Weight loss isn't always about eating less, sometimes you can eat more than usual and still drop pounds.
That was the case for TV chef Jamie Oliver, who said that through switching up his diet he was able to lose weight fairly quickly. As a pro chef, Jamie knows the ins-and-outs of different food groups and used his expertise to combat his weight, which he says had fluctuated over the years.
Jamie said that he lost as much as two stone by focusing on what he ate rather than how much he ate. From an unusual snack to sleep and exercise, the chef also revealed other tricks that he says helped him in improving his health and fitness.
Jamie starts: "I pushed meat down, pushed veggie up, got more sleep and more movement. I lost 12 kilos (two stone) quite quickly and I didn’t do it through not eating. I ate a lot, more than I used to!"
The chef does point out that if you are planning to cut down on meat, you should find other ways to get protein to ensure that you still get a good balance of micronutrients. One such option to keep protein high is nuts, which Jamie points out have other benefits too.
He told Radio Times how he includes nuts in his diet, saying: "They make you half as likely to have a heart attack. Feed them to your kids as well."
He also incorporated one surprising food into his own diet that supported his weight loss goals. Seaweed is believed to be a "secret ingredient" when it comes to losing weight.
Scientists at Newcastle University said alginate, a compound found in common seaweed, would "stop the body absorbing fat" by suppressing the digestion of fat in the gut. It is also high in fibre, contains fucoxanthin, which is thought to help increase metabolism, and has very few calories.
“I thought seaweed was hippy, globetrotting stuff but our ancestors ate seaweed. It’s the most nutritious vegetable in the world," the chef told the Daily Mail.
Of his transformation, the celebrity chef explained he decided he needed to make a change after spending his career neglecting his own health but was still changing the lives of so many with his numerous cookbooks and TV shows highlighting the importance of good, healthy food.
"I realised I hadn’t spent much time looking after myself," he told Loose Women previously.
"I went back to school and started studying nutrition, started travelling to parts of the world to where people live the longest lives and started looking at their lifestyles. That was the journey and it’s been amazing."
He revealed he cut back on alcohol and now only drinks at the weekend.
Several studies have revealed that excess alcohol consumption is linked to weight gain, as it contains lots of hidden calories and is renowned for tricking people into feeling hungry. But Jamie also overhauled his exercise regime, finally finding one that works for him and his busy lifestyle.
"I was getting three hours sleep a night, putting on weight and not really getting it," he said. "I’d always gone to a trainer but I just hated it. It was really boring. What I finally worked out was that it’s important for you to do it on your terms."
He explained that he "shifted" his workout time so that he did it on the way to work and it slowly became part of his working day.
"The minute I did that I got really good at it. It’s totally mental," he beamed.
"It’s not about getting it right all the time, in fact, it’s absolutely vital that you don’t get it right all of the time. You’ve just got to get it right most of the time," he told Men’s Health.
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