HOW TO CONQUER YOUR CRAVINGS

PROFESSOR Lustig believes the key to losing weight is to reverse leptin resistance. Here is his action plan:

HAVE DESSERT JUST ONCE A WEEK WHEN cooking, reduce sugar in every recipe by a third, and eat dessert as a treat, once a week.

FIBRE LEADS TO WEIGHT LOSS FIBRE is now routinely stripped from foods to give a finer texture and extend shelf life (manufacturers have found food with fibre doesn’t freeze well, and can’t be cooked quickly), but according to Pr ag we

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rofessor Lustig: ‘Fibre, or roughge, is the most misunderstood eapon in our nutritional arsenal.’ This is because the digestive sysem has to work to strip away the utside bran of a wholegrain, so owing the whole digestive procss, and stopping glucose levels om peaking suddenly. This means ss insulin is released, therefore less energy is stored as fat. Slower digestion also gives your brain a chance to register that you are full.

TAKE 15 MINUTES’ EXERCISE DAILY

EXERCISE alone cannot cause significant weight loss (unless you change your diet at the same time) but Professor Lustig says 15 minutes a day is enough to improve your insulin sensitivity (because activity helps cells become more receptive to insulin), and build muscle at the expense of fat. Although you may not see a drop on the scales, by improving insulin sensitivity and lowering insulin levels, exercise, will improve leptin signalling.

EAT LIKE YOUR GRANDMA

BEWARE packaged food. Professor Lustig’s mantra is: ‘Don’t eat anything your grandmother wouldn’t recognise. If the food has a company logo you’ve heard of, it’s processed.’

DON’T EAT ON YOUR FEET

EATING standing up means you will be eating fast, with no time for satiety signals to kick in, says Professor Lustig.

Always include some sort of protein (chicken, pulses) in every meal (to slow the digestive process and reduce the risk of insulin spikes) and avoid any ‘food’ that is just fat, carbohydrate and sugar (such as doughnuts, milk-shakes, pastries).