When in Scotland

When in Scotland, we might follow the advice we hear on their radio stations.  I have never been to Scotland.  My father's family tree does include Scotland,  and my favorite batch of books centers on a Scotsman named James Fraser.  Which may explain why I like to listen to their radio shows.

I enjoy shows from the BBC radio Scotland from time to time and did so as I was falling asleep last night.  The news program staff interviewed some persons on the streets about plans for dieting in the new year.  They also had  a nutrition professor from the University of Glasgow as their in studio guest. 

I stored (in my brain for safe keeping) two specific bits of information to share with you today.  They are truths we already know, but it doesn't hurt to repeat them and to show that they are universal concepts.

The professor noted that ALL diets work.  They work because they cut calories and they do so in any number of ways, some more bizarre than others.  The problem is what happens when the diet ends.  Losing weight is possible with a diet, maintaining a healthy weight takes more of a lifestyle approach.

A lady who spoke to the news team about her weight loss goals said that she thought it would be good to eat warm thick soups.  The professor concurred and suggested that people start the day with porridge which is filling but low in calories.  He noted how he recently had a bowl of porridge for breakfast and went skiing until the mid afternoon.

I don't have porridge, but I have oat bran and it IS filling. It has the lower of the calories of my four or five normal breakfasts but is the most satiating and takes the longest to eat.  Here is a You Tube video I made some time ago - for the oatbran breakfast.   Remember, oat bran and porridge would be foods that are whole grains which keep our blood sugar levels nice and even for many hours.   They are complex carbs.