Cut It Out

Do you want to lose weight and feel better?  Cut it out!

Sometimes, in spite of our best efforts, it seems like we can’t make the progress we hope for and feel we deserve.  The solution might be quite simple and it’s down to the way our bodies react to certain foods.

Basically,

• We are all unique and the way our bodies process food differs from person to person
• We can be allergic or intolerant to certain foods
• Food intolerances can manifest themselves in many ways leaving us feeling below par or unwell
• A simple elimination diet can make us feel better and test our level of commitment and motivation to our body transformations.

Food Allergy or Intolerance?

Food allergies and food intolerances are both adverse reactions our bodies have to the foods we eat.  Allergies are caused by our bodies producing antibodies to fight food proteins as though fighting an infection. They can produce symptoms such as rashes around the mouth, vomiting, breathing difficulties or anaphylaxis.  The effects can occur almost as soon as the food is eaten.

A food intolerance, on the other hand, is a reaction to a food chemical but unconnected to the immune system.    Headaches, fatigue, mouth ulcers, hives and bowel irritation can result from intolerances and could appear hours or days after the food had been eaten.  This makes identifying the offending food more difficult.

Although the causes and the symptoms might be different between these two conditions, the main foods that lead to  allergies like egg, milk, peanuts, seafood, fish, wheat and soy can also be the source of a food intolerance.  As so many different types of everyday food are involved with non-precise symptoms occurring long after eating, it seems obvious that many of us could be consuming foods that our bodies can’t cope well with making us feeling less than on top form.

We can all benefit from an Elimination Diet 

A full elimination diet to tackle a serious underlying condition is something that you should conduct under the supervision of a medical advisor.  You would need to cut out many types of food, reintroducing them one by one, monitoring how you feel, and cutting them out again over a period lasting at least four to eight weeks.

But I believe each one of us can benefit from eliminating certain foods at the beginning of a period of weight loss and body transformation.

Often my clients feel much better by cutting out bread, pasta or dairy for an initial period of just a few weeks.  As bread and pasta are carb heavy, eliminating them will help kick start your weight loss journey.  This alone can make you feel energised and motivated.

Another point is how eliminating a food that you’ve been lazily been eating for years pits you against your own determination and self-belief.  Do you have the real drive to succeed that cutting out something so major requires?   By challenging yourself to cutting out one food you begin to change your mind set.  This makes the next ‘sacrifice’ much easier and so on until you are eating foods that sustain you both physically and mentally as you achieve your goals.

Try it.  If you feel like you’d like more information about how to go about this, get in touch.  Training is only one part of the equation.  Making sure you have the right fuel in your engine is the other.