SKINNY WOMEN WHO NEVER DIET
With summer approaching, it’s that time of year again when we’re all under pressure to hit the beach in a bikini or skimpy swimsuit looking like Elle Macpherson.
the constant churn of new superfoods and perky instagram health bloggers doesn’t help either. But what about those lucky (OK — very annoying) people who never diet yet somehow stay slim.
they can happily peel off by the pool without a second thought. how do they get — and stay — slim?
We meet six laid-back women who wouldn’t dream of spending a small fortune on chia seeds or eating liquidised kale for breakfast.
Yet they are all lithe, healthy and bursting with energy — we’ll have what they’re having, please.
here’s how they do it . . . need to make a conscious decision — it’s not rocket science.
i’ve got patients who can’t believe they’ve got a body mass index of 40+. [Your BMi is a measure of whether you’re a healthy weight for your height. Anything over 25 is considered overweight; over 40 and you’re considered severely obese.]
People simply need to be honest with themselves. they often feel it isn’t fair they’re fat, that it isn’t something they’re They love fast food and ice cream and never refuse cake. So how DO they look this good?
doing wrong. But only a tiny proportion of people we test have a problem with their thyroid [which can cause weight gain].
I get people to keep a food diary — that’s when you realise that your snack wasn’t one biscuit, it was four.
I could tell you exactly what I ate yesterday. There’s a perception that you’re blessed or not with being slim, but it’s not pre-determined, you make choices. I choose to get out of bed and go running at 6am.
But I never eat low-fat products — I’d rather have a small amount of something full-fat that tastes great than twice as much of something low-fat.
I also try to cook from scratch as much as I can, but I work a lot and have three young boys so that’s not always possible — if we end up having frozen pizza one night, so be it.
I eat crunchy oat cereal for breakfast that appears healthy, but probably has too much sugar in it.
Yes, I enjoy a chunk of Dairy Milk most days and always have Haagen-Dazs ice cream in the freezer. But I’m pragmatic about food — I don’t attach any guilt to what I eat, I just monitor it. If my clothes start to feel tight, I just eat less.
NEVER BAN ANYTHING — EVEN BISCUITS
CatharIna EdEn, 34, a bespoke wedding dress designer from London, is married to a business consultant with a 11-month-old son. She is a size eight.
As fAr as I’m concerned, life is too short to begrudge yourself the odd biscuit. I always have a plate of them, or some cupcakes, when brides come in for a fitting.
I’ll say: ‘You can have one, it’s fine — it won’t show when you put on the dress.’ Yet 99 per cent of them won’t because they’re on a diet.
I don’t ban myself from eating anything — the minute you do that, you start craving it and end up indulging in a chocolate bar.
To my mind, it’s about moderation. I eat well, but not to excess and so I’ve always weighed 9st. My mum is the same and, like me, she won’t hold back if there’s carrot cake on the table.
I’m certainly no Gwyneth Paltrow — if I’m starving on the way home from work, I’ve been known to stop for a McDonald’s burger and then come home and have dinner!
But I try to I eat three good meals a day, and I make them myself — that way you know what you are eating and you have control over your diet.
I have oats, yoghurt, fruit and nuts for breakfast, an open sandwich on rye bread for lunch, with a stew or roast for dinner.
I graze a lot, but I am careful to keep my snacks healthy.
Yes, I will eat biscuits at work, but I’ll also take in hard-boiled eggs and walnuts to snack on, too.
I don’t ban anything — I grew up with a fruit bowl on the table, but also a bowl full of biscuits and chocolates.
It was always out on display, so it became normal rather than a rare treat and probably stopped me from counting calories. n my-eden.co.uk
KEEP LEFTOVERS OUT OF SIGHT
thanE PrInCE, 67, is a food writer from London married to a retired banker. She has two daughters and two grandchildren. She is a size ten. BecAuse of my height — I’m nearly 6ft — I can carry a little extra weight without it showing. But I only weigh 4lb more than I did in my 20s and I’m still the same clothes size.
I’ve written a dozen cookbooks and tasted everything in them. I adore rich food — chips, millefeuille pastries, crisps with a G&T, plates of cheese with wine.
I take a credit/debit approach — for example, I’m going out for dinner tonight, so for lunch I’ll have a bowl of homemade soup, without bread.
It’s no great mystery why people are overweight — you simply have to take control of what you eat.
I think my age group are more mindful around food and how much we’re eating — in my day, we’d never eat breakfast at our desk while working like people do now.
I think people make excuses for not eating well — even if you don’t get home from work until 8pm, you can make a risotto with lots of vegetables when you get in. It takes 15 minutes, which is quicker than ordering a takeaway.
As a post-war baby, I was brought up to eat everything on my plate, but I give myself smaller portions and move the leftovers out of sight, rather than putting the bowl on the table. I’m less likely to go back for seconds that way.
You can retrain your stomach and your palate — I’ve trained myself not to eat huge portions and to not have sugar in my coffee.
I’m careful not to eat too much fruit, as it can have a lot of calories, and I don’t have things in the kitchen that are easy to snack on.
I also walk after dinner — my iPhone has a pedometer and I aim for 10,000 steps a day, but I’m not obsessive about it.
I live by the words of food writer Michael Pollan: eat food, not too much, mostly plants. That sums it up for me.
DON’T BINGE AT THE WEEKEND
EvE KaLInIK, 37, a nutritional therapist from London, is single. She is a size eight.
I GeT so annoyed by the obsession with vilifying certain key food
groups. It’s not a good idea to cut out a food group because it can lead to nutritional imbalances.
Genuine intolerances do exist, but few people have them. I’ve got clients who jump from diet to diet, eliminating food groups and wondering why they never lose weight. If it sounds crazy, then it probably is!
Bread has been demonised, but I love sourdough. For lunch, I might have scrambled eggs on sourdough toast, with proper fullfat butter.
Today, I’ll have salad for lunch and then chicken with butternut squash mash for dinner.
I have protein and good quality fats with every meal because they keep you satiated.
That means I rarely snack. If you’re eating three proper meals a day — and I never miss a meal — you don’t need to. If I do think I’m hungry between meals, I drink herbal tea or water because often we mistake thirst for hunger.
I love food and I’ll eat anything — I’m still the same weight (8½ st) that I was when I was 18, so I must be doing something right.
Last night, I had sea bream cooked in delicious pork fat at a restaurant. And if I’m out with a friend for coffee and I fancy a slice of cake, I’ll have it.
There’s no guilt around food for me, it’s there to be enjoyed. I’d rather have occasional treats like that than eat supposedly ‘healthy’ snack foods every day.
I also treat the weekend like any other day — if you tell yourself you’re not going to drink alcohol or eat sweet things until the weekend, then you can end up bingeing.
Nutrition doesn’t have to be complicated but people make a lot of excuses to not do things that’ll benefit their health. n evekalinik.com
SAVOUR EVERY TASTY MOUTHFUL
alex BRUnI, 58, a model with Grey Model agency, is single and lives in london. She is a size 8-10.
EATING well is common sense. Don’t deny yourself everything — I love a midmorning croissant or a slice of cake in the afternoon — but also don’t overdo it. I’m very aware of portion size and will have one slice of cake rather than three.
But I notice lots of people eating enormous sandwiches or piling their plates high as if it’s the last meal they’ll ever have.
It’s just not necessary. Obviously it’s bad to be very thin, but it’s also bad to be obese.
I’m Italian and I like pizza and pasta, but I’ll have a small amount and savour it, rather than an enormous plate full.
I often have dinner at home on my own, but I ensure I make a proper meal, and I set the table and pour myself a glass of wine.
I like that ritual and it means I eat slowly, focusing on the food and how it tastes.
I’ll have chicken or fish, with lots of vegetables and maybe rice, drizzled with good olive oil.
Occasionally I have a small bowl of ice cream or a few squares of dark chocolate as dessert — it’s so rich you can’t have much. If you eat in the front of the TV, you gobble it down and lose track of how much you’ve eaten.
I didn’t become a model until my mid-40s and with mature models there’s less pressure on you regarding your weight, but I still like to maintain my 8½ st figure.
I’m naturally slim and have always been around this size, though I’ve put on a few pounds as I’ve got older.
I’ve met younger models who have been put under pressure to lose weight, so they’ve left their agencies — girls seem more willing to stand up for themselves these days.
I tend not to eat during shoots, simply because it’s not fair on the make-up artist who has to redo your lips after you’ve eaten.
So I sometimes miss lunch, but I will then grab a sandwich, snack on almonds or have a bigger evening meal to compensate.
ALWAYS TAKE SNACKS WITH YOU
GUndUla HennIG, 45, a personal trainer and manager at SP&Co, lives in Richmond, Surrey, and is a size eight.
TO BE hONEST, I rarely get on the scales to check my weight (I’m around 8½st ) — I’m just not interested. All I care about is that my clothes fit.
After 45 years, you get to know yourself and your body. And as a personal trainer, I think about how what I put in my mouth fuels my body — it doesn’t just disappear down your throat with no consequences.
That said, I don’t punish myself: I love a big bowl of pasta at an Italian restaurant or if I’m ordering a burger, I’ll always have fries, too.
I get hungry a lot so I always have snacks with me such as nuts or fruit, and I drink a smoothie every morning.
I have porridge or eggs for breakfast, and I like spelt or rye bread as it’s very filling, though sometimes I grab a croissant on the way to work.
If it’s just occasionally that’s OK, but if it starts happening three days in a row, I stop and think: why is this creeping towards being a habit?
I never diet, though. I hate that word. I prefer to describe food as nourishment.
You have to listen to your body. I make sure I have good food in my cupboards and fridge so it’s easier to make the right choices.
If I get home late and starving, I find sachets of ready-cooked Puy lentils very handy. I use them in a salad with goats’ cheese, or I make a quick dhal.
I think we are all over-thinking food — there are so many fad diets and health bloggers around at the moment. how did we survive all this time without gluten-free this and that?
You just have to be happy in your skin and eat nourishing food that tastes great.