Trim your tum for Christmas with LighterLife Fast

The festive season has started with numerous parties, and some of us would love to shift a few pounds to trim our tum for that new party dress. My personal favourites for boosting metabolism - which helps with a diet - are a couple of tablespoons of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water and adding sauerkraut to your diet.
Earlier this year I have tested a range of LighterLife Fast range of foods, and I do remember at that time I said I wish the range was more varied. So, I was pleased to find out that the range has indeed been expanded to include new foods and drinks.
If you haven't heard of LighterLife Fast, this is a range of diet products sold at Superdrug, which helps to keep track of just how many calories exactly you consume on fast days. Instead of weighing and calculating the calories in each meal, you have products which deliver nutrition for fast days, and especially the 5:2 diet. It is convenient, as you have all the meals in packets, so no fuss and hassle. The packs are easy to use.
I am the only one in the house who is ever going on a diet, and my guys are all fussy eaters. Sometimes I feel like I own a restaurant as I prepare several different meals to please my men. Cooking a 4th meal for myself is not a very exciting idea, that's why on fast days I am content with a pre-cooked meal from a packet. I have tried quite a few different brands and ranges, not just LighterLife Fast. One day I will do a post about all my experiments, I keep promising myself I'd do it, and have enough photos and note book entries to write it up, if only I had more time.

I have tried two new products from the range: LighterLife Fast Pink Grapefruit drink mix and LighterLife Fast Curry pack.

LighterLife Fast Pink Grapefruit drink mix comes in a box of 10 sachets, and is easily mixed with water to produce 1 litre of drink. I actually mix it in 500ml of water first in a bottle, then dilute it more with water in a glass (50/50).
It tastes really lovely, very refreshing and citrussy. Both my husband and I enjoyed it.
Pros: it is sugar free and fat free, and you can use it as a calorie-free extra on your fast days in addition to the Fastpacks (if you use them), or as a calorie-free drink with your usual meals.
Cons:
The mix doesn't dissolve entirely if you top it up with cold water straight. What you can do to avoid it getting clumpy at the bottom is to add a small amount of hot water first, once the mix is dissolved, top up with cold water.

LighterLife Fast Curry pack is another new addition to the range. There are four sachets in the box, which you mix with the hot water and cook in the microwave or on the hob.
Typically I have a curry with rice, but as the purpose of eating this meal is to fast, I couldn't have rice as a side dish. The flavours are all there, but to be honest, I did miss rice. Actually it would be misleading to say there is no rice, it is there, but at 9% you hardly notice it.
Texture-wise, it is quite creamy and more like a thick paste. It is spicy but not too hot.
LighterLife Fast suggests sprinkling fresh coriander on top of the curry, and I think that is a good idea. Or add a few cucumber slices or sticks (cucumber is only 15 calories per 100g).

There are 17 products in the range, and hopefully there will be more. As someone who is not keen on diet shakes, I would like to see more variety of meals like several kinds of soups, cereals and vegetable dishes.

If you missed reading my original posts, you might want to see them
Get a new figure with LighterLife Fast
and
Joining the 5:2 revolution with LighterLife Fast.

Disclosure: I received two new products from the range for the purposes of testing and reviewing. All opinions are mine. I am not paid to endorse anything.

Chocolate or sex? Chocolate any time!

The Nation’s appetite is for chocolate rather than a night of passionate sex

With Easter Sunday round the corner Chocolate didn’t need any extra promotion as it is voted as the UK's number one vice to beat the blues - a survey reveals we are nation of emotional eaters who turn to chocolate before sex, drugs or booze

Chocolate has been named the biggest “pick me up” for the Nation, with sex trailing in a shocking fifth place, a survey of 2000 people has found*.

The survey, conducted by weight management company LighterLife, found that 34 per cent of men and women said that they turn to chocolate to beat emotional blues.

A close runner up, and still related to a calorific intake was junk food like takeaway pizza with 19 per cent of people choosing to gorge on stodgy food after a stressful day.

Rather shockingly, a night of passionate sex is only how three per cent of the nation choose to relax and unwind.

The survey was conducted by weight management company LighterLife, who asked a panel of men and women what they turn to when they are feeling low.

And even the higher tax doesn’t seem to turn people off turning to alcohol as it came as a close third. Rather controversially, recreational drugs were also named as one of the leading sins

TV Doctor Dr. Hilary Jones says, “I am not surprised that high fat foods are being used more than sex, alcohol and cigarettes in stressful situations but people should still think about why they are turning to chocolate and junk food rather than their partner for support. For many people it seems that food and drink are often used as a way of avoiding intimacy or for those who are single, compensating for lack of it – emotional eating ultimately puts a strain on your health. What people need to do is acknowledge the reasons why they are “emotional eaters.”’

The LighterLife programme incorporates weekly single sex counselling groupscomprising of a maximum of 12 people – they’re an integral and compulsory part of the programme and enable people to reassess their relationship with food so they are more likely to manage their weight effectively.

Which is exactly what emotional eaters need and this survey demonstrates this. Worryingly it reveals that we are a depressed Nation who would rather turn to unhealthy vices for our kicks, none of the poll said they like to work out raising concern over the health of our country.”

The table of results for Bath:

What do you consume more of when you feel unhappy?

Chocolate	33.89%
Junk food like pizza	16.11%
Alcohol	15.56%
Sweets	10%
Sex	3.33%
Cigarettes	2.78%
Recreational drugs	1.11%
None of the above	17.22%

*LighterLife surveyed 2000 people (1000 men and 1000 women) in an independent survey by One Poll.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Honestly, I am not surprised. :)