There is so much hype surrounding ‘dieting’ nowadays that many people are confused about what to eat. Unfortunately, there is no ‘magic diet’. In fact, research shows that it’s best to think about changing your eating habits to a healthy plan that fits in with your lifestyle rather than ‘going on a diet’. There are some strategies that we know successful slimmers use that make a real difference. Theses include:

• Eating regular and planned meals and snacks – starting with breakfast
• Keeping a very close eye on portion sizes
• Eating plenty of fruit and vegetables and choosing foods and drinks that are low in fat and sugar (most of the time).
• Following the ‘Balance of Good Health’ eating plan. Include foods from each food group in healthy proportions. More about this later.
• Building physical activity into your daily routine.

To help you get and stay on track with healthy eating we recommend a 3 stage plan. Have a look at each stage. While we suggest that you start at the beginning, if you feel ready to start at stage 2 or stage 3 (which entails a calorie-controlled eating plan), then that’s fine. The choice is yours. And you can always revisit earlier steps if you want to.