I recently spoke to an individual who was very angry and demanded that I should be recommending a certain diet to everyone. 

He said to me “I lost 3 stone following this diet” 

As he was very angry I tried to find a level of engagement and said “wow you have lost 3 stone previously, thats amazing!”

To which he replied “Nope, I am now 4 stone heavier, I have put it all back on again plus a load more”.

This is part of the reason why I do not recommend diets yet over the years I have spoken to thousands of individuals desperately trying to improve their health and wellbeing by following strict diets that usually involve cutting everything out of their diet in one go. Unfortunately like the individual I mentioned above, it’s very rare this works in the long term.

Does this sound familiar? Instead, try my 3 R framework…

What is the 3 R Framework?

My 3 R framework is something that I have developed over the years and shared with thousands of individuals to help them make sustainable changes to their nutrition whilst also still enjoying their foods and drinks too. 

The first R: Remove 

The first R is the one that everyone focuses on – removing everything from their diet. The trouble is they also remove the enjoyment of food too. Removing all the “bad” food such as the sweets, chocolate, alcohol, biscuits, crisps as well as avoiding takeaways and social events is not sustainable and not required either. 

Most people think a healthy diet is all about what you remove from your diet but actually it can be significantly improved by adding to your diet too!

Instead, try to focus on the other 2 R’s that I have outlined below  

The second R: Reduce

I call the second R reduce and this is all to do with reducing (not removing!) the quantity, frequency and how often you have certain foods and drinks. 

It doesn’t have to be big changes but having slightly less each day could make a huge difference.

 If we take the example of biscuit consumption, 1 chocolate biscuit contains around 90 kcal and 6g sugar (amounts vary depending on the brand). Rather than remove them completely, reduce the quantity you consume by 2 per day. This doesn’t sound like very much but that means you would be consuming 180 kcal less and 12g sugar less each day. 

Over the course of the year, this equates to you consuming over 65,000 calories less and nearly 4.4kg sugar less – all of that through one small change. 

I appreciate you may not consume biscuits but you could apply this method to any food and drink that you do consume. 

The third R: Replace

The 3rd R is all about replacing some of your go to brands with healthier alternatives. There is this tendency to think that all foods and drinks are the same, however their nutritional composition can vary significantly depending on the brand. 

Sometimes switching to an alternative brand could be a great way to reduce your sugar, salt, fat and calorie intake whilst still being able to enjoy your favourite food and drink.

Next time you go food shopping, pick up your go to brand and compare it with the brand next to it, you might find the alternative has slightly less sugar, salt or fat. It may be 1 gram less but that still adds up to make a big difference!

So give my 3 R framework a go and let me know how you get on