NOTW Problem page: How to put on weight

I noticed this little gem, flicking through the News of the World last weekend. On the problem page, a guy had written in to say “I’m sick of obese people getting all the sympathy – what about the underweight”. He explained “I’m a 19 year old man and although I’m nearly 6ft tall, I weigh under 10 stone.” He was asking for help to put ON weight and he got some very good advice from Agony Aunt, Jane Butterworth.

Jane advised him to eat bigger portions of nutritious foods – especially carbohydrates! I totally agree with Jane – no one should be encouraged to eat processed foods – ever. So advising someone to still focus on nutritious foods is good advice. And the advice to eat more carbs, to put on weight, is also good advice. Strange though, isn’t it, that the standard weight loss advice is to eat more carbs! The Eatwell Plate can comprise anywhere up to 85% carbohydrate and recommends a minimum of 66% carb as a proportion of the diet.

If someone seeks my help in losing weight, the last thing I would do is to encourage them to base their meals on carbs! Not least because the advice also doesn’t recommend nutritious carbs, as Jane does. I have met so many dieticians who don’t consider sugar to be a bad food “There’s no such thing as a bad food, only bad diets,” I regularly hear. And so the UK average person continues to consume 400 empty calories of sugar per day.

Ditch the processed food and curb the carbs if you want to lose weight. If you want to gain weight – Jane is bang on!