Relieve joints and reduce pain
Inflammation is your body’s natural response to infection, injury or trauma, but it can also be too much of a good thing and start to work against you. The right diet and exercise can reduce inflammation and the diseases that it causes, and another way to deal with it is by losing weight.
If you are carrying more weight than is good for you, your joints could be letting you know. Joint pain is a sure sign of inflammation, and simply by losing a few of those excess kilos you could relieve the pressure and suffer less pain.
It’s worth the effort
It’s common knowledge that there are plenty of health benefits from losing weight. You feel better, move better and enjoy more energy simply from having less to carry around. Another huge benefit of losing weight is that you can reduce inflammation, and those painful joints offer instant gratification when you do.
It’s not just less pressure on joints that does the job, but also a reduction of the chemicals that cause inflammation – C-reactive protein, TNF-alpha, IL-6 and leptin – and raised levels of your body’s anti-inflammatories, like adiponectin.
Easier said than done
Anyone who’s tried knows that it’s hard to lose weight. It’s even harder when you’re older, and not in the habit of walking or taking more than light exercise. That’s why it’s important to take several steps at once: eat a healthy, anti-inflammatory diet, and get out for some regular exercise. Both of these efforts will make your weight loss a whole lot easier.
The trick is to see these steps as a permanent change in your lifestyle. Most diets fail because they deprive you of things your body needs, and although you might lose a few kilos by cutting out bread and potatoes, or eating only fruit for a week, you’ll be back to square one in no time once you stop depriving yourself. Lose more than 10kgs that way, and you could end up hungrier than ever, Australian researchers found. One theory is that a strict diet puts your body in famine mode, and once you go back to your normal eating habits, your body urges you to eat more so you’ll survive the next famine!
So, what’s the best (permanent) way to lose weight?
Here are some great tips for losing weight when you’re older – and keeping it off too. Remember, this is not a diet – it’s a lifestyle change.
Get all empty calories out of the house
This is the hard part. Give or throw away white rice, white bread, white sugar, chips of any sort, lollies, cakes, biscuits and white flour crackers. Get these things out of the house so that when you’re tempted to snack, it won’t be on junk food. These items are high in fat and sugar, generally empty of fibre, and offer only non-nutritious calories. And alcohol? That’s basically fermented sugar and needs to go too, along with sweet fizzy drinks. Sorry!
Don’t make it all about your weight
You might want to get rid of fat, but you also want to build muscle, which helps burn calories (and keeps you fit too). Muscle actually weighs more than fat, so if you’re eating a healthy diet and also doing weight training or walking a lot, you might find you lose only very slowly because you’re swapping fat for muscle. Just remember, the exercise makes you stronger and plays an important part in reducing inflammation, so instead of hopping on the scales, try using a tape measure around your waist, and taking note of how your clothes fit.
Eat all the vegetables – they are key
Ever heard the expression ‘Eat the rainbow’? This is an excellent guide to what your plate should look like – the reds and yellows of capsicum and tomatoes, the variety of greens in lettuce, beans, broccoli and spinach, and the deep purples of eggplant and beetroot. Each colour brings essential nutrients, and the combinations are the key to great eating, delicious recipes and good health. Vegetables should fill at least half your plate.
Get your protein
Proteins take longer to digest, so you’re more satisfied and feel full for longer. They also help build and maintain muscle mass, which we tend to lose as we get older. Most people think proteins only come from animals – beef, sheep, chicken, fish, shellfish, eggs and dairy products. They do, but to reduce your inflammation and keep it down, animal protein should be no more than 10% of your diet.
The good news is, there is protein in all kinds of vegetables and grains – beans, lentils, chickpeas, brown rice, whole wheat, barley, soy and quinoa, to name but a few. Even broccoli has protein in it. Combinations – like rice and beans – provide proteins more complete and more anti-inflammatory than grass-fed beef. Plus, a lot more fibre!
Eat the right fats
Your body needs fats – they have essential nutrients that other foods don’t have, and they are key to processing some vitamins and minerals. The spice turmeric, full of antioxidants, unlocks its anti-cancer properties only when it’s heated in fat. But there are useful and not-so-useful fats. Animal fats aren’t the best, nor are oils from grains and seeds. Try to use cold-pressed oils from vegetables in your cooking – olive oil, coconut oil and avocado oil for instance. And not too much of it!
Don’t go hungry
Don’t restrict yourself to three meals a day – eating by the clock isn’t a good idea anyway. It’s better to listen to those hunger pangs, and snack on healthy things between meals – a carrot, a pear, some nuts, even popcorn. This does several things: it reduces your appetite for the next main meal (so you’re less likely to overeat), it keeps your energy levels up (so you keep moving and functioning) and a small between-meals snack can help shrink your stomach (so you feel full sooner and eat less).
Very obese people have reported never feeling hunger pangs. Being aware of them, and responding accordingly, are important steps to healthier eating.
Use smaller plates
A lot of us were brought up to eat what’s put in front of us. You can hear “Clean your plate!” echoing down the years. We find ourselves sitting down and eating everything we’re given, even after we’re full. If you can’t break yourself of this early social training, try tricking yourself by using smaller dishes. Instead of filling a very large plate with food, fill a smaller plate, eat it all – and eat less.
Drink lots of water
Not tea, not coffee – water is the important thing here. (Tea and coffee are diuretic – they pull water out of your system.) Keep yourself hydrated, and remember that sometimes when you get hunger pangs, it’s because you’re thirsty! Drinking a glass of water right before a meal can also help fill you up, so you end up eating less and feeling full sooner.
Eat a high-fibre, delicious breakfast
Don’t skip the first meal of the day – don’t skip any meals, in fact – you’ll only get ‘hangry’, and pig out when you finally do eat, or reach for fast, easy junk food. Breakfast sets you up for the day’s action, whatever it may be. It helps you move better, think better and function more effectively, so of course you shouldn’t leave it out.
Be gentle on yourself
You don’t need to be a rock star about weight loss – crash-dieting never did anyone any good, and does absolutely nothing for that inflammation. Start making changes slowly, chew slowly, get used to new routines and flavours, and don’t expect too much too soon. In fact, the slower you reduce the more likely you are to keep it off, especially if you’re getting enough sleep.
Be kind to yourself, and live your life mindfully – let every bite of food count, and make every walk you take a pleasure.