Nutritionist says you should be focusing on the quality NOT quantity of what you eat

Those wanting to improve their health should be focusing on the quality of what they eat rather than the quantity, a nutritionist has revealed. 

Rhiannon Lambert, a Harley Street based nutritionist and author of Re-Nourish, said that people should focus on ‘everything in moderation’ and calorie-counting can lead to ignoring key components of nutrition.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s MindBodySpirit Wellbeing Festival at Olympia, London, she told Femail: ‘You don’t have to stop counting calories completely if you want to lose weight. But it’s more important to focus on quality over quantity. 

‘When you’re looking at your diet, it’s important to focus on getting all the components of nutrients. When all you focus on is a calorie deficit you’re not looking at foods that are high in fibre. 

‘We’re an extreme society, on the whole we’re very all or nothing.

‘But food isn’t intrinsically good or bad, really it’s going to make you live longer. We need to be focusing on everything in moderation, not just weight’.

Rhiannon, who has a masters degree in obesity, risks and prevention, added that we should be focusing less of people’s weight when looking at overall health. 

‘I know a lot of people don’t know how to eat properly, but it’s dangerous to reflect on a number on a scale or just BMI. 

‘You can’t see what’s going on in the inside. You can get stigmatised for what you look like on the outside – but you’re not then focusing on the inside, on things like heart health.

Rhiannon, who has a masters degree in obesity, risks and prevention, added that we should be focusing less of people’s weight when looking at health (stock photo) 

‘It’s a bit like mental health. You don’t know what’s going on on the inside from looking at the outside.’  

Rhiannon added that calorie counting isn’t the only diet myth she’d like people to stop focusing on.

‘Quick fixes don’t work. There’s a lot of buzz around them and I get asked about them all the time. 

‘I always tell people, “If only it were that easy!”. 

‘When you’re looking at your diet, it’s important to focus on getting all the components of nutrients, when all you focus on is a calorie deficit you’re not looking at foods that are high in fibre’ Rhiannon said

‘You’re not going to get all the nutrition you need from a meal replacement shake.

‘There’s the genetic make-up of a whole entire diet. 

‘A lot of these quick fixes are really expensive too. Stop spending your coins on meal replacements products! Your health isn’t going to be transformed if you just have a spirulina shot in the morning. 

‘We should look at what I can actually do, if that makes you feel good. So if that’s drinking celery juice then do it.

• Join Harley Street nutritionist Rhiannon Lambert and celebrity personal trainer Alice Liveing at the MindBodySpirit Wellbeing Festival for the opportunity to learn fact from fiction, bringing you the lowdown on how to best fuel your fitness. Through Rhiannon and Alice’s work with Olympians and professional athletes, they’re ideally placed to share the significant impact nutrition and exercise can have on our physical and mental performance.