we all have challenge in our life, but try to view your experience as a game. Choose to enjoy your time. Remember your end goal: to be slimmer.

It cannot be said enough how important it is to maintain a positive outlook during the process of overcoming cravings. I discovered when I was overcoming mine that I put those foods I adored and craved on a pedestal. It was only by seeing that food for what it was and taken it off that pedestal that I was able to move forward.

Does that food love you back the way you love it? NO!

Changing your eating habits is a CHOICE. If you are offered something that doesn’t fit in with that choice, try to avoid saying things like “I am not allowed that” or “I can’t eat that”. Instead try to express yourself in a better way that benefits you and your journey e.g. “No thank you, I am choosing not to eat that way” or “It is my choice and I love it”.

Embrace and celebrate your lifestyle choices.  Enjoy the journey and weight loss will be easier than you think!

Previous Post: Sleep & Its Importance For Health & Weight Loss

Most of us do not get enough sleep and rest. Most of us don’t listen to our bodies when they scream out I need sleep/I need to rest/I am tired and instead continue to keep going. One of the main reasons for this is that we feel guilty for sleeping more or for resting and may even feel lazy. I remember when I was younger I would feel bad for sleeping in until 1pm as though I had wasted a big chunk of the day on something unimportant. But sleep IS important and you shouldn’t feel guilty for lying in or for having a lazy day to rest.

Getting little sleep and rest can cause you to gain weight and keep it on. A lot of overeating happens due to exhaustion. Often times we mistake signs of tiredness for hunger and end up eating instead of getting the rest we badly need.

These days I have taken it upon myself to make sure I am getting enough rest and if I do stay up to do some extra work and get hungry I often have a glass of water or a cup of green tea to warm/comfort me and keep me going until the end of my project and then go to bed. I used to mistake my tiredness for hunger as well as needing sleep so would eat. I now know that my hunger isn’t hunger but a sign I need to get to bed (not getting enough sleep puts the hormones that control hunger and appetite out of balance causing us to be hungry) and so I do not eat. If I did eat anyway it would cause me to have a bad night’s sleep so that is another reason to avoid it!

Sometimes when I get tired during the day I will take a nap with my 11/2 year old. I like napping with him.

So my advice to you it to learn and to allow yourself to rest when you need it. I know this isn’t always possible, but when you do get the opportunity to, take it! Don’t make excuses about it, it is important. Rest is just as important as eating and exercising and getting fresh air.

You are only as strong as your weakest link – if sleep is a weak link for you, you owe it to yourself and your weight loss goals to make sure you are getting enough. Sometimes all we need is to lie on the couch for half an hour to get more energy, we don’t necessarily need to sleep.

Resting and getting enough sleep are also important because when we lack these, our body also produces hormones that make us hold onto extra weight.

So getting enough sleep will not only benefit your mood and your energy levels but will also aid you in losing the weight you desire and stop you eating late at night and bingeing. When you get enough sleep you are also better able to handle stress and busy work days.

So get enough sleep! Learn to put your body’s needs first and learn to recognize when your body is asking you for sleep or rest. Observe how giving yourself that little extra rest or sleeping time affects your mood, weight loss and happiness – I think you will be surprised.

Previous Post: Weight Loss Goals Part 3: Weight Loss Planning

Deciding to lose weight or to get slimmer isn’t always enough to get where we want to be. Many of us struggle with diets, exercise and other lose weight facilitators because we lack the right direction or we don’t have enough knowledge to be able to pull it off. Most importantly we lack a plan.

When making lifestyle changes, sometimes it isn’t enough to just make the decision to change that habit or pattern. We have become so accustomed to living a certain way that the only hope we have of getting out of it is to create a plan that can help us achieve the goals we want. A plan is not only important for helping us to achieve our goals and set out what we need to do, but it is also important to write up a plan – nice and neatly – to show its importance to us. Losing weight is very important to a lot of us – it is our route to being healthier, to being slimmer. Noting down on a scrap piece of paper our plan of action to achieve our outcome/goal will only get forgotten and won’t be taken seriously. Writing our plan up, printing it off (and even framing it if you must) will show how important the plan is to you and will place in your mind this importance on a subconscious level. This is crucial!

So if you want to take your goal of weight loss seriously you must write a plan. Open word or notepad on your computer and start planning! This may take some time especially if you lack the knowledge needed to create an effective plan, but there are many resources online that can help you with your meal plans section (some you may have to pay for, like my own plans on this website and please feel free to email me if you need any help to write this) and there is also a lot of help online for writing other aspects of your plan too.

Below are some questions you should answer in your plan:

1.What do you want?

You may be tempted to write “to lose weight” here, but this is a negative outcome. It is much more beneficial for your thinking mind to work towards something as opposed to trying to avoid or move away from something. “To lose weight” implies you want to move away from something, so is negative. Instead frame your answer in a positive way – positive meaning moving towards something like “to be slimmer”

Set a date to achieve your weight loss goal and how much you want to lose – for in 6 months time is a good goal to aim for so set it for 10^th October or whatever you want it to be.

2. How will you know you are succeeding/have succeeded?

It is important to know that you are on the right track with your goal. You need the right feedback in the right quantity and it needs to be accurate. So try setting realistic goals – whether you are going to look at your weight loss on a weekly/monthly basis etc. I would set a plan for 6 months as well. So use this to work out what you want in 6 months time as well as working up to the end of the 6 months.

3. What resources do you have and what obstacles do you have for achieving your goal?

Exercise equipment, weight loss support from friends/family, anyone you can follow or learn from, personal qualities, knowledge in nutrition and diet overcoming cravings, emotional eating etc.

4. What do you need to do to achieve your goal?

Under this section you can write a list of things you need to do in order to achieve your weight loss goal and overcome the obstacles you face (e.g. not enough knowledge on diet, fitting in exercise around my family). Of course you may be tempted to write general statements here like: eat healthier, exercise daily – but this isn’t what you need. You need to be specific about what is standing in your way currently and how to overcome it. Here is a sample list of things you can work on:

• Educate myself on diet and what foods to eat.

• Educate myself on emotional eating and cravings so I can overcome these obstacles when they arise.

• Increase my consumption of fruits and vegetables.

• Pick an exercise I enjoy and do it for at least half an hour daily.

• Work out a plan to slowly ease myself into a better eating habit e.g. Starting with change my breakfast to something healthier (like a fruit smoothie) for week 1 (or first month) and then adding in a healthier lunch and then two weeks later a healthier dinner. Also what about changing snacks?

• Create a perfect vision to help me get through the toughs time.

Also have a section of daily tasks:

• Walk for 1 hour (or whatever exercise).

• Increase my fruit and vegetable intake.

• Only drink water – cut out all other drinks.

• Be aware and conscious of my eating habits: when I am eating for comfort or emotional reasons.

If you bought a meal plan or had someone help you come up with one, write here to follow your meal plan or to follow one aspect of it if that’s what you are choosing to do (e.g. like having a healthier breakfast for the first week before incorporating a healthier lunch in too). You can amend daily tasks as you progress in the direction you want.

If on your list of things to do you have the task of educating yourself on diet and nutrition so you can actually write a meal plan for yourself, you will have to do this before you can set any real diet goals for yourself (other than eat more fruit and vegetables a day if that’s one of them or only drinking water).

This is quite a general overview of a weight loss plan and it may seem quite daunting to do at first but it is WELL WORTH IT. It will help you become focused on what you really want. Just getting it typed up and on paper laid out properly will give you the mental boost you need to succeed.

If you have any questions about this article or how to write your plan, you can email me at kelly@eating-naturally.com and I will be happy to help you!

Weight Loss Goals Part 1: Creating A Positive Weight Loss Mindset

Weight Loss Goals Part 2: The 3 Beliefs You Need For Weight Loss Success

Previous Post: Cellulite Treatment: How To Eliminate Cellulite

As described in a previous post, cellulite is the visibility of subcutaneous fat cells and is caused by eating too much protein – specifically cooked protein, as opposed to raw (i.e. dark green leafy vegetables). So applying creams, medication or any advertised treatments you see on TV/online or in magazines will not get rid of your cellulite.

The only treatment (apart from diet change) that can help get rid of cellulite is potentially lymph drainage – a treatment you can get at your local beauty salon. This will speed up the process of your body ridding itself of the excess protein, however if you are just going to eat more junk protein then its not going to help you much. However just as effective in getting your lymph system moving would be to exercise, or to take up rebounding (which seems to be quite popular!) – jumping on a little trampoline. Any movement will help get your lymph system working and ridding itself of toxins.

Cellulite Creams/Lotions

We can all fool ourselves into thinking we are helping the issue with creams, when really we are not. I remember when I was pregnant, hoping to stop myself getting stretch marks by slapping massage oil on my tummy everyday. Of course that wasn’t going to help me and neither would cellulite creams help me!

Creams contain exfoliating agents that have all failed to act as effective treatments for cellulite. Caffeine is usually an active ingredient in these creams, and works by tightening the blood vessels. This can create a temporary smoothing of the skin but has no effect on the cause of cellulite.

On top of this creams get absorbed into the skin and the chemicals within them attract more water. As explained in an earlier post water retention causes fat cells to protrude and thus gives you cellulite, so really by putting creams and lotions on continuously you are adding to the problem and potential appearance of cellulite as the excessive moisture stretches your connective tissue.

Drinking More Water

Although the blood and lymph systems need sufficient water to be able to get rid of the protein, drinking more water doesn’t help eliminate cellulite.

Caffeine & Tea

Using caffeine or tea to draw water out of the cells some people believe helps with the appearance of cellulite. But even so, it doesn’t prevent the cause of cellulite, so can only help on a short term basis. Instead of using something like tea to rid yourself of water, you really need to be limiting your intake of junk proteins – the cause of the water being retained in the first place.

Losing Weight

Unfortunately just losing weight will not help you lose cellulite. Even skinny people get cellulite. If you are lucky you might reduce the visibility of it (if at all) but this will only be slightly.

There are many many more “treatments” for cellulite that simply do not work and this is for the simply reason that they do not solve the cause of the problem. Eliminate the cause. Eliminate the cellulite.

So what do you need to do to eliminate cellulite?

• Eat plenty of fresh fruits – as much as you desire before every meal and more!

• Eat plenty of fresh dark leafy greens for amino acids/protein.

• Eat a low fat diet.

• Exercise and spend plenty of time outside.

• Eat as little as possible of dairy products.  Milk products roughen the skin, increase your appetite and can cause cellulite and acne as well as other things (please see my Top 5 Nutrition Lies Ebook – see top of page for details).

• Eat as little as possible of meat. Try seeing meat as a luxury item, like we used to, and have it on the odd occasion or at the weekend only. We eat far too much meat in the Western world and treat it as a staple food but it is not necessary for a healthy diet and is not necessary for protein. You can get all your protein requirements from a variety and abundance of dark leafy vegetables.

• Reduce your intake of wheat based products.

For more information about cellulite, please feel free to contact me.

The Truth About Cellulite: What Is It & What Causes It?

Previous Post: The No Salt Diet: Why You Should Cut Salt Out Completely