A paradigm shift is needed for successful long-term weight loss

Ireland is experiencing an unprecedented health crisis, currently 60% of Irish men, women and children are overweight or obese and as a nation we’re on track to becoming the most overweight in Europe in a few short years. Carrying excess weight is not just problematic aesthetically, it significantly increases the risk of developing chronic diseases like diabetes, cancer and heart disease, as well as mental health, respiratory and musculoskeletal problems*. Over the last number of decades the conventional mantra has been eat less calories (especially fat calories) and exercise more. However, anyone (like myself) who has tried to lose weight by restricting/counting calories and keep it off knows low fat diets don’t work!!! Low fat/calorie diets are also highly ineffective when it comes to attaining a healthy weight AND they leave you thinking about food 24/7. I’m all for an active lifestyle and engaging in regular exercise, but our bodies are much more complex systems than we’ve been led to believe and they do not treat calories from protein, carbs and fat the same way.

Thankfully, more and more people are choosing to think outside the box and have realised there is a much more effective way to lose excess weight without constant cravings, low energy & fatigue, low mood, crankiness and even slipping into depression; not only that, but they are able to maintain a healthy weight, possibly for the first time in decades. What’s more, this evidence based, 12 week, nutrient rich diet program will optimise your intake of essential vitamins, minerals, amino acids and fatty acids, all of which work synergistically to help our minds and body’s cope with the stresses and strains of life.

In other words it will help improve your whole quality of life!

Interested? Great, read on!

12 week program details:

Week 1: initial consultation & anthropometric measurements (see below) taken (approximately 1 hour)
Weeks 4, 8 & 12: monthly follow up including anthropometric measurements (approximately 30 minutes each)
Personalised dietary plan adapted to your lifestyle (some cooking will be required FYI)
Blood tests via your GP before program onset and after 3 months to assess changes in health markers (fasting glucose, HbA1c, cholesterol panel, CRP, vitamins D, B9 & 12 and iron). Health is much more than a figure on the weighing scales, blood tests help provide a more comprehensive picture of what we can’t see by looking in a mirror.

Anthropometric measurements:

The figure we see on a weighing scales is not a true indicator of physical health. Thankfully technology now allows us to easily measure the following to provide a more comprehensive picture of our health (along with blood tests). At each consultation the following measurements will be taken:

Body fat percentage
Visceral fat
Skeletal muscle mass percentage
BMI – body mass index

Taken together, these figures give a more comprehensive overview of the body’s health, and also a better indicator of the beneficial results of dietary and lifestyle changes over a period of time (fat mass reduced and muscle mass increased for example).

*http://health.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/A-Healthy-Weight-for-Ireland-Obesity-Policy-and-Action-Plan-2016-2025.pdf