Our friendships can have quite an influence on how we live our lives. There’s a tangible link between the way we behave and the men and women we have friendships with. And yet we’re likely to have presumed this commonality concerned our likes and dislikes – for example we enjoy the same musical tastes as our friends, or hold similar political views.

It’s now becoming apparent as well that this common theme might extend to weight. We will eat more when in the company of good friends who eat more. A small study undertaken in America found that overweight kids and teenagers ate more when they were eating with a friend who was also overweight, than when they ate with a normal weight child.

Everyone in the group actually devoured more when they were in the company of friends, regardless of their size. But pairing up overweight friends led to the biggest consumption of all. The study was undertaken by researchers from the State University of New York at Buffalo. It highlighted the role friends play in influencing how much youngsters eat.

Candidly it’s no great revelation that many ate more when in the company of friends. That would doubtless be the same if adults had been surveyed. What’s more, as our friends don’t usually challenge what we do, we assume that means they condone our behaviour. Subconsciously we’re placing the permission ball in someone else’s court.

The study took 65 young people of mixed weights and observed them for 45 minutes. There were pairs of friends, and pairs of strangers. They were given games to entertain themselves, along with snack food, fruit and veg.

With each of the pairs, the ones who knew each other before the experiment got through more food than the ones who didn’t. However, the heavier friends tucked away the most. And the differences were quite significant.

An average of seven hundred and thirty eight calories was eaten by overweight teens who paired with a friend. But the overweight youngsters with slimmer friends ate nearly three hundred calories less. The slimmer ones ate a fairly stable five hundred calories whatever the size of their friends. This ties in with the commonly held view that in early teens many kids’ decisions to smoke or drink alcohol are strongly influenced by what their friends do.

A child’s social network then is significant in determining their eating habits. What this means is kids can be influenced to eat less as well as more. Hence the necessity to educate the young.

(C) Scott Edwards. Browse WeightLossDietWar.com for in-depth diet advice on slimming tea and weight loss management.

Keeping my weight at the right level has always been a challenge. I felt sure that it would continue to be that way for the rest of my life. Yet nothing has been further from the truth! I weigh less now in my fifties than I did in my late twenties.

How can this be? I simply keep an eye on my blood-sugar levels. Around 4pm, I used to get a sap in energy and I’d get a longing for food. So I’d grab the first thing that came to hand, which was usually the wrong kind of carbohydrates. No surprise then that my tummy ballooned!

And it appears that when fat gathers in the visible places, it’s also attaching itself to hidden areas such as the heart and the arteries. So now I’ve evened out my blood sugar level, and I rarely feel tired or overly hungry. I’m surviving the symptoms of the menopause more easily now too! But the best thing for me is enjoying a great night’s sleep.

The ’secret’ is to eat every couple of hours, but just don’t eat much. I used to miss meals during the day several times a week. Then I’d catch up in the evening, and gorge! This was the worst thing I could do.

I ought to have been taking in modest sized ‘meals’ several times a day. Our metabolic rate peaks around the middle of the day, and slows down rapidly after that. That’s why we must focus on a good breakfast and two or three light meals during the day.

Breakfast had to become an everyday occurrence. I only eat a small amount, which saves me having to tot up the calorific value. (Our stomachs are not massive empty containers – we should be aware not to overstretch them).

I like to prioritise time for lunch, as whenever possible this is my main meal. When the end of the afternoon comes around, a morsel of food is all I require to easily keep me going until my light evening meal. Brightly coloured vegetables feature strongly in my diet, and I eat protein several times a day.

The right types of fat should still be included in our diet – this is especially important for good health. Nuts and seeds are highly calorific, but great eaten in moderation.

Lastly – and this has certainly assisted my weight loss – I’ve minimised the glasses of wine I drink each week. The high temperatures I was experiencing are a rarity now – a benefit of less alcohol I think! Have I found it difficult? Not when I think of all the benefits it brings. I’m carrying less weight, have more energy, a clearer and brighter skin, less hormonal challenges – oh, and better sex too!

(C) Scott Edwards. Navigate to WeightLossDietWar.com for excellent advice on reduce fat and diet pills.

Just because we want to lose weight doesn’t mean that we want to be ostracized from society. Shopping and cooking for the family means we’re constantly bombarded with food, and we can end up buying and preparing food for everyone when we have to eat something else. This can be frustrating, so let’s look at how we can integrate our weight loss program into regular family meals.

Whatever we’re about to eat, to lose weight effectively we need to get used to consuming less. So find yourself a plate that’s about two-thirds the normal size. You won’t feel so deprived, because you can still fill the plate when you serve up. Be the last to start eating, and take your food in small bites. Chew each mouthful several times over. This will leave you feeling more satiated, and prevent you from always finishing before everyone else.

Most family meals can be eaten when you’re dieting, if you restrict the amount of fat and carbohydrate on your plate. Make up for it with lots of vegetables. And avoid the temptation of crusty bread! At dessert time, there are options that a dieter can choose in moderation. Fruit and sugar-free jelly, or low-fat yoghurt can satiate a sweet tooth.

But you can also sneak in the odd diet meal for the whole family. No-one need suspect they’re eating a low-cal meals with some of the recipes you can use. Pasta can be really enhanced with basil – grow some on the kitchen windowsill. Then throw in some black olives and a can or two of tomatoes for the sauce.

At the supermarket or store, always choose low fat meat and dairy products. Healthier food choices will be beneficial to your family, even if they don’t need to lose weight. For a low-cal high-protein meal, serve turkey or chicken and stick to the skinless breast for yourself. A jacket potato makes a filling, nutrient-rich meal. Dieters should buy potatoes with a waxy texture. That way they don’t need any butter.

Check the ingredients on cereal packets – many are full of sugar and should be left on the shelf! Healthy looking cereal bars should be given a wide berth too – they’re often just as fattening as chocolate bars. We also probably consume a load of hidden calories in our drinks. Always go for sugar-free juices and sodas (note ‘fruit drinks’ have added sugar whereas ‘fruit juices’ just contain the natural sugars).

Attempt to limit your alcoholic intake as that can really boost the calories. What about carbonated water or diet ginger ale? Watered down apple juice makes a passable wine lookalike if you don’t want to be different from the crowd.

Obviously, to lose any weight we have to make a few sacrifices. However, a few cunning adjustments can sometimes make all the difference.

(C) Scott Edwards. Pop to WeightLossDietWar.com for logical ideas on how to lose fat fast and lose 15 pounds.

Slower eating can assist weight loss. Because it’s currently been shown that how fast we eat affects how much we eat. Under test conditions, individuals who ate quickly were found to eat more than those who ate slowly. This was proved when diners were asked to eat until they felt satiated.

Test it out today to prove it by eating your evening meal very fast. Keep going until you’re satisfied. On another occasion, take your time over exactly the same meal, really working every mouthful until it’s completely chewed up. There’s a very good chance that your first dinner will be bigger than your second. Additionally you won’t feel so hungry a couple of hours on following the slower meal where you ate less food.

Quite often we take in too much if we eat quickly because we haven’t allowed the food time to digest. That’s why we can feel bloated shortly after eating, because we’ve put too much food in at one sitting.

But there is another reason to keep food in the mouth for longer. Well chewed food assists dieters with weight loss, as the whole digestive process is then optimised.

Our style of eating subconsciously affects the amount we eat. It’s advisable whenever possible to sit upright and concentrate on the meal. When we do that, we naturally tend to take more time to eat. We also tend to stop when we’ve had sufficient.

Maybe it’s also because sitting at the table makes dining more of an occasion, so we don’t rush things so much. We definitely experience more digestive discomfort if we throw our food down in front of the telly!

If it’s been several hours since we last ate, we’re also vulnerable to speed eating! Try to avoid this by eating regularly – and eating food that satisfies for longer. A chocolate bar might give us an instant hit when we feel drowsy, but it won’t last for long. It’s often impossible to eat a meal every few hours during the week. So why not take snacks to work like oatcakes and seeds.

In summary, evidence is building to suggest that there’s a direct correlation between the time we take to eat a meal and how well satiated we feel. So delighting in each mouthful may well be an easy bonus that every dieter can benefit from.

(C) Scott Edwards. Browse WeightLossDietWar.com for clear diet tips on tips for losing weight and belly fat loss.