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Obesity - Management
What advice should I give about diet?
- Take into account the person's food preferences and allow for flexible approaches to reducing calorie intake.
- Promote a diet which is in line with healthy eating recommendations, is acceptable to the person, and is sustainable in the long term.
- Ensure that the person is aware of the changes they will need to make to their usual eating habits.
- All healthy people over 5 years old should eat a balanced diet rich in fruit, vegetables and starchy foods.
- Encourage the person to improve their diet even if they do not lose weight.
- Diets that are recommended for sustainable weight loss in combination with expert support and intensive follow up are:
- Those with a 600 kcal/day deficit (i.e. they contain 600 kcal less than the person needs to stay the same weight), or
- Those which reduce calories by lowering the fat content (low-fat diets).
- Low-calorie diets (1000–1600 kcal/day) are less likely to be nutritionally complete, but can be considered with expert support and intensive follow up.
- Do not use unduly restrictive and nutritionally unbalanced diets.
In depth
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