Some Diet Tips for Office-goers Part-1

1. Eat a balanced, varied diet

Monotonous diets invariably lead to imbalances and deficiencies. It is important for office workers to select foods from all the following food groups on a daily basis:
Fruit and vegetables
Whole, unsifted, high-fibre grains and cereals
Legumes (dry beans, peas and lentils)
Fat-free milk and dairy products
Lean meat, fish or eggs
Mono or polyunsaturated margarine and oils
Remember that variety is the spice of life!

2. Avoid overweight

Sitting for hours on end in the office and eating fat-loaded snacks from the canteen and the tea trolley, will pile on the kilos. Before you know it, you will be battling with overweight. Do something positive and sensible about your everincreasing girth.

3. Eat a low-fat, high-fibre diet to lose weight

Choose such a diet to reduce your energy intake without leading to deficiencies and endless cravings. You should lose about 0.5 to 1 kg per week on this diet, which is ideal for sustained weight loss.

4. Avoid fad diets and slimming pills

All of us love quick fixes and are eternally seeking a ‘magic potion’ to lose weight. Fad diets, which are either lacking in one or more macronutrients (eg. carbohydrates) or food groups, or are so low in energy that they make you feel weak and wobbly, should be avoided. Yes, you will lose weight, but once you stop eating two lettuce leaves and 12 eggs a day, you will regain all the weight you lost, and more, in record time. Keep in mind that the purpose of weight reduction is not only to lose weight, but to keep it off.

Diet pills and potions promise you the earth, but they are expensive and most of these products can cause harmful side effects (insomnia, diarrhoea, dehydration, palpitations, anxiety, depression etc).

To lose weight successfully you need to change your entire lifestyle.