Eat more... weigh less!

If you’re bursting out of your clothes, Helen Foster, bestselling author of Eat All Day Diet, reveals that by eating five meals a day you can shed up to 5lb in just five days

When you’re pretty keen to shed some pounds, chances are you’ve tried to lose weight and cut down the amount you eat by stopping all snacks – and perhaps even skipping some meals altogether. So it might surprise you to find that on this simple plan devised by Helen Foster, author of ‘Eat All Day Diet’ (Hamlyn, £9.99), you will be able to enjoy eating five meals a day! Amazed? Delighted? You bet!

According to researchers at the University of Massachusetts, people who eat at least four times a day are 45 per cent less likely to be overweight than those who only eat three or fewer meals a day.

There are a number of reasons why this occurs. The first is that the act of digestion actually burns calories. In fact, in the hours immediately after eating a meal high in fibre, the number of calories you burn will increase by 15 per cent. Focus your meal around protein (as we do in this plan) and your metabolic rate can increase by up to 30 per cent. By eating little and often you’re repeatedly switching on this metabolic body boost throughout the day, thereby maximising the calories you burn.

Eating regularly also decreases the levels of fat-storing hormones in your body. The first of these is insulin, which is triggered in high amounts when you consume large meals, but when you eat little and often, insulin levels actually fall. Even more important is the fact that ‘grazing’ also seems to slash levels of the hormone cortisol. Known for stimulating appetite, increasing fluid retention and triggering fat storage, cortisol is a major weight-loss enemy. Yet in trials led by Dr David Jenkins at the University of Toronto, it was found that eating mini -meals throughout the day cut cortisol levels by 17 per cent in just two weeks.

So, by eating little and often you can lose weight fast – and still supply your body with all the energy and nutrients it needs. No wonder eating five times a day is currently one of the hottest Hollywood eating plans, with stars including a pre-pregnancy Halle Berry using it to stay healthy, slim and full of energy.

If you’re carrying extra fluid then this diet will help flush it out. To boost this effect, add two to four cups of dandelion tea, a natural diuretic, to your daily fluid intake. You’ll find dandelion tea at health stores, or try Birt & Tang Detox Tea, £1.99 (www.birtandtang.co.uk), which combines dandelion with immunity-boosting milk thistle and Chinese violet.

It’s been discovered by researchers at Cornell University in the US that we make up to 200 food-related decisions each day – not just what to eat, but when and how much to consume. On this diet your big decision will be whether to add that little more onto your plate, as the portion sizes may initially seem small. But you must stick to the recommended serving sizes, so present them on a side plate or small bowl to trick your brain into thinking you’re eating more than you are. And don’t forget that you’re going to be eating again in two hours’ time, so you don’t need to overload your body.

How do you make the plan work for you?

Easy. Five times a day you simply pick one of the 25 mini-meals listed. You can choose something different every time you eat, stick to the same five every day, or repeat meals twice in a day – it’s totally up to you, but you must eat something from the list roughly every two or three hours. You should also accompany every meal with either a glass of water, herbal tea, black tea or coffee or a diet drink – proper hydration is vital as it increases the calories you burn by up to 20 per cent each day. It really couldn’t be simpler to slim.

Stick to this simple, healthy eating plan for two weeks and you could look forward to dropping a whole dress size, or 10lb, in a fortnight!

Click here to see your 25 delicious meal choices... 

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