Lately you may have heard a lot about low carbohydrate diets and claims that they are working and that people are getting healthier without paying attention to the amount of fat they are eating. You may have even heard that the USDA is looking at changing the food pyramid.
There is a major flaw in the low fat diet plan and scientist are finally having to admit to it. Very little of your bodies Cholesterol comes from diet. Your body manufactures most of your Cholesterol from Carbohydrates. The culprit of turning these carbohydrates into fat is Insulin.
Insulin is vital to life because it regulates blood sugar, controls the storage of fat, regulates the liver's production of cholesterol, functions as a growth hormone, is important in appetite control, drives the kidneys to retain fluid and much more. It is absolutely essential to life, but too much of a good thing can sometimes cause problems. Too much insulin can cause fat storage, cholesterol production and is caustic to the blood vessels. Insulin, by activating or inhibiting various metabolic pathways, can make us sleepy, hungry, satisfied, dizzy, lightheaded or bloated.
As you age your insulin receptors become less sensitive to insulin so your body overproduces insulin to meet what it thinks is it's need. By carefully monitoring the types and amount of carbohydrates we eat we can clean up our insulin receptors. Decreased insulin receptor site sensitivity is frequently the problem that Type II Diabetics (Adult Onset Diabetics) have.
Not mixing certain food types is a dietary concept out there now that actually makes some sense. For example it is a fact that if you eat only a fat and a protein together the fat goes right through you. Dietary fat by itself is not the culprit but when you add a carbohydrate to the mix the body will turn the dietary fat into body fat. If you eat a little protein and carbohydrate (Low Fat Diet) together your body will make fat to either store or use for energy depending on your activity level at the time. But why? You didn't eat any fat?!
As an example: After that fat free ice cream cone, your body produced more insulin than it needed because of your plugged insulin receptors. The insulin does what it is supposed to; it lowers your blood sugar level but then there is extra insulin circulating around so it goes to work and turns some fat into cholesterol and stores some fat somewhere else incase you decide to skip supper tonight.
By decreasing your intake of concentrated sweets, like sugar sweetened food and not overeating starches like breads, pasta and potatoes you may keep your body from the overproduction of insulin. Carbohydrates actually have a metabolic affect that make any fat you eat worse for you. Carbohydrates affect the hormone balance in your body to add to depression, lack of energy and mood swings.
Exercise really is the key for healthy weight loss. By increasing the strength and mass of your muscles you are better able to burn calories. Exercise makes the rest of your everyday activities easier therefore burning up more calories not only from the exercise but from having more energy to complete your daily activities. Having that energy is more likely to keep you busy so you think about eating less often.
Not eating 3 hours before bedtime is something you may have heard that will help you loose weight. There is much truth in this too, for more than one reason. We know that if you go to bed shortly after a big meal you don't sleep as well and you also don't have a chance to "work off" your meal but their is also another big factor.
Human Growth Hormone (hgh) is produced at night to help our body build and repair muscle. If you eat a carbohydrate within 2 to 3 hours of sleep time your body will not produce near as much of this hormone.
Exercise first thing in the morning now makes some sense too. If you have not eaten after your evening meal your body in the morning is fasting. If you exercise before breakfast it forces your body to burn fat. It looks like if you followed that exercise with a protein breakfast it would keep you in the "fat burning" (glycogen dominant) phase a little longer.
Quality protein sources like that found in meat, eggs, fish, and nuts is the best and quickest way to build lean body mass when you are part of an exercise program. Lean body mass (muscle) will help you burn calories. Because carbohydrates are what turns dietary fat into body fat it is healthier to avoid the carbohydrates than to avoid the fat because frequently by avoiding naturally occurring fats you also avoiding good quality protein sources.
Protein requirements are figured based on lean body mass so it is difficult to state the requirements. An average sized adult female (about 140 lbs) requirements are 50 grams protein a day but may need to be as high as 75 grams when very active during an exercise program. For an average adult male (about 175-180lbs) is 65 grams and could be as high as 90 grams a day during an exercise program.
Tip on foods to eat and foods to avoid:
Avoid:
All sugar sweetened foods if you are serious about a weight loss program.
As often as possible foods that are all or almost all starch content like potatoes, white bread, and pasta.
Processed foods often have unhealthy fat sources and chemical additives that drag your system down.
Eat:
All vegetables especially green vegetables raw vegetables and salads.
Meat, eggs, nuts, fish, tofu and beans. Whole grain cereals, pasta and breads.
The carbohydrates you do eat make them from whole foods in their natural state fresh fruit with the skins because the extra fiber will help with the carbohydrate digestion.
Fresh fruits to get your vitamins needed to make you feel good while exercising and taking care of your health.
The looks like it would be a great tool to count the grams of protein and carbohydrates eaten each day.
With this we have come back to the basics again. Eating whole foods in their natural state is always your best bet. Now we can see why our grandparents could eat bacon and eggs for breakfast and still be in great health. By eating certain foods at certain times and with some moderation in what we eat we can eat well and feel great doing it. We can improve our health and emotional well-being while improving our physical body.
How many times have you proclaimed, "I need to go on a diet"? How many of those diets resulted in long-term success? Not many. Millions of people are looking for the answer to improved health and fitness, and spend billions of dollars every year on diets and weight loss. Diets continually fail to deliver results because no matter how compelling the underlying principles for any diet may seem, no one can stay on a diet forever. Eventually, you will drop the diet and go back to your normal eating habits. Typically, you not only gain back the weight you lost, but statistics show that you will also gain additional weight.
Anything built on a faulty foundation has little chance for success, and most weight loss programs are riddled with pitfalls and over inflated promises. Managing your weight and weight loss are commitments that are lifelong. Until you accept the reality that they are a learning process that takes ongoing work and focus, you will continue to look for the fast and simple solutions that are nothing more than a bunch of big, fat lies.
Long-term success with health and weight loss requires significant changes not just in how you eat, but in the way you live. Attaining results must be achieved in a way that enhances your life and allows your body to reach its optimal weight naturally. This is in sharp contrast to the quick-fix mentality, which attempts to trick the body into short-term weight loss with diets and other rapid results formulas.
There are six basic principles that allow long-term positive change to occur. Each plays an integral role in achieving health and fitness success:
1. Understand how addictions can negatively impact your lifestyle choices. There are many forms of addiction that go unrecognized or fly under the radar of conventional thinking, negatively impacting our health. In our stressed-out society, we search for escape from the harsh realities of life. We smoke, drink alcohol, take drugs and overeat. It might surprise you that the average American watches hours and hours of television every day. More than 4 hours daily, to be exact. Yet, the biggest reason people give for not exercising is that they don't have the time. All of these activities make us fat, lazy and out of shape. They prevent us from obtaining optimal health.
2. Reduce toxic exposure and stress. The definition of toxic is poison. Sadly, we are surrounded by poisons that damage our health and put our lives at risk. We have been conditioned to believe that small amounts of toxic exposure are safe, but they are not. There are thousands of untested chemical combinations injected into our food and water supply, and there are deadly chemical compounds in our personal hygiene and cleaning products. Stress is the number one toxin, contributing to as much as 80 percent of all disease. Educate yourself about the deadly toxins or watch your health slowly and quietly deteriorate.
3. Create a mindset for change with no time limits. The starting block for any long-term success is changing the way you think about your body and your health. Changing your mindset says that you've made the decision that you truly want to improve your health. This may include weight loss and ultimately weight management, whatever it takes. Your determination must be strong and cannot waiver. Obviously, this cannot be achieved with a six-week diet or any other type of short-term solution. Until you change your mindset, all of the decisions you make regarding your health or weight challenges will be flawed. Your new mindset must focus on how your actions and attitudes will help you achieve your goals for the rest of your life. If you do not have a weight problem or if you do not feel that weight loss is important to improve your health, your new long-term mindset is no less important. The end result of implementing a new, long-term mindset while applying the principles outlined here will naturally result in weight reduction and, more important, improved health.
4. Provide proper nutrition to feed your body and your brain. Did you ever try to fill the gas tank in your car with diesel fuel? If you have, you would have found yourself stuck on the side of the road watching your car smoke and sputter because you fed it fuel that was not designed for you car's optimal performance. Everything we eat and drink affects us on a cellular level. Fuel for the brain and body is food. The type of fuel you choose to consume will determine how your body operates. Most of our food choices are made with our taste buds, driven by the desire to obtain pleasure with little thought about the consequences of our actions. There are many small but still palatable changes you can make to your eating habits that can have a big impact on your health.
5. Engage in physical activity in the form of consistent exercise. It takes a deficit or surplus of 3,500 calories to lose or gain a single pound of body fat. Everyone burns a certain number of calories just by being alive. This is called your resting metabolic rate (RMR). After you account for your RMR, a caloric surplus (weight gain) or deficit (weight loss) is a simple mater of calories consumed through eating and drinking versus calories expended through physical activity. It is a proven fact that even small amounts of activity can dramatically improve your health.
6. Adjust your lifestyle with habits and routines that will enhance your life. Human beings are creatures of habit, and we follow the same patterns and routines every day. Think about what you do every morning when you wake up and every night before you go to bed. It is human nature to fly on autopilot, constantly repeating our actions without thinking about them. You will never be successful achieving your health and fitness goals with fads or quick-fix solutions. Lasting results can only be obtained with lifestyle changes that you can stick with for the rest of your life.
Both Jules Sims & Craig Pepin Donat are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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