Easter, what now?

Question
QUESTION: Hello,
I started my diet on 21-03-2007, and I've been doing grate. It's a very healthy diet, and the things that I totally exclude are fried stuff and sweets. But, Easter is coming up, and I don't want to stop my diet now. Should I avoid all sorts of candy during Easter or should I eat some less fattening sweets? And, in that case, what kind of sweets?
I hope you can advise me on this.

kisses, Joana
ANSWER: Joana,

It sounds like you are on the right track. I want to caution you about one thing though. It seems as though you are treating your current 'diet' as a short term plan that you will eventually stop once you reach your goals. This is the main reason why diets fail.

You need an eating style that you can sustain forever. It's OK to fall back and have the occasional sweet (nothing specific) - you shouldn't have unreal expectations. But you really need to focus on something sustainable.

I recommend low glycemic foods (check out www.glycemicindex.ocm), moderate exercise and enough sleep. All of these contribute to your level of insulin resistance, which dictates how your body stores energy - either in fat or in muscle. You want to drive as much energy storage into muscle as possible and the above will help you do that.

You should also not be starving yourself. You should eat several small meals a day so that you never get too hungry. If you allow yourself to get too hungry your body actually becomes more efficient at storing fat. That means as you cut back your calories you won't necessarily lose fat.

Hope this helps.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks, you really helped me. And don't worry, my diet was given to me be an nutrition especialist, totally made for me. And after my goal is reached, I will continue to have a healthy nutrition and exercise. But I have another question:
When I was 11 years old, I took a medicin to lose weight, and it worked nicely. I was very careful with it, so it wouldn't be bad to my health. I lost 2 to 3 kilograms. Now I'm 13, and I was wondering if It's a good ideia to take it again.

kisses, Joana

Answer
Joana,

I don't recommend diet medications unless you have a real clinical problem, especially at your young age. This is something you should talk with you physician about but I would avoid the diet drugs if possible. They are short term solutions - not sustainable.

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