July 2011
Change4Life
At WeightAwareUK we are strongly in support of the Change4Life movement. In order to maintain a healthy weight we need to both eat better and move more. Many families are making changes that will help them live healthier and longer lives. Visit http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/Pages/change-for-life.aspx or call 0300 123 4567 for more information.
In particular, for families with children at home, we find the ideas which Change4Life use, such as Cook4Life, Play4Life, Swim4Life, Walk4Life and Bike4Life, to be really helpful shorthand. They remind us of those little changes in lifestyle which really can make all the difference.
We are proud to display the Change4Life messaging on all of our new marketing and advertising material and help to support the Change4Life team in all of their communications to families.We will shortly be putting more details of the Change4Life movement on our website, so do come back soon to read more!
March 2011
Overweight children lose weight without going on a diet! In the world’s
largest diet study, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have revealed
an unexpected but welcome result.
They conclude that a high protein, low glycaemic index (GI)diet offers the best chance of weight loss, having observed
that families participating in the study saw a spontaneous weight loss in their
children when following this diet.
772 families, comprising 938 adult family members and 827 children,
participated in the diet study. The adults were initially put on a low-calorie
diet, losing an average of 11kgs (24lbs), and were then randomly assigned
to one of five low-fat diets.
One of these concentrated on a diet high in
protein, low GI.
The children involved simply followed the same diet as their
parents without being required to ‘go on a diet’ or count calories; however,
scientists were delighted to reveal an unexpected weight loss result in these
children.
Researchers said, “We saw that, in the group of children who maintained
a high protein, low GI diet, the occurrence of overweight dropped spontaneously
by approximately 15% in just six months. This is remarkable because the
children were not on a slimming diet or counting calories. The families just
changed their diet.”
A high protein, low GI diet might include a high proportion of lean
meats e.g. chicken and turkey, fish, eggs, low-fat dairy products, nuts and
legumes (beans) and fewer calories from refined starch like white breads, white
rice, biscuits and cakes. A full report of the diet study can be found
in the New England Journal of Medicine.