Looking to lose weight? A medical doctor explains how to avoid health issues in 2022

In a world full of convenience foods and more sedentary lifestyles lots of people are looking for simple ways to lose weight. Weight loss isn't down to how you look but more importantly about protecting your health.

It may seem hard to embark on your weight loss journey, but GP doctor Dr. Sarah Brewer reveals her top tips. Once things are simplified, a lot of it comes down to learning how to eat healthily and making sure to regularly engage in some of the best exercises for weight loss.

Dr. Sarah Brewer is a Cambridge University graduate with degrees in medicine, natural sciences, and surgery behind her and is also a registered nutritionist, helping people improve their lives through dietary changes. Dr. Brewer, who works with the supplement brand CuraLin, has shared her expert advice on staying healthier this year.

Her advice includes key ways keep to your blood sugar down and to lower visceral fat—both of which are tied to obesity or being overweight. Hypertension, heart disease, and, as new research reveals, female reproductive complications can arise from being overweight.

Your first port of call should be to look at your current diet to identify where you might be going off track. 

Dr. Brewer highlighted that you can put your health at risk if you eat too many refined carbohydrates. This type of carb is typically found in sugary foods like cakes and donuts, and in white processed foods such as white bread, white pasta, or white rice. 

She added that overweight individuals should cut down on rapidly digested carbohydrates that can cause glucose levels to rise. Instead, Dr. Brewer recommended people "select whole grain foods rather than white or beige foods so that, overall, you are following a low glycaemic index diet."

Another top diet tip from Dr. Brewer is to move away from low-fat diets and instead look towards consuming sensible amounts of healthy fats, i.e. nuts, seeds, fish, and olive oil. These types of foods are common in the Med diet, which if you didn't know, switching to the Mediterranean diet could help you live longer. 

She recommends eating a minimum of two portions of fish a week, ensuring one is an oily fish like herring, salmon, or tuna. But if fish isn't your cup of tea, you can still eat lean meats that have other nutritional benefits.

Chicken is a healthy source of protein that doesn't need to be coated in unhealthy butter or oils but can be prepped in one of the best air fryers from our guide. Alternatively, if you're vegan take a look at our best vegan cookbook roundup to find more healthy plant-based fats.

Let's not forget the many benefits of exercise on weight loss. Dr. Brewer stated, "Exercise is key as it stimulates your metabolism, burns more glucose as fuel, and improves insulin resistance as well as helping you lose excess fat. Regular exercise helps to lower total cholesterol by burning it as fuel and has beneficial effects on the liver that stimulate the production of ‘good’ HDL cholesterol."

So, grab yourself a pair of best shoes for walking and aim to fit in a minimum of 150 minutes of physical activity a week. You can divvy this up however you please. And as you get fitter, strive to increase your exercise amounts.