See the illusion

Derren Brown is an amazing illusionist in the UK. He performs shows both on stage and for television where he uses his stunning level of skills in reading people using such techniques as NLP and behavioural profiling. It looks like mind-reading and telepathy but he is the first to assure that it isn't.

This man has spent much of his career showing how many of those who profess to predict the future are often taking money on false pretences. He is a great performer and even when he tells you how he has done it, and does it again, it can still seem like magic. We love a magic trick.

The world of advertising does the same thing. It creates an illusion that appears so real we believe to be true. Even better than this, these clever advertising bods can create this illusion so that we believe it unconsciously. We tell ourselves that we know it is just an illusion and yet our unconscious believes it to be true so we buy the product.

These clever advertising bods create images and jingles to help the illusion appear real. How many jingles can you sing? How many catch phrases and tag lines can you repeat? Let's have a go.

• "The burgers are better at ...?"
• "............. - where low prices are just the beginning."
• "It's not clean unless it's .... clean."
• "Only the flakiest, crumbliest ......"
• "I feel like ..... tonight."

When we shop, go out or want a treat our unconscious brain already has the answers for us thanks to years of clever advertising in addition to all the habits that we have developed along the way.

It is time to stick it to the advertising bods and the large companies for whom they advertise. It is time to free yourself from thinking that each of these is the solution to your problem. Chocolate may make you feel better for a few minutes but then how much better do you feel a few hours later?

Enjoy thinking for yourself
Sarah 

One of the big food labelling cons

Reading food packaging labels is becoming increasingly difficult. You practically need a chemistry degree to understand half of it, and the rest confuse and contradict.

For a start there may be several types of sugars in the product but they all have different names. Some of these names may not even sound like sugar. All of them are processed and should be avoided at all costs if you want to remain slender, avoid developing type II diabetes and cardiovascular issues.

Then there are the 'daily percentages' of each product, which if believed would mean that in some cases it is apparently fine for you to consume up to 30% of your daily food intake as sugar.

More concerning though, are the health claims. You know the ones. Reduced fat; fat free; low fat; GM free; no added sugar; all natural ingredients and the latest food fad: gluten free.

Technically you could slap a 'gluten free' sticker on a lot of food including fruit and vegetables, meat and fish and nuts. Much in the same way that you could claim that meat was 'sugar free' or that an apple is 'fat free'.

There are an increasing number of people who have a gluten sensitivity or intolerance, which is thought to be due to the change in the wheat produced which is now shorter, stronger and has more gluten in it. Being shorter makes it easier to harvest and having more gluten makes your bread even more sponge-like.

As someone who has a wheat sensitivity there are some specific products that I have to avoid if I don't want to experience abdominal pain. It can be useful to know that certain products are gluten free so that I can use them as a replacement for the product that I used to use. For example gluten free pasta.

But just because it is gluten free does not mean that it is good for you. Yes, the cereal in the middle of the picture at the top is gluten free because it is based on rice. In fact the cornflake cereal next to it is also wheat gluten free. However that doesn't make any of them nutritious. Porridge oats are far more nutritious and eaten in their natural form. They haven't been gleaned of all their fibre and tampered with by a large food corporation. Or have they?

You can still buy wonderfully natural porridge oats but you can also buy ones that have been turned into sugary breakfasts by the adding of sugar and flavourings. Again, not everything advertised as healthy is nutritious.

Enjoy avoiding being conned by food labelling

Sarah

"You can't eat that." Yes, I can!

Last week I was in a meeting and we were brought some Danish pastries. As I took one the person sitting next to me looked in horror as I helped myself to a mini pastry and exclaimed "You can't eat that". This person knows that my other business is weight management, and to her this meant that I shouldn't eat, let alone enjoy, any foods that don't fall into the 'healthy and good for you' category.

But here's the thing. Thinking that a food is 'bad' or 'off limits' leads to the brain interpreting it as famine, and I have written many times before about the knock effects of that happening. If you are new to my blog the shortened version is that the famine switch causes chemical changes in your body that can lead to weight gain, exhaustion and lethargy.

Weight management is all about balance. A mini Danish pastry for morning tea means no other treats for that day. If there is a day of treats, and let's face it, there are days like that, it means that there are whole days afterwards without treats.

 Recently we were in the UK on holiday for a month, and it involved a lot of cake. My family loves cake, and lemon tart. It meant careful balancing during the days we ate cake, careful balancing on the few days that we didn't eat cake, and some adjustment when we got home for a few weeks. Overall I gained one kilo, in that entire month of eating cake almost every day.

I was able to enjoy that Danish pastry because I know the seven rules of weight management. Life is meant to be lived, and if that means eating some cake now and then, I will eat cake. For other people it might be enjoying a portion of hot chips on a Friday night, or having a night out once a week, or enjoying your favourite chocolates.

At the end of the month I will be launching a program for those who want to learn the seven rules of weight management. Message or email me if you would like to know more.

In the meantime, enjoy a little of what you fancy once a week.

Sarah

Use this tip to speed up weight loss

I was at a funeral wake yesterday. It was a lovely ceremony because every person who was there had such lovely memories of the amazing 88 year old woman who had died. As is customary at such events there were platters of sandwiches and little cakes. It was the same at every graduation ceremony I have attended and many school functions, conference meetings and even at a training I attended.

In the Western world we tend eat a lot of grains in the form of bread, cereals and pastas. In the Eastern world we tend to eat lots of rice and noodles. Where ever you live and what ever culture you embrace, there will be a grain-based diet. Grains are cheap to buy, relatively cheap and easy to grow (climates and weather permitting), they fill people up and we use them for nearly every meal and for many snacks. How many meals to you have without grains? How many snacks do you have that don't include flour of some grain?

When I want to loose a kilo, such as when I returned from my holiday in the UK, I use this tip to ease my body back to my maintenance weight. It takes some 'thinking outside the box' to implement it and it can be done wholly or partly. I personally prefer to do this partly as I enjoy grains for breakfast.

You don't need to eat grains. I appreciate that this may be a surprising statement for you. You may want to know how else you will get sufficient fibre and Vitamin B. The answer is to eat more vegetables and fruit. This does not include white potatoes. I will help you further by suggesting some meals that don't include grains, and for snacks I have nuts and fruit.

For light meals, which for me is lunch, you could try:

• Avocado cut into chunks with diced tomato, dry roasted cashew nuts, pine nuts dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar
• Half a carrot thinly sliced and gently pan fried to which you add one diced orange and two large handfuls of baby spinach, then add a splash of soy sauce and a drizzle of honey or maple syrup. 

For main meals leave out the grain portion and add more root vegetables and green vegetables. An example is meatballs in tomato sauce (all home-made) on a bed of green beans and roasted carrots.

You may find that these meals don't fill you up as much as ones with grains, so take snacks with you such as mixed nuts and a little dried fruit, or a banana. Also remember to keep hydrated.

Share your experiences of this in the space below.

Sarah