Sustainable Weight Loss & Snacking

Weight loss and snacking, who would've thought that these two could go hand in hand?

Our dream team at tukr have mixed opinions about dieting. Whether it's actually good for you? Whether it's sustainable for your health goals? What implications it can have on your mental health and self-esteem?

But there's one thing that we can agree on, for sure. And that's that maintaining a healthy weight is a critical element in good health.

And we also agree that cutting corners and neglecting a nutritional diet is almost more detrimental (and way less sustainable) than those types of diets that can actually keep the weight off without undernourishing your body.

Over the years, there have been so diets created that promise fast and permanent weight loss, but across all, the most successful ones have had two things in common:

1. Changing your mindset and how you think, feel and behave towards food. 

2. Eating more of what's 'good' for you and less of what's 'bad'.

A combination of these two factors plus exercise in diets generally follow the principle of less calories in, more calories out - the basic premise of weight loss.

Every diet follows those two points above to varying degrees. Some may take 'eating more of what's good and less of what's bad' as an absolute hard rule of zero fats in your diet, and living off boiled chicken and veggies. The diet may also tell you to fast for 15 hours a day and only eat at a certain time, ignoring your body's hunger pangs. 

But what exactly makes diets sustainable?

To us (and many nutritionists & dieticians!), it's not just about the waistline. It's about what's good for your brains and toes, and everything in between.

It's also majorly about your mindset towards food - being able to eat as you like, but adjusting the quantities, i.e. no to a full packet of tim tams in one sitting, but yes, you can still eat them!

The diets that get our nods of approval are sustainable in the way that they get you to 1. change the way you think, feel and behave towards food.

This means you are challenging yourself mentally and physiologically in adjusting the way you deal with your food. It may give you more control in turning down that extra sugar in your coffee, and to really tune into your body to listen to when its hungry or full.

This creates a healthier mindset towards eating.

It's also the ones that don't banish a lot of things from your diet. In extreme diets, point 2 would dictate that all bad foods are a strong no. But there's only so long you can live on a super restrictive diet before you realise how much of an impact it might have on your social life, as well as how it may end up cutting essential nutrients you need out of your life - which is generally where we see a lot of people jumping off that diet.

What's our favourite diet?

We are avid fans of the Mediterranean diet, which is a more flexible 'diet plan' that doesn't impose strict limits on many things. It's been found that people who follow this type of diet have lower rates of diabetes, dementia, heart disease and other chronic diseases.

This diet includes:

• Several servings of fresh produce a day (fruits and vegetables)
• Whole grains (breads & cereals(
• Healthy fats (nuts, seeds & olive oil)
• Lean protein (Fish, poultry & beans)
• Limited red meat 
• Moderate wine consumption with meals

Following a Mediterranean diet is more than just the food - it's more of a lifestyle. On top of eating healthier food, it's also switching off the TV, sitting with friends or family, slowing down and enjoying a meal. It helps to promote mindfulness when eating and a better relationship with food. A good place to start is spending 30 minutes eating a meal, rather than rushing it.

So where does snacking come into all of this? 

As counter-intuitive as it seems, these two actually go hand in hand.

If you get too hungry, you'll have a tendency to over eat. This is why it can be more effective to break down your 3 main meals into 6 smaller meals - which means you'll never really go hungry in between meals.

Snacking is an alternative to this (assuming the snacks you're consuming are healthy)! By consuming small snacks between bigger meals, you'll resist the urge to overeat, which is a lot easier to do when you're hangry. 

Which leads us to our next point. Hungry people are not happy people. By snacking on high protein, fibre-filled, low-carb snacks, you're keeping your blood-sugar at a sustained level where you're not snappy, irritable and moody. It'll also help you to stay focused and productive, rather than being distracted by your rumbling stomach 24/7. 

What snacks do we recommend?

Googy's Protein Bars

tukr pods - premium nut mixes

Clif Bars

All these and more available in our tukr snack boxes! Click here to shop.