The Ten Tips to Losing Fat

1. Eat five to six meals a day and drink lots of water (Science).
• Eat five to six meals a day, (3 meals and 2 snacks or 3 meals and 3 snacks); this will speed up your metabolism in addition to providing you with a balanced source of energy throughout the day.
• Eating every 3 to 4 hours allows you to better control your blood sugar and insulin
• Drinking a lot of water promotes your ability to shed excess water weight. In an interesting aside, read the comparison of Water and Coca-Cola to learn how water can influence your health.

2. Each meal should be a balance of carbohydrates, fat and protein with ratio of approximately 40/30/30 (Science).
• The easiest way to figure out ratios without counting calories is by using the "fist rule". The protein portions of your meal should be the size of your fist. The carbohydrate portion should be about two fists and the fat will be included in your portion and carbohydrate, and/or you can add olive oils, flax seed oils, and/or have a tablespoon of fish oil. Barry Sears has written an entire book, Omega Rx Zone, on the benefits of fish oil which are quite compelling.
• Your protein portions should come from eggs, soy, fish, chicken, or turkey. Also, beef twice a week is fine. As for your carbohydrate source, predominately focus on eating carbohydrates that are fruits, vegetables, beans, and some dairy (low fat cheese milk, and yogurt). This combination is high in fiber, and rich in vitamins and minerals. I've used this comparison with clients:  If you take a pound of fruit, vegetables and beans, and compare this group to a pound of pasta, rice, potatoes, bread; which group has more vitamins, minerals and fiber? Hands down the first group wins.
• Try eating raw vegetables versus steamed or fried. Cooking vegetables destroys much of the fiber content in addition to destroying various vitamins and minerals.
3. Eat low glycemic index carbs primarily from fruits, vegetables, beans, oatmeal,   and some dairy product (Science).
4. It's excess insulin that makes you fat, makes you hungry, makes you mentally foggy, decreases your physical performance, and increases the likelihood of chronic disease (Barry Sears, Master the Zone). Eating carbs that come from white breads, honey, rice, sugar, potatoes, and pasta causes your blood sugar to become elevated thereby increasing your insulin level. This process causes your body to use carbs as the primary source of energy versus fat as a primary source of energy. By eating fruits, vegetables and beans, your body will maintain a moderate blood sugar level and will naturally use fat as a primary source of energy.
5. Another reason to consume low glycemic carbs is that whenever your blood sugar levels rise too quickly, due to eating high glycemic carbohydrates, your insulin rises quickly to bring your blood sugar back to a normal level. Unfortunately, this quick rise in blood sugar causes your insulin to over compensate, or overshoot, which brings your blood sugar below its normal level. This leads to temporary hypoglycemia or low blood sugar. At this point you begin craving more bad carbs (pasta, potatoes, sugar, rice, bread, etc.) to raise your blood sugar. As you can see this can become a vicious cycle. This process causes symptoms of feeling hungry, irritable and tired. By eating high quality carbs, this will moderate your blood sugar so that you will feel full for longer periods of time and have more energy. Low glycemic carbs prevent the viscous cycle of a large fluctuation in blood sugar level thereby reducing the possibility of over eating and low energy.
6. An indirect benefit of eating low glycemic carbs is that the majority of these carbs are high in fiber. Fiber, in general, makes you feel fuller causing you to gain less. In turn, even though you feel full, you will be eating less food, thereby attaining a daily calorie deficit that causes you to lose fat over a period of time. A calorie deficit is basically eating less than your maintenance level. For example let's say you are 185 pounds and to maintain that weight you need to eat 2800 calories on average per day. If you eat 2400 calories, you will be achieving a daily calorie deficit of 400. This deficit is one of the catalysts for fat loss; the other is insulin control.
7. Make sure you keep your house free from foods that are considered high glycemic carbohydrates. Following this step makes the program much easier to follow. On your cheat day, go out and eat. Treat yourself.
8. Also another trick that a few of my clients use is to take fiber capsules with a glass of water twenty minutes before they eat. This tactic will make you feel fuller before eating which allows you to better control your appetite.
9. Do cardio in the morning and don't eat for an hour (Science)
   • Imagine when you park your car at home. Let's say your car is parked for a period of 30 minutes, even though your car has been turned off for 30 munutes you can still feel that your engine is warm. This is analogous to your body.

Remember that if you have a serious problem with your weight, have difficulties managing your diabetes, or feel that your diet is a contributing factor to overall sickness and fatigue, please contact us to schedule an appointment.