Women Given Patronising Advice To Eat 'Like A Man' (But It Does Have A Point)

Women's weedy eating ways mean we're less likely to lose weight and keep it off, and instead we should be adopting more 'manly' food habits. Apparently.

Because according to an expert's new dietary advice, eating meat, drinking beer and avoiding low fat are things MEN alone do. While we women eat leaves, drink rosé and sob into our tasteless, low-fat spread.

Can we stop with the clichés now please?

When we've finished rolling our eyes, we can take a look at the diet advice given by dietician and personal trainer Jim White - which is actually pretty sound. Though quite why we have to split eating habits into male and female is unclear, and obviously a huge generalisation.

For a start, looking at our circle of friends, 'male' eating habits include gorging on meat feast pizzas, never touching the hob and washing it all down with fizzy drinks, while the 'female' trends tend to be clean eating, nailing the five-a-day and choosing water over coke. But maybe that's just us.

The advice  runs along the theory that women are constantly dieting, which encourages yo-yo weight loss and gain, that they choose low fat foods (which lack ingredients such as protein that keep us full, and are packed with salt and sugars to make them taste of something) and that they don't eat enough protein in general.

Agreed, these diet habits won't help you lose weight. But if you've ever seen any bloke try to lose weight, you'll see them heading down the low-fat aisle and choosing salad over steak (albeit much to his chagrin) just as often as women.

But this isn't a boys vs girls pack of advice, this is just good healthy eating information. And it's worth remembering that men and women are built really quite differently, so adopting the exact same regime won't necessarily bring the same results. And trying to blindly eat 'like a man' could have the opposite effect.

Women are meat to have a higher body fat percentage, for a start, and thanks to our hormones, we lose weight differently and at a different speed to men (partly because we have less testosterone). Plus, our bodies are geared up for different things. Women's bodies build and carry babies, while men are built to be leaner to go out hunting and gathering.

For example, the 5.2 diet can work really well for men but, as nutritionist and women's health expert Marilyn Glenville explains: "It's really not good for women. It messes with our hormones, causing cravings and an erratic blood sugar level, which can lead to overeating on the other days, tiredness and a difficulty sticking to it."

Healthy Eating In Practice

One couple's amazing weight loss journey proves that it really is easier for men to lose weight and keep it off.

Obese pair Jessica and Robert Foster made a decsion together to change their lifestyle and lose weight, but while Jessica got on it straight away, Robert took a while to make any changes - yet he soon caught up with his wife when he did get going.

Between them they lost 280 pounds. Don't they look amazing?

To begin with, it was small changes. Jessica signed up for Zumba classes and after losing 14 pounds in just a few weeks she stepped her activities to the treadmill and other gym equipment. And the weight kept falling off.

Robert took up a bit of tennis and played more with the couple's kids, but the self-proclaimed 'fat guy' didn't start to make real inroads until he ran a 5k with Jessica and, while she steamed ahead in good time, he had to slow to a walk.

So he stepped it up and a few months later ran a 5k without walking, followed by a 10-mile race and just two years after their initial decision, Robert ran his first marathon.

And the couple's food habits changed too:

“It got to the point where we realised it didn’t matter what we fed them [our kids],” Rob said. “If we weren’t eating the same way or if we were overeating, they were going to follow our example.”

They added more fruits, vegetables and lean white meats and fish to their diet, began cooking more and ditched the unhealthy processed options.

Some while later they decided to go vegan.

Their story proves the validity of the suggestions put forward by Jim White, that more protein (whether from animal or vegan sources such as beans), more whole foods and less processed and low-fat options will indeed help you trim down and stay slim and healthy.

But let's not patronise women by saying they need to copy men to sort their eating habits out.

Instead, let's just take on White's key messages that will work for everyone:

1. Eat more protein - lean meats and fish are ideal or beans and pulses if you're veggie.
2. Drink beer (if you're going to drink at all). It contains less sugar than mixers and cocktails and the longer drink will help you feel fuller so you don't reach for the bar snacks.
3. Avoid foods marked 'low fat', instead pick whole foods in the most natural form possible.
4. Eat more often to keep your metabolism up - but keep portions and meals smaller.
5. Go for quality. If you're eating meat, eat a little less but better quality and balance your meals so they contain the important macronutrients - carbs, good fats and protein.
6. Drink more water to beat hunger pangs and prevent you getting tired from dehydration.
7. Don't 'diet'. Forget about short term plans, you want lifestyle changes to look good and stay healthy for life.

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