Celebrity dietitian Lyndi Cohen who lost 20kg shares the worst health advice she has heard

A dietitian who lost 20 kilograms over four years by binning her scales has shared the worst health advice she has ever heard in her years of yo-yo dieting.

Lyndi Cohen, from Sydney, had been on 20 different diets and seen four different nutritionists by the time she turned 21 when she knew her attitude to food and eating had to change. 

Nowadays, the dietitian – whose new book Your Weight Is Not The Problem is out now – has completely overhauled her attitude towards eating and exercise, and she’s never looked or felt better. 

Lyndi follows an intuitive approach to eating and exercise that sees her stop eating when she is full and work out in a way that she loves – and said women need to stop ‘dieting’ as it can lead to them getting fat.

According to the celebrity dietitian, there is so much health advice – or what she calls ‘wellness wa**ery’ on the internet – that either makes ‘health feel too hard or makes us go to extremes’.

A dietitian who lost 20 kilograms over four years by binning her scales has shared the worst health advice she has ever heard in her years of yo-yo dieting (Lyndi Cohen pictured now)

BEFORE AND NOW: Lyndi Cohen , from Sydney, had been on 20 different diets and seen four different nutritionists by the time she turned 21 when she knew her attitude to food and eating had to change

1. Fast intermittently

The first thing Lyndi highlighted as bad advice is that you should fast intermittently if you want to drop weight.

‘Intermittent fasting is socially acceptable starvation,’ she told FEMAIL.

‘If you can fast intermittently for the rest of your life, then great. But for most of us, it’s completely unsustainable and it’s going to lead to more binge eating.

‘There is so much bad advice that lives on the internet. This is what I refer to as wellness wankery. It either makes health feel too hard or it makes us go to extremes.’

2. Extreme low calorie diets

Lyndi is the author of the new book Your Weight is Not The Problem (pictured)

In a similar vein, Lyndi said you should never follow an extreme low calorie diet, such as eating 1,200, 1,000 or even 800 calories a day.

‘We know that 1,200 calories per day is the bare minimum you need to function, it’s what a toddler needs,’ she said.

‘Again, this advice is unsustainable and many dieters will try to follow it and not eat much through the day before devouring everything they can find in the pantry at night because they’re just so hungry.’

Instead, the dietitian recommends you include plenty of the different food groups in each of your meals and snacks, and particularly ‘more carbs than you think’.

‘A salad with some lean protein isn’t enough to keep you satisfied all afternoon,’ Lyndi added.

‘A wholegrain sandwich with some yoghurt and fruit on the side is a good meal. Aim to incorporate balance.’

She explained that you should never think that intermittent fasting or eating as few as 1,200 calories a day is a good idea

3. Fruit has too much sugar

Lots of people think they need to avoid fruit because it’s ‘too sugary’ and instead think they need to stick to vegetables.

But the dietitian said this isn’t the case, and you should instead be aiming for 1-2 servings of fruit per day.

‘When you get a sugar craving, fruit is the perfect thing to have,’ Lyndi said.

‘And it doesn’t matter if it’s a higher sugar fruit like banana or mango. They are all full of vitamins and minerals to keep you full and satisfied.’ 

4. Lemon water detoxes your body

One of the worst things the dietitian said she has heard is the idea that lemon water ‘detoxes’ the body – and it’s great to drink first thing.

‘There is just no evidence to support this,’ Lyndi said.

‘Your body naturally detoxes itself. Your lungs and kidney do it naturally for you, otherwise you would be dead.’

5. Pasta is fattening

Lyndi highlighted research that has found that people who eat pasta are generally slimmer than those who don’t.

‘You do not need to sub out carbs for veg alternatives like zoodles,’ she said.

‘Carbs are the reason we feel full and satisfied after a meal and they need to be included.’

Instead, Lyndi recommends eating carbs when you are craving them, and boosting your plate with plenty of veggies.

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Lyndi (pictured) said you should aim for 1-2 servings of fruit per day and never think that it’s fattening or has too much sugar

6. Cheat days 

When Lyndi was dieting, she said she would often hear about ‘cheat days’ whereby you can eat whatever you want for one day. 

‘I’ve come to realise that cheat days are a very disordered idea,’ Lyndi said.

‘It’s socially acceptable binge eating and sets you up for large swings in the health pendulum.’

She added: ‘If your diet is so unsustainable, that you need a periodic break from it, it’s the wrong diet. Plus, cheat meals easily become cheat days and complete blowouts.

‘It’s an eating disorder behaviour.’ 

7. Using the back of packet serving suggestion

Finally, Lyndi said you should never think that the back of the packet is what you should be eating. 

‘Let’s say you look at a chocolate bar and it says it’s got 2.5 servings,’ she said.

‘You might think you’ve got something wrong with your appetite if you eat it in one. But that is what the food industry does to make their products look healthier.’

She said you need to ‘listen’ to your body and go with its levels of hunger. 

The reasons why you can’t stop snacking revealed 

She explained that we often can’t stop snacking because we aren’t getting enough good quality sleep

* You’re not sleeping enough: If you’re not getting 7-9 hours of sleep a night, Lyndi said it’s ‘hard to have the motivation to do what you need and want to do’. ‘Your body needs energy and when you’re not getting enough quality sleep, an obvious place to seek it out from is food,’ she said. Women typically need 8-9 hours and men need 7-8 hours. If you’re not getting enough sleep, you will increase the hormone ghrelin and reduce leptin, both of which influence our eating.

2. You’re not eating enough during the day: The dietitian said many of us don’t eat enough during the day. ‘If you come home and you can’t stop snacking, the chances are you didn’t eat enough when you were at work,’ she said. Make sure you’re getting in decent meals and snacks to keep your body thriving.

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3. You’re only having 100 calorie snacks: This is ‘ridiculous’, Lyndi said. ‘An appropriate amount for a snack is how much it takes for you to feel satisfied and full; sometimes that might be 200 calories, other days it might be 300 calories’. Lyndi said if having a sandwich stops you from binge eating later in the day, then it’s a good thing. ‘Don’t worry about eating the same amount every single day. Some days you are hungrier than others; it’s normal.’ 

Five satisfying snacks to try 

* Muesli which contains nuts and seeds – and have it with milk or yoghurt

* Toast with avocado or an egg

* A piece of fruit with yoghurt or figs for something sweet

* A smoothie

* Crackers and carrot sticks with dips 

Source: Lyndi Cohen 

Lyndi (pictured as a teenager and now) realised as a young woman that she was addicted to dieting and had in effect dieted herself ‘fat’

Previously, Lyndi shared her own battle with over-eating, when as a six-year-old she realised she was ‘bigger’ than the other children (pictured at her 11th birthday)

Previously, Lyndi shared her own battle with over-eating, when as a six-year-old she realised she was ‘bigger’ than the other children.

This kicked off an endless cycle of binge and restrict that at her worst saw her balloon up to a size 18 in clothes.

The Sydney dietitian eventually worked out her problem was in fact that she was addicted to dieting, and she proceeded to lose 20 kilos slowly and steadily over four years.

She now practises what she preaches and doesn’t cut out pasta, wine or chocolate in the name of dieting.

‘It was a slow process [my weight loss], but it worked,’ she said.

‘When you start to lose weight, you naturally get stuck on various plateaus.

‘But instead of focusing on the numbers on the scales, for me the most important thing was to know that when I felt happiest I was eating well and exercising.’

Lyndi Cohen’s new book is out now. For more information, please click here. You can also click here to listen to a 30-minute free sample. Lyndi’s Instagram page is linked here.