London Personal Trainer Smashes 5 Top Diet Excuses

As a personal trainer I am constantly being given excuses as to why people have fallen off the waggon and lost control of their diet. The following 5 points are the top given diet excuses.

1) Don't like the taste

We are supposed to eat the foods that are naturally available to us. Because of all the flavourings, sweeteners and rubbish that is put into processed food today we have become to expect that taste and start to crave it. Also people have become lazy and find it easier to open a packet and pop it in the microwave, than to prepare and cook a quality meal. 100 years ago you didn't get people saying they couldn't eat because that what was available to eat and that's what everyone ate.

2) Nothing to eat when your 'out and about'

As a London personal trainer I am constantly being given this excuse. When your in a restaurant try asking for things with out the bad bits in them. For example, ask for the steak and chips with new potatoes rather than chips; ask for the fish and vegetables without any sauce on it. There are ways to eat out healthy!

If there really is nothing to eat when your not home then you are going to have to prepare food and take it in a container.

3) Haven't got time to prepare the food.

Related to but moving on from point 2...

Once you get into a routine of preparing food its very simple and easy. Even cook too much the previous evening and then take it in the next day. Break your day down into individual hours and plan ahead, you will be surprised at how much spare time you can find.

As a personal trainer I generally have enough time to prepare food for myself every day. However sometimes time is short and a quicker meal needs to be made.

A couple of my favourite time saver techniques and meals are:

Scrambled egg with salmon (very quick, easy and healthy to make)
Boil 10 eggs the night before and eat them throughout the day.
Baking too much chicken and vegetables and then having the left overs the next day.
Making an oat flap jack. Mix oats, eggs, cinnamon and raisins together and then pop it in the oven for 20 minutes. Its never been the best tasting flap jack but its healthy and easy to carry around.

4) Cravings get the better of you.

Also the huge quantity of processed carbohydrates that are consumed by people means that their blood sugar is up and down like a yo yo and when its down you cravings for those sugary foods come back fast. We have programmed ourselves to depend on and expect junk food and just like any other drug we need to break the habit and start giving our bodies the fuel it needs.

Most people today do not know what true health feels like and after the initial 'detox hangover' where you get a bit of a headache and feel a little bit 'off' you will feel fantastic and be full of energy. This feeling will last as long as you stick to a healthy diet, and then when you switch back to junk food it will make you feel awful again.

If your body is deficient in something then it will send out a hunger signal to make you eat. Taking a multi vitamin can reduce your deficiencies in certain micro nutrients and reduce the cravings. Also taking glutamine as a supplement is thought to reduce cravings.

An amino acid that can be taken in supplement form which has been shown to reduce cravings is L-glutamine. This is because the brain feeds on the L-glutamine so it does not need the glucose you were originally craving to feed it.

5) Felt left out and peer pressure got the better of you

A time where peer pressure seems to be a real problem for most people is in restaurants where everyone starts to order deserts. You need to remember that everyone is there own person and should be able to make their own choices. There is no reason to think that you are being left out if you don't go with the majority.

Again its a case of making priorities and sticking to them. Just say no and all of those no's will add up to excellent results.

Whether it is my personal trainer clients or just the general public, these excuses are usually only that...excuses. Very often with simple planning and preparation they can be overcome.

James