If, like many people, you have set yourself a New Year’s resolution to lose weight and eat healthier in 2012, you might be feeling like you could do with a bit of help. Changing your ways and turning your lifestyle around can, of course, be difficult, but luckily there are more than enough diet and health books for you to choose from, and they really can give you the pointers you need when trying to shed a few pounds. Here are some of our best picks:
1. The New Atkins New You Cookbook by Atkins Chances are you will have heard of the Atkins diet by way of celebrities going on it, but so many of them follow this diet because it is incredibly successful. As the front cover boasts, if you stick to it you could lose up to 15lbs a week, and this is true. The diet works by cutting carbohydrates out of your food intake and instead replacing them with protein. This encourages the body to convert fat into energy rather than glucose which means that weight loss can be achieved faster.
2. The CarbLover's Diet by Ellen Kunes In complete contrast to the Atkins diet, the CarbLover’s diet is exactly what it says on the tin – a diet packed with all of your favourite carb-filled foods. New research has shown that eating foods rich in resistant starch can actually help you to lose weight, and the recipes in this book utilises this thinking perfectly.
3. WeightWatchers Handbag Book of Inspirations by WeightWatchers WeightWatchers is one of the most popular diets in the UK and many people have seen success with it. One of the main benefits of the diet is the meetings that you go to, where you can talk with other dieters about the problems you have faced that week. This book gives you some excellent hints and tips for staying on your diet between these meetings, so you can sustain your weight loss.
4. You are What You Eat by Gillian McKeith You are What You Eat isn’t so much of a diet as a way of life. Written following Gillian McKeith’s hit TV show of the same name, the book helps you to look at your eating habits in a new light and adopt a healthier nutritional programme.
5. Healthy Lunchboxes for Kids by Amanda Grant If you have children, getting them to eat healthily should be at the top of your list of things to do. We all know that kids hate fruits and vegetables though, so this book can give you some great ideas for putting together healthy lunch boxes to send them off to school with.
