Slim pickings

I T'S A WELL known fact that if you want to lose weight you just have to eat less and exercise more. It's as simple as that. Or is it? What if there were certain foods that helped you lose weight, fat-burning foods that use up more calories than the calorie content of the food itself that you could gorge on to your heart's content so that not only would you be satisfying your hunger, but you'd be losing weight at the same time?

That's the theory, but what do two experts we consulted make of these so-called fat-burning foods?

Catherine Broome, a nutritional therapist who has practices in Edinburgh and Aberdeen, says: "Starvation diets don't seem to be sustainable and with my clients I look at ways of eating which keeps the weight down in the long term.

"It's not just about the calories consumed but also the type of foods that are eaten. For example, omega 3 fats from oily fish actually help the body to lose fat and play a role in insulin sensitivity, therefore helping to prevent fat gain around the middle.

"I focus on preventative app- roaches to health and weight gain as what we eat today will affect our prop- ensity to weight gain and ill-health in the future." n

Emma Conroy, www.edinburghnutrition.com,

Catherine Broome, www.catherinebroome.com