May 16, 2009
Topic:
Three tips to instantly improve your diet
1. Think fiber and protein - Fiber and protein are the ultimate diet food and the reason is simple. They control hunger. Think about it. Why do most diets fail? Simple, people become so obsessed with calorie counting that the quality of the calories is put on the back burner. When you eat very little protein and over consume processed food that’s been stripped of fiber you take away mother natures very own hunger control nutrients. So when you do that, even that super low calorie diet fails because you can’t stay on it. Stick to sugar free yogurt, reduced fat cheese, high quality chicken, beef, or fish and eggs and fibrous vegetables and grains like spinach, sprouts and select whole grains, etc.
2. Don’t drink your calories – I attribute a large portion of the obesity epidemic to the large amounts of sugar laden sodas and energy drinks that are more available now than ever. It’s no surprise to me that the average person consumes over a hundred and fifty pounds of sugar a year. Think about it, there’s over nine teaspoons of sugar in this little can and you and over fifteen in this large convenient store cup. Stick to water, low calorie drinks, coffee and diet sodas and you’ll lose weight even if you don’t change anything else.
3. Portion awareness - Recently I went out to dinner with my wife at a local steak house. I watched a man at the bar consume a hearty appetizer, a Ceaser salad, a full size steak dinner, a couple glasses of wine and a dessert which he polished off with ease. He then recognized me and asked for some weight loss tips. I asked him what his diet was like and he told me with complete sincerity that he doesn’t eat much. He wasn’t lying, he just didn’t realize that what he just ate was more than enough calories to support his bodyweight alone and this wasn’t including breakfast and lunch. Most people just eat too much food. A recent Harvard study showed that just keeping a dietary log and actually writing down all you eat forces a person to reduce their calories. Probably because people don’t realize how much they were eating in the first place.
Question from viewers:
Garren
Do I have to eat breakfast?
Ah, people say you must eat a good breakfast to get that metabolism going. Unfortunately, science is discovering that frequent feeding is a myth. A recent study in the British Journal of Nutrition showed absolutely no increase in metabolism because a person eats more meals a day. Other studies are proving that the “starvation mode myth” or a real decrease in metabolism doesn’t show up unless you’ve gone days and days without any food at all. Bottom line, what these studies do prove is total daily caloric intake. Whether you divide it up in one meal or twenty, the math comes out the same if weight loss is the goal.
Janice
Should I drink Gatorade instead of water when I exercise if I want to improve my performance to lose weight?
Not unless you’re a pro athlete. I recently watched a woman consume three bottles of
Gatorade during a moderate thirty minute jog. She probably consumed about two hundred calories of sports drink during her workout which will prevent her from using any of her fat storage. Like wise to the serious lifters, protein is important but it’s not magical. In fact, some shakes and drinks contain a tremendous amount of calories. Realize a lot of these supplements were originally designed for college and pro athletes that workout two, sometimes three hours a day. So use caution when using these items.
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