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You know how mom used to always say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day? Well, guess what? She was right! Mom knows best when it comes to realizing that breakfast is the fuel that keeps us running throughout the day. Let’s talk about the importance of breakfast and some alternatives for anti-breakfast folks.So, why do we do it? Sometimes it’s just too easy to skip breakfast. You’re in a rush, you’d prefer to sleep a little later rather than prepare a meal, or it’s so hectic getting the kids off, you just can’t seem to make the effort or find the time. Slow down or resist that snooze button!
You can even find some breakfast ideas in this article that are portable! Eat it on the way to work or, pack it and eat it once you get there and get settled in. How about fixing the whole family a healthy breakfast instead of setting for Pop Tarts or donuts for the kids? Or perhaps you’re taking the (unwise) meal-skipping approach to losing weight. Chances are this is going to backfire on you because skipping meals almost always leads us to overeating. This is especially true in the case of breakfast, because you’ve just been asleep for 7 or 8 hours and your body needs to recover from this brief period of starvation.
If you don’t eat something in the morning, you are literally forcing yourself into running on empty. Say the last time you ate was 8 p.m. last night. If you didn’t eat lunch until noon today, that’s sixteen hours of no refueling! Your body is screaming out, “Give me some help here!”
The fuel that keeps our motors running is glucose. Your brain and your nervous system need glucose to work: that means walking, speaking, stretching, typing – any activity requires this fuel. If you don’t supply it, your system resorts to finding stored carbohydrates or it tries to turn fat into glucose. Why put your body through all this? Instead, do what mom said and eat that breakfast!
But… there’s a problem. So you don’t like traditional breakfast foods. Don’t worry! There are alternatives to traditional breakfast fare that you may not have considered!
Meal frequency/timing is also the most effective nutrition strategy that you can use to speed up your metabolism with minimum investment of your time and effort!
And it is something that you simply must implement in your program if you want to create permanent fat loss, and then maintain it for life!
The reason for this is simple: When you create a meal taking into account your daily maintenance level calorie intake, the optimum nutrient ratio for your body type, and in addition to this you create an average size meal that your body can completely digest, process and utilize, there will be no calorie surplus left to be converted to unwanted body fat!
By eating frequent, average size meals, that have the perfect combination of healthy food sources, you will provide your organism with all of the macronutrients, micronutrients, vitamins and minerals it needs to function properly, and use cardio training to directly burn unwanted body fat from your fat cells, permanent fat loss will follow!
Properly using this fitness nutrition secret of meal frequency/timing means that you should eat four average size meals, approximately every four walking hours! You should also eat your breakfast as soon as possible after waking up. The only exception is if you are using the morning fasted cardio approach, in which case you should eat breakfast after your cardio session!
This meal frequency/timing technique is also one of the best ways to maintain and eventually build additional muscle, which will raise your metabolism, and you will burn even more calories on a daily basis.
Building additional muscle will require weight training of course, but when you consume four average size meals, every four hours with the right amount of nutrients, you will not only have the necessary energy for your workouts, but also will provide your body with the perfect amount of amino acids to build this new muscle.
Did you know that the timing of your meals is one of the most important nutrition secrets for successful weight loss and maintenance? Unfortunately with our hectic lifestyles and schedules it can be very difficult to sticking with 3 meals a day never mind 6 small meals or 3 meals with several snacks interspersed! Once I explain why researchers have found eating more often improves weight loss – you may decide to make an extra effort to eat more often. Now, eating more often doesn’t mean increasing the amount that you eat, it means taking the calories that you would normally consume in a day and spreading them out throughout the day.
It is believed that by spacing 3 large meals in one day, you allow your body to enter the starvation mode. When this happens your body tries to conserve as much energy as it can until the next meal because it assumes that the meal may not come. In the starvation mode your body reduces metabolism and conserves as much fat as possible to increase your chance of survival. The solution is to eat more often by dividing 3 large meals into 6 smaller ones. Many of us do this by having 3 main meals and several small snacks in between.
By spreading your calories throughout the day you will prevent low energy and mood, and ward off hunger pangs because you will be supplying your body with enough fuel to function throughout the day. Meal frequency regulates blood sugar levels and that eases hunger. You will also be less likely to overeat at the next meal and that will help to prevent weight gain.
By eating more often throughout the day your metabolic rate will also be faster since your body’s digestive functions are more active. Each time you eat your body’s temperature is raised slightly which, in turn, raises your metabolism. We call that “TEF” or the “thermal effect of food.” With your metabolism staying higher you will be in a state of burning fat throughout the day.
Protein from the food you consume has nitrogen and nitrogen maintains your muscle. To maintain positive nitrogen balance throughout the day you need to consume some protein every 3-4 hours. If we lose muscle we will burn fewer calories during the day and I know that is what we are all trying to avoid.
The ability to lose weight is under YOUR control and I hope that I have inspired some of you to eat something every few hours so please don’t skip meals –especially breakfast!
Drink a glass or ice cold water as soon as you sit down for your meal. Or, enjoy a bowl of broth-based soup just before your entree.
Precede your meal with an apple, raw vegetables or a salad with reduced fat dressing. Doing so will curb your appetite and give your diet a fiber boost.
Keep your blood sugar (and your appetite) at an even keel all day long by not going any longer than 5 hours without having something to eat.
Eat multiple, healthy mini meals throughout the day rather than a few large ones.
Eat a carb and protein-comprised snack 1 to 2 hours before your meal. For example, reduced fat cheese and crackers or cereal with low-fat yogurt.
Avoid overeating due to emotions by talking to a counselor or close friend, or keeping a journal. Or, log on to a message board or chat room you enjoy to get support from your “virtual” friends.
Exercise! When you feel a binge coming on, exercise is a great way to elevate your mood and get your mind of food. It also relieves stress.
When dining out, ask your server to package up half of your entree in to-go container when he brings your meal. Chances are you won’t open that container and eat the rest there and then.
Eating when we are not hungry is something I’m sure we have all experienced at one time or another. There are many reasons why we eat including covering up uncomfortable feelings, boredom, depression, anxiety, loneliness and stress. When we are under stress we tend to reach for “comfort foods” and unfortunately, those foods seem to always be high in sugar, fat and calories. When my mother and I had an argument we nearly always made up by consuming a box of chocolates between the two of us. I’m sure that most of you have stories where food has been used for reasons other than hunger. An important part of weight management is recognizing the difference between needing to eat and the desire to eat. There are skills and strategies that we can apply so that we can recognize the difference. For example……………..
Track your eating triggers. At CMH we really stress journaling so that you can track your emotions and situations as they relate to your eating. After a while you will be able to notice when you are most vulnerable to eating for reasons other than hunger. Recognizing reasons for trigger eating is an important first step to becoming aware of unnecessary eating. For example, watching TV can become a high risk eating situation for many of us. We find ourselves eating mindlessly and end up consuming many more calories than we ever anticipated. Research shows that people who eat in front of the TV report feeling like they haven’t eaten at all.
Learn to ask yourself a few questions when you feel the urge to eat. Ask yourself if you are really physically hungry. Will the food you are about to eat, nourish your body? How will you feel once you have eaten it? By asking yourself these questions you are better able to control your behavior. If I am craving a certain food before I go to bed, I promise myself that I can have that food for breakfast the next morning. Chances are I won’t feel like it the next day.
What you eat is also important. Most of you have heard the expression, “You are what you eat”, so eat well to promote both mental and physical health. Good food choices can affect a brain chemical called serotonin and it is the serotonin that influences our mood.
We need to be aware of high risk situations and have a plan for dealing with them. Parties, celebrations and stressful work conditions can all lead to eating when you are not hungry.
Finally, try to find some alternative behaviors to eating such as taking a walk, washing the car, taking a bubble bath and how many of you can eat whilst painting your nails? Find something that works for you and takes your mind off food.
Mini Frittatas: This is not only an impressive dish, but so easy you’ll make them regardless if you low-carb or not. Best of all, you can eat these straight off the pan or at room temperature. I make them when having guests over for brunch, but you can easily pop the leftovers in the freezer and reheat, since the recipe makes about 40. There are about 4g of carbohydrates per mini-frittata, depending on your ingredients.
Mini Fritattas
Nonstick cooking spray
8 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounces thinly sliced ham, chopped
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Spray 2 mini muffin tins (each with 24 cups) with nonstick spray. Whisk the eggs, milk, pepper, and salt in a large bowl to blend well. Stir in the ham, cheese, and parsley. Fill the muffin cups almost to the top with the egg mixture. Bake until the egg mixture puffs and is just set in the center, about 8 to 10 minutes. using a rubber spatula, loosen the frittatas from the muffin cups and slide the frittatas onto a platter. Serve immediately.
It’s easy to monitor what ends up on your plate and in your mouth when you’re cooking at home. Dining out presents new challenges. Many restaurants, though, have begun to pay attention to diet trends and help customers eat more healthfully. You’ll find some menu choices marked with special icons designating healthier choices. Just remember, what you want to do is include more healthy carbohydrates in your diet, not eliminate most carbohydrates.
A few tips for low-carb dining. Meat, poultry, and seafood do not contain carbohydrate-none whatsoever. The same goes for most types of cheeses. But even those cheeses that do have carbohydrate, such as feta, have very small amounts.
Keep cholesterol and saturated fat levels in check by ordering lean cuts of red meat, choosing poultry and fish more often, and limiting the amount of cheese. Dishes that are heavy in animal protein and smothered in cream sauce or cheese may be low in carbohydrate, but they’re certainly not heart healthy.
Instead order dishes that have more vegetables-or order more vegetables as side dishes-since vegetables naturally contain very low amounts of carbohydrates. And don’t shy away from fruit: The carbohydrates in fruit come with lots of nutrients. Whole-grain and bean-based dishes provide fiber, protein, and healthy carbs. And as always, keep portion sizes in check. When it comes to weight gain, it’s how many calories you take in. If you consume more calories than you need, you will gain weight.
There certainly is a lot to consider when you’re dining out. In this article, we’ll tell you how to go to various types restaurants — from American and Mediterranean to Asian and Italian — and enjoy your meals while ensuring that you keep your carbs in order. We’ll start with American food.
Dani is like so many of us. She has struggled with her weight for a number of years. Follow along as she shares her journey towards long term weight loss success through the 6 month weight loss program at the Center for Metabolic Health which includes comprehensive education through their exclusive Weight Management University. You can follow Dani’s journey on the CMH blog!
Take 3 minutes a week and listen to the CMH Podcasts by weight loss experts. They can really help with your weight loss journey! Visit CMH Weekly Podcasts and enjoy!
