“I looked in the mirror and decided I need to concentrate on myself.”
Updated: Jul. 16, 2019
Fashion designer Izzy Camilleri knows all too well the diet-sabotaging temptations of parties and work functions. After she committed to eating healthier and lost the weight, she wrote a Canadian diet book.
A Canadian diet book
Award-winning fashion designer Izzy Camilleri just launched her new diet book: Izzy’s Eating Plan. We asked her what her favourite parts of her book were, and we’ve compiled them here, just for you.
How to diet and have fun at parties
Eating out and going to parties are a way of life for some people. Others, it’s an occasional event. Regardless, when you’re trying to watch what you eat, someone else’s menu can seem like a road block. We’ve all been there and know there aren’t always healthy options available, but you’ve got to eat! In the past, if I ate poorly at a function or restaurant while on a weight-loss program, I would feel I had completely spoiled my diet. I felt like I had literally “fallen off the wagon” and there was no point continuing. It was always so devastating for me. Now I have learned to look at these situations differently. We all deserve to have a good time now and then, so when I’m invited to go to a party, I enjoy myself! I make the best food choices I can, have a treat if I feel inclined, and go right back to my eating plan the very next meal. The same goes for when I’m eating at a restaurant. I look at the menu for the best food options closest o my eating plan, choosing lighter meals over heavy, rich foods. When I am finished, I don’t feel sluggish, or that I have eaten too much, and my weight loss is not negatively affected. No harm done.
Food is about more than just eating
Look at food differently. Food is fuel for your body. Just as a car needs fuel to run, your body needs food to function. If you give a car bad fuel, it runs poorly. If you let the car run out of fuel, it stops running all together. Your body is the same. Food is fuel. While eating for pleasure, we also need to eat with intention and purpose. We need to keep our bodies filled with good fuel. Skipping meals should not enter our minds, or be thought of as a way to lose a few pounds. It actually has the opposite effect. When we deprive ourselves of food, our bodies hold on to its fat reserves and may begin to break down healthy muscle tissue. There are other negative side effects too. Headaches, irritability, light-headedness and feeling weak are just a few. This is not what we want. We want to keep our bodies fueled with healthy foods to keep the weight dropping.
It’s about the small decisions
My journey to better health became inspiring. People started to notice the changes. I wanted to share my experiences with everyone I spoke to. I felt so great and wanted everyone else to feel great too! What I’ve learned is such a simple concept… on that’s realistic and attainable, no matter where you are in life. We all make food choices every day, but often without thinking about the impact on our bodies.
Fads are for fashion, not for weight loss
For the first time, after taking ownership, my weight loss became inspirational and thought provoking. By following a simple way of eating, I was able to lose the weight, by myself. I came to realize just how many diet plans are difficult to follow and simply not realistic. I, like many people have tried fad diets and even joined diet clinics to help with my weight issues. When I reflect on those diets, I feel it was a false sense of weight loss.
The simple way to weight loss
With Izzy’s Eating Plan, we are consuming healthy, high-fibre, nutrient-dense foods that help keep blood sugar and insulin levels balanced throughout the day, therefore helping to maintain an ideal weight. Weight loss occurs when our body uses up its fat reserves for required energy.
You have to do it for you
When I finally made the decision to focus on myself and make a true commitment to improve my health, I thought about the weight-loss plans I had tried in the past. There were many… some were great for a time, others were impossible to stick to. Nonetheless, through trial and error, and my own R&D, I’ve learned a lot. Most importantly I learned about the actual cause of my weight gain, which in turn, changed how I look at food and how I eat today.
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