to wonder how the hell she stays so slim??

[SequinsAndSparkles]

My BIL is engaged to a spanish woman, and we spent the weekend at MIL's, all of us together.

She is very slim, I'd guess a size 6/8. Her skin is glowing and she is stunning, yet her diet perplexes me?

On the first morning, we were all having breakfast, MIL made a fry up for everyone, but I am on a diet so I had special K and some toast. SIL prepared her own breakfast (they are currently staying at MILs while they have some work done on their house), and she had some kind of cheese, can't remember what she said it was, about 10 olives and a slice of ham! Yet she said that my breakfast of Special K and toast was stodgy and apparently English women have 'very strange ideas about nutrition'.

For lunch, she had a chicken salad, but it involved lots of extra virgin olive oil, all over the peppers and a big dollop of salsa. And then for dinner she had chicken smeared in pesto, with green beans in salt, more salsa and a slice of cheese.

How is she so slim??

I didn't have a particuarly healthy weekend in the end, we ended up having a takeaway on the Saturday evening, and SIL wouldn't eat any of it, she wasn't rude, she politely declined but I just find it hypocrytical that she eats all this fatty stuff and made the comment about England having strange ideas about nutrition when I was eating Special K and toast!!

Apologies Noddy had troble finding sources in English, just had remembered stats from Spanish press while living there.

Article in English citing source here

The study carried out on children in Seville was by the Seville City Council in 2010 on 1,559 children and the second link was a medical study carried out in Malaga.

if you have Chrome it translates the whole page for you in a second.

I'm only talking about childhood obesity. I'm not saying British people are slim and hve healthy diets either! I agree there has been a move away from traditional Mediterranean diets in these countries towards Burger King and McDonalds. Just wanted to point out the reality of Spain's present and future, which OP could use to knock future SIL's rose tinted specs off.

Would be interested to see translation, winter, (am a translator) but really really shouldn't be here and have to go clean the house!

Thanks.

I have experimented with different ways of eating to keep weight down for years - Slimming World, Weight Watchers etc and only now at 36 have I realised that it is just good of calorie counting which enables you to be flexible. I have an App on my Iphone which I add into what I have eaten and it is brilliant, it gives me the calories and it really makes me aware of what I eat. To maintain my weight I have to eat less than 1500 calories a day and exercise regularly (I run).

It's all about nutrition and keeping yourself healthy - a spoonful of pumpkin seeds take a while to munch through and will give you half of your days iron intake and will only be around 70 calories. Just educating yourself about food makes such a difference.

good "old" not of

its not usually perfect (often far from it) but its very handy alright, usually good enough to properly understand it. Varies a lot though.

example from your first link:
"The data has set off alarm bells, especially since in the last year the percentage has risen by 4.6%. What happened to the diet to make this happen? What kind of life we lead, how we eat, how much and how much we eat ... so that our body is becoming a dangerous ball without being obese remedy? Now that the Unesco has declared the Mediterranean diet intangible heritage of humanity because of the many good qualities that brings together so that if we practice, we enjoy good health, it appears that the Spanish, that we live in this habitat, which we part of it, put it in some way, for centuries, is, again, we've gone back to the "wonder diet" while dazzled us with fast food, manufactured, crammed with sugars and fats .

this is the very best advice that i have ever heard, for anyone concerned about diet and weight:

IMAGINE YOU LIVED 2 THOUSAND YEARS AGO. EAT ONLY THE FOODS THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN AVAILABLE THEN. IE FRUIT, VEG, GRAINS, PULSES, MEAT, FISH, DAIRY......NO PROCESSED FOOD.

THE RESULT? = HEALTHY BALANCED DIET

i am an absolute pig and i weigh 9.5 st and am a size 10-12. i do eat rubbish sometimes,and have a sweet tooth. but i have an instinctive knowledge about nutrition and diet and find junk food makes me feel rubbish. so i just very rarely eat it.

fannybanjo, i find the thought of calorie counting really, really depressing. i really think that if people a balanced whole food diet, they dont need to calorie count

so weetabix and shredded wheat are bad??

I really think calorie counting is total crap, and ultimately counter-productive, Agree catinhell, just eat properly. It's all the calorie counting that leads to people cutting out fats which are good for them, and ending up craving sugars.

agree WITH catinhell

The diet industry has so much to answer for, makes me really cross.

MoChan - eating correctly is calorie counting in a way though and the ONLY way to lose weight. Like people have said - eating a good sized bowl of Special K could be 400 calories. Weighing it is calorie counting and makes sense does it not? I eat extremely well, nuts and apricots with maybe an egg and slice of homemade bread for breakfast. Homemade soup for lunch with fruit and a good tea of veg, meat and a carb. I drink white tea and water, no juices or fizzy drinks and will have a homemade smoothie for a snack. I have wine and treats most days. It is a sensible way to not be overweight. So your response saying it is counter productive is a bit misleading.

catinhell - see post above!

Catinhell - that is the reason why after 3 children and at 36 I am a size 8. So it works. People want to know what works, ask someone who is slim BUT also healthy and energetic. I run 30 miles a week.

lot of food snobbery on this thread, mixed in with some good advice

Well, perhaps calorie counting works for you, but it's not the only way to lose weight, and is DEFINITELY counter productive for some people, if not you. Like I said, people take away the calories by stripping out useful fats, leaving them badly nourished and unlikely to stick to their 'diet'.

The whole point, here, is that something like Special K is not an ideal breakfast, and if one eats healthy food, not processed rubbish, the calorie issue ceases to be of importance.

Can someone tell me whther weetabix and shredded wheat are bad?

I've just been given the book The GL Diet Made easy, I've been on it about 10 days.

4kg so far, no heartburn which was a constant hell. My friend is a diabetic, is also doing the diet. She has used less insulin since she started, and has lost 1.5kg.

there are good carbs and bad ones, to eat protein with each meal and try to reduce or eliminate processed and empty carbs is what this regime is all about.

My dad lost 4st on this diet in these last 12m.

weetabix has added sugar.

fanjo, but i dont understand why you need to weigh/ measure/ count if you eat healthy food in sensible portions.

i didnt say that calorie counting doesnt work, i just said it was unecessary and depressing attitude towards food.

i justdont understand why you need to do it, if you know how to eat well.