DO you know your Atkins from your WW, your Slimming World from your Ozempic or juice cleanse? Every scroll on social media brings with it a new weight loss ‘miracle’.
But what REALLY works? From the ‘go low and slow’ approach to indulging in pizza, YES pizza, a new book explores how a simple 30g rule to dieting could be the answer we’ve all been longing for.
Here, registered nutritionist and author of The 30g Plan Emma Bardwell shares her simple, no frills approach to dieting that will help you hit your goal, and even better sustain it long-term...
WEIGHT loss is simple – but not easy.
It doesn’t matter what nonsense you hear on social media, there are no two ways about it: you need to be in a .
This means you eat fewer calories than you expend.
The issue is, most people go hell for leather. They restrict, deny and deprive themselves, and it’s unbearable.
They can’t sustain it and they go back to their normal way of eating, feeling useless and disheartened, like nothing works.
My approach as a registered nutritionist is to go low and slow.
Shave off between so you’re not famished.
This feels doable, and no foods are off the table. Yes, even pizza!
You won’t necessarily lose 7lbs in seven days – this isn’t a body blitz like we used to see in magazines in the 1990s – but you will slowly and manageably get results.
You’ll also be in a better mood, have more energy and avoid the dreaded hunger pangs.
In all honesty, anyone looking at long-term needs to be thinking six to 12 months.
No one wants to hear this, because we all want overnight success, but that’s the upshot.
You can still start to see results quicker than that, but it pays to have the long game in mind.
I teach people to fill up on high volume foods so they don’t feel hungry or restricted.
That essentially boils down to two things: and .
These two food groups physically fill us up, helping to keep us fuller for longer, regulate blood sugar levels, control appetite (by releasing the hormone GLP1 in a similar though much less efficient way to like and ) and slow the rate at which food leaves the stomach.
That’s how they work in terms of weight loss, but protein is also really helpful for mitigating muscle loss that occurs as we age (and muscle helps to burn calories to a small degree).
Fibre feeds our gut microbes so it helps with , health, hormones, immunity and so many other functions.
And we mustn’t forget about the importance of plants!
THE POWER OF 30
When it comes to protein, plants and fibre, research lands on the magic number 30.
- 30g of protein at each meal
- 30g of fibre per day
- 30 or more different plants a week
In my new book, The 30g Plan, I’ve combined these findings and translated the science into meals that taste good and that people will actually look forward to eating.
30g protein
is literally the structural building block – the backbone, if you like – of every cell, muscle, tissue and organ in the body.
We need it for pretty much everything, from hormone production and to DNA structure and immunity.
About 30g of protein contains enough amino acids to trigger the building of new muscle – something known as muscle protein synthesis.
include: chicken breast (32g per 100g), tuna (25g per 100g), eggs (14g per 100g), cottage cheese (10g per 100g), tofu (15g per 100g), Greek yoghurt (10g per 100g) and kidney beans (7g per 100g).
Muscle is particularly important as we age for , but it also has significant metabolic benefits.
It helps regulate blood sugar and plays a role in how many calories we burn, for example.
In my clinic, I’ve found that when clients hit 30g of protein in a meal, they were far less likely to overeat later in the day.
They felt full, satisfied and less prone to grazing and snacking, which naturally led to a loss of body fat – up to 4lbs in the first week.
30g fibre
Government guidelines say we should all be eating 30g of a day, as part of a balanced diet.
But most of us are currently only getting around 17 per cent, which is the recommended intake for a five-year-old.
– such as bran flakes (20g per 100g), oats (8g per 100g), peanuts (8g per 100g), wholemeal bread (7g per 100g), figs (7g per 100g) and baked beans (5g per 100g) – tend to be bulky, which helps fill our stomachs up.
This triggers our stretch receptors, which sends satiety hormones like GLP-1 (the same as found in Mounjaro, Wegovy and Ozempic) to your brain to say: “Stop eating, you’ve had enough.”;;
Fibre also slows the rate at which food leaves the stomach, which keeps us fuller for longer, reduces the need to snack between meals, and helps stabilise blood sugar levels, in turn keeping our mood and energy levels stable.
But fibre’s impressive CV doesn’t end there. It has also been shown to help lower and reduce the risk of , , , and some .
30 plants
Forget , a better target is to aim for , as highlighted by research from the American Gut Project.
The study on 10,000 people showed that those with the healthiest (i.e. most diverse) gut microbiomes ate 30-plus plants a week.
Plants include fruit and vegetables, but also nuts, seeds, whole grains, herbs and spices.
When you consider a bowl of porridge topped with mixed seeds, berries and a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg instantly delivers about eight plant points in a single meal, reaching 30 across the week really isn’t as unattainable as it first sounds.
And you’ll be pleasantly surprised to hear that coffee, dark chocolate, peanut butter and olives all count towards your 30 plants.
WHAT ABOUT CALORIES?
To work out how many calories you should be eating, multiply your weight in lbs by 11 for the lower end of your intake and 12 for the upper end.
For example, an average woman weighing 159lbs (72kg) would eat 1,740 to 1,900 calories per day to lose weight.
Having a range makes it much easier to maintain, and it feels a bit more realistic.
But remember, you don’t need to count calories slavishly in order to lose weight.
If you’re following The 30g Plan, then I’ve done that for you.
But even when you’re not, you could: eat exactly the same as you do now but with smaller portions, make some simple swaps (like buy zero per cent fat Greek yoghurt instead of full-fat, for example), reduce the number of snacks you have, or stop your daily glass of wine with dinner.
All of these are alternate ways to reduce your energy intake without slaving over actual calorie content.
IS THIS A DIET?
In short, no. I want you to adopt this way of eating for life, not just for two weeks.
Dieting to lose body fat seems to have fallen out of favour.
I can see why as the word has become synonymous with rigid, ultra restrictive ‘diets’ that are impossible to stick to long-term.
This often leads to decades of that leaves people feeling miserable.
Dieting sustainably though can be key to improving someone’s long-term health.
You can still enjoy a glass of wine with your mates down the pub, birthday cake with your family, and a pizza on a Friday night with your partner
Emma BardwellRegistered nutritionist
We know that carrying too much body fat, particularly around the midsection, is linked with chronic diseases such as , , stroke and cancer.
I’m all for improving health; so as long as fat loss is carried out sensibly and realistically, I think there’s a good argument for it.
That said, we do need to be mindful of the fact that thinness doesn’t equate to health.
I very much approach health from a 360-degree angle and talk about the many metrics that we can use to measure it in the book that don’t involve weight.
What about my favourite foods?
Absolutely not! In fact, I encourage clients to keep their favourite foods.
Your diet needs to be enjoyable otherwise you won’t stick to it for any length of time.
The key is making sure that 80 per cent of the time, you’re eating nutritionally dense whole foods that fill you up and help you feel good.
The remaining 20 per cent can be kept for the important occasions that bring you together with friends and make you feel good: a glass of wine with your mates down the pub, birthday cake with your family, a pizza on a Friday night with your partner.
All of these can feasibly fit within a balanced diet.
But realistically, if you want to see results and live a long and healthy life, these are occasional indulgences, they are not something you really should be doing every day.
The 30g Planby Emma Bardwell (Vermilion, £16.99) is out now.
