Dieting requires patience for long-term results

JANUARY is the season of uncomfortably tight jeans and even tighter budgets.

If your resolution is to lose weight and get healthy in 2019, you’re probably busy choosing from a dizzying array of diet trends.

Is Banting still the big deal on the block? Should you make like a caveman and go Paleo, or consider the environment and become vegan? Or combine the two and join the new, popular Pegan trend?

University of the Western Cape dietetics lecturer Professor Rina Swart said the best thing you can do is ditch the fads and stick to healthy foods.

“Avoid diets that promise you miracles,” she said. “There is no such thing. Eat less is the critical aspect.”

The British Dietetics Association has even released a list of celebrity diets to avoid in 2019 – including the Blood Type Diet, Alkaline Water and the firm celeb favourite, Detox Tea. All of these diets have been scientifically debunked.

“The basic principles of healthy eating and living have not changed,” Swart said. “Enjoy a variety of food (colours, tastes and textures) in small portions, be active – even if you only do regular brisk walking – and drink lots of water.”

Swart advises that you limit alcohol, saturated fats, salt and any food and drinks with added sugar.

There is no one diet to rule them all. Which diet you choose isn’t as important as consistently sticking to it, according to Elan Lohmann, certified nutrition coach and founder of www. sleekgeek.co.za, one of South Africa’s largest online health communities.

“Over the years, we’ve seen that no matter what diet style you pick, the key is consistency,” Lohmann says. The all-or-nothing approach to extreme dieting may yield quick results, but it’s doomed in the long run.

“There are many healthy lifestyle approaches and most work when practised consistently,” he says. “So we advise people to choose a lifestyle that’s realistic and doable.”

If you want to improve your health, surround yourself with people who share common goals – even if that community is online.

“Community support allows one to not feel alone on their journey and have a degree of accountability,” Lohmann adds. “We’ve also seen that people are influenced strongly by the people they surround themselves with.”

One of the most frustrating parts of going on a diet is not seeing immediate results, but remember that long-term change takes patience. After all, you didn’t put the weight on in one week, so don’t expect it lose it in a week.

“For anyone wanting to make a lifestyle change, I’d say give yourself a year, and don’t try be to perfect,” Lohmann says. “One must expect to make mistakes and fail regularly along the way. It’s absolutely normal.”

What few people understand is that healthy living is a skill and habit you have to learn. “The more you practise it, the better you get,” he says.

After supporting more than 300 000 South Africans through the Sleekgeek community, Lohmann has seen patterns emerge among those who are successful in their weight loss mission.