Will this be the new celebrity diet? Sydney expert says ditching five foods key to weight loss

THIS is tipped to be the new celebrity diet. A Sydney expert claims simply ditching five foods will keep the weight off for good.

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WILL this be the latest celebrity diet craze? A Sydney expert claims simply ditching five foods will keep the weight off for good.

According to obesity expert Dr Nick Fuller, our constant dieting is making us fatter and fatter.

“Not only do you regain the weight you’ve lost, but you end up heavier than when you started,” said the author of new book Interval Weight Loss.

Interval Weight Loss is premised on redefining the weight your body wants to be, and tricking it into becoming lighter and lighter through a sustainable, scientific solution.

“Everyone has a set point which is the weight that a body defends. So when you lose weight, your body does all it can to return to that set point. This is about changing the body’s set point, not a quick fix that will have you heavier than where you started,” he said.

The Triple M Grill Team’s Gus Worland

Triple M’s Gus Worland, whose struggle to permanently lose weight has played out across our screens and airwaves over the years, has turned to Interval Weight Loss after trying everything else and still ending up heavier.

Sticking to these principles, plus the other outlined in Interval weight Loss, helped Tim Wallace, 38, go from 120 kilos to less than 100 over the course of several years and successfully maintained it.

After ... Tim Wallace dropped more than 20 kilos.

Before ... Tim Wallace

“For years my weight would fluctuate. I would be overweight, so I would go on a really restrictive diet for a couple of months where I would be starving and miserable through the whole process,” he said.

“The interval Weight Loss program teaches you how to decrease your set-point back to your healthy weight gradually, so you can stay at this weight effortlessly. The thing I probably liked the most about the program was the fact that I was never hungry because I didn’t need to limit my food intake if the food I was eating was nutrient-rich and energy-dilute, which basically means fruits, vegetable, grains and similar healthy foods,” he added.

Here are the top five foods people have to avoid to lose weight:

1. DITCH Coconut oil

Coconut Oil has a whooping 120 calories per tablespoon

Believe it or not, coconut oil is well and truly out. Clever marketing has led us to believe for years that this stuff is good for us, but the innocuous-seemingly coconut oil is doing way more harm than good. With a whooping 120 calories per tablespoon, and 12 grams of saturated fat, not only does it do some serious damage to our waistlines but is also detrimental to our cholesterol levels and blocks our arteries.

PICK olive oil

Flick the trendy white stuff for olive oil — it’s what the Mediterraneans have been using for centuries and its regular consumption has been shown to reduce your risk of heart disease.

2. DITCH White bread

White bread is so refined that by the times it hits your mouth, Dr Fuller says.

Or white death, as it’s also referred to, adds absolutely nothing nutrition wise and everything kilogram wise. This product is so refined that by the times it hits your mouth, you are doing more harm than good when you chow it down.

PICK wholegrain

Instead of the Wonder White, choose its cousin, wholegrain bread. Whole grains are important sources of fibre — which reduce our risk of heart disease and cancer and contain loads of nutrients. The inclusion of daily consumption of whole grains also helps us lose weight and crucially, maintain that lighter weight.

3. DITCH Cheese

Bye, bye cheese

Bad news — even a hard cheese like a cheddar is 70% fat and contains a huge 400 calories per 100 grams — a meagre three slices. Like its trendy friend coconut oil, cheese’s consumption is sure to see your weight increase and will also block your arteries.

PICK skim milk

With the cheese intake way down to once per week, as explained in Interval Weight Loss, the focus of dairy foods should be on regular consumption of skim or low fat milk and yoghurt. Almost as good as a slice of brie #iwish

4. DITCH Alcohol

Booze contains 29 kilojoules per gram of energy

All booze contains 29 kilojoules per gram of energy — meaning it is nearly double the energy content of the commonly avoided carbohydrates, or protein-based foods. There are the much-touted heart health benefits from very small amounts of booze — being no more than two standard drinks per day, or about 1 glass of self-pour — but unless you regularly consume alcohol the extra calories outweigh the potential benefits of taking up drinking.

PICK Water

Zero calories and free from the tap, water is there to optimise how your body works.

5. DITCH Dried Fruit

Dried Fruit is out

Snacking regularly on fresh fruit is a great option for sustainable weight loss. Dried fruit, not so much! Dried fruit, on average, contains five times the amount of calories as fresh fruit because it has all of the water content stripped out, it making it extremely energy dense.

Pick: fresh fruit

Despite a trend towards ditching certain fruits, none of them are bad. Fresh fruit is a crucial part of a sustainable weight loss diet — even bananas.

Interval weight loss book by Dr Nick Fuller

Interval weight loss book by Dr Nick Fuller

For further information on loads more foods to avoid if you’re keen to avoid the kilos before summer, read INTERVAL WEIGHT LOSSTM — available for purchase at all good book stores or via Penguin.