Is The Time I Eat Really Important?

Watching when you eat, without necessarily changing what or how much, may yield big health benefits, including weight loss.

Although more research is needed, intriguing new findings in people suggest that eating within a strict 8- to 12-hour time frame each day changes metabolism at the genetic level, lowering blood sugar and body weight, even without cutting calories.

Scientists think the changes may be powerful enough to lower the risks for cancer, heart disease, dementia, and diabetes.

The latest study on this phenomenon, called time-restricted eating, looked at the link between meal timing and blood sugar control in more than 2,200 women. The average age of women in the study was 47, and the average body mass index (BMI) was 28, making them overweight, but not Obese.

Poor blood sugar control is a risk factor for diabetes and cancer, among other things. Blood sugar that swings wildly before and after eating indicates that the body isn’t very sensitive to insulin, the hormone that signals cells to take in calories from food. That means more insulin has to be released from the pancreas to get the blood sugar into cells. The trouble is that extra insulin doesn’t just impact blood sugar. It also promotes the growth of cells -- including cancer cells. And over time, the body can’t keep up with the demand for more and more insulin. When that happens, blood sugar levels climb dangerously high, leading to diabetes.

The women in the study reported what and when they ate and gave blood samples. Researchers could see how high their blood sugar climbed after meals and how steady their blood sugar had stayed over the previous 2 to 3 months. About half the women reported not eating or drinking anything for at least 12 hours, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., for example. The other half fasted for less than 12 hours, eating both early and late.

“What we found, in general, [is] that women who fasted for longer nightly intervals had better blood sugar control than those who didn’t fast as long, and that was independent of other eating behaviors such as how many calories women were eating,” says study researcher Catherine Marinac, a doctoral candidate in public health at the University of California at San Diego.

It's a very interesting study of eating behavior and not calories. The whole idea of fasting everyday for 12 hours and not really watching your diet is very interesting. I'd like to see more research done on this. Maybe this is really the way to lose weight.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Foods That Really Burns Fat

No one wants to go to the gym looking like they need to go to the gym if you know what I mean. Yes, I can say it, I gained a couple pounds over the summer, but I know that I can lose that extra fat just by changing what I eat.

Most people don’t realize it but you don’t have to exercise to lose weight. If you limit your calorie intake and eat the right foods you will drop weight. Now I want to be honest, if you had the extra weight for a long time it will take longer to lose it, but if you just added on a few pounds this summer and want to lose it then just change your diet and the extra pounds will disappear.

I found an article about foods that can burn fat, read below and try it, but remember you have to cut out processed foods and stop drinking calories. Stopping eating out and start eating foods that burn calories besides just eating these vegetables. Eating fresh, lean meat, fish, fruits and vegetables, nuts and lots of water will melt that fat away.

Did you know that there is a particular family of vegetables that has more fat-fighting and health-boosting benefits than ANY other? It's true! We're talking about cruciferous vegetables, and there is a wide variety to choose from...just take a look at all these options!

Kale
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Brussels Sprouts
Rutabaga
Cabbage
Bok Choy
Swiss Chard
Turnips
Arugula
Collard Greens
Watercress
Radishes

And here are just some of their benefits:

#1 - Improved digestion, satiety, and weight loss! Cruciferous vegetables are high in fiber -- fiber that promotes a healthier digestive tract while keeping you feeling fuller, longer. In fact, many studies have shown that increased fiber intake leads to lower weight levels and even weight loss.

#2 - Lower levels of belly fat! One unique benefit of cruciferous vegetables is their ability to fight off dietary and environmental estrogens that we may be exposed to through soy, plastics, and pesticides through a special phytonutrient called indole-3-carbinol (I3C). Environmental estrogens have also been linked to high levels of belly fat, so by consuming more cruciferous vegetables you'll be fighting off belly fat stores at the same time!

#3 - Increased Gut & Immune Health! Even beyond the above two benefits, a recent study published in the renowned journal Nature Immunology discovered that specific proteins in cruciferous vegetables may play an essential role in gut health by boosting immune cell production and ultimately combating bacterial infections, chronic inflammation, and potentially even bowel cancer.

#4 - Anti-aging! Cruciferous vegetables have also been shown through research to boast antioxidant and anti-aging properties. In fact, one study showed that participants who consumed 1 - 2 cups of cruciferous vegetables a day reduced their oxidative stress by 22% in just 3 weeks!

The list actually goes on and on with regard to what cruciferous vegetables can do for your body, fat loss results, and your health, so be sure to eat more of these "miracle" vegetables starting today!

Look for my podcast by searching “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight” on the podcast app that you use. You’ll see a piece of my book cover.

If you really want to lose your body fat look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $3.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans, or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, bn.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com and other online bookstores. Just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

 

Is Being Overweight Robbing Your Energy?

Have you ever wondered what happened to your energy? Clients would email me constantly about the lack of energy. I ask them about their diet, what they're eating and how often do they eat, and the most important question, how much extra weight do you have?

You see, you lose energy because you're carrying around too much fat and you probably are not eating the right food to give you energy. So maybe you haven't been exercising but that's not your problem. You have to fix your diet. With the proper diet, you will gain some of that energy you lost. Your diet is "key" to a healthy life, but with the availability of manufactured foods and the convenience and price, many people are choosing to take the easiest way and buy manufactured foods that basically have no nutritional value or very little and contain high amounts of white enriched or processed flour, salt and sugar. Those are ingredients that cause you to gain weight.

The body fat that you accumulated over the years uses some of your bodies energy to stay alive. So how does that work? Your body has to pump blood and maintain that blood flow to all of your body and if you keep growing your body it takes more energy day after day. The energy to keep your body functioning comes from the food you eat for the most part and if the food is low in nutrition a heavy person can be low on energy shortly after leaving the table. 

Without body fat that energy would be used to burn the fat you eat and used for body functions. You can't lose all your fat. About 15% of your body mass needs to be fat. It cushions your organs and fat also keeps your bones from rubbing. Your body likes to process the fats it get from seafood and plant food like nuts. You can find out from your doctor how much body fat you have. If you have more than 25% body fat your considered overweight. Almost 67% of adult Americans are overweight. So if you're part of those people don't feel alone, but just because you're part of a large group that doesn't mean your any healthier.

As a young adult, extra body fat probably doesn't bother you, but it will as you age. If you don't like the idea of taking insulin shots every day, you might want to do something about your diet and lose some of that body fat.

I write several blogs and e-books, check out some of my other sites.

gettingtoahealthyweight.wordpress.com
idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com
blogonweight.blogspot.com

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books.

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page.

The Truth About Cheat Days

So cheat days sound like a good thing, right? Not so fast. The logic behind these days has more than a few flaws, and it’s due to the psychology and physiology behind them.

The Name Is to Blame

The trouble with cheat days starts with the wording.

“The very phrase ‘cheat day’ sets up enjoying a meal as something forbidden,” says Sondra Kronberg, R.D., executive director of the Eating Disorder Treatment Collaborative. “Separating foods into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ categories encourages you to associate eating with guilt and shame.” This means that instead of enjoying everything we eat, we feel bad about ourselves when we eat something we consider “bad.”

What’s more, when we deem certain foods “bad” or “cheating,” the negative name doesn’t help us pump the breaks.

“When a food is off-limits, it can develop a specific, emotional charge,” explains Melainie Rogers, RD, a nutritionist and eating disorder specialist. “You begin obsessing over it, fantasizing about, and looking forward to that ‘indulge day’ all week. Then, when you finally have access to it, you overeat.”

On the flipside, labeling foods as “good” or “healthy” can also backfire. Science shows when we think something is healthy, we’re not concerned with portion control and thus overdo it—whether it’s a “normal” day or a “cheat” day. Yes, there can be too much of a good thing.

Along these same lines, thinking of a meal or snack as “healthy” can have a surprising affect on our hunger. Studies show merely considering items we put in our mouth as “healthy” can literally make us feel hungrier—especially if we select a “good-for-you” item out of obligation over something we’re truly hungry for.

I want to add something, if your labeling your food you will start to recent the "good food". You will begin to crave more comfort food. The food you crave is not really "bad" food but pizza, burgers, fries, cheesy mashed potatoes, etc. just have too many calories and not enough nutrition. If you make your own hamburger on your grill and you use a healthy bun, and you put lettuce and tomato on it, I don't see anything wrong with that. Once a month I eat beef, but I cook my own. If you make your own food you know what's in it and you'll eat healthier and consume less calories.

Attack of the Calories

Folks who assume they can compensate for giving into temptations—say, by holding themselves back on all days except their cheat days—are actually less likely to reach their dietary goals. This is because they’re more likely to consume a greater number of calories, not just on their cheat day but on the days following it.

Restricting ourselves throughout the week and then slamming our bodies with sugar and fat once our cheat day rolls around, can have “a massive impact on blood sugar and insulin levels,” Rogers says. “You’ll wake up the next day craving more sugars and simple carbs, and you’ll find yourself feeling pretty ragged. And if you repeatedly increase your caloric intake above baseline, you may inadvertently end up gaining more weight over time.”

Cravings serve as a sign that your nutritional approach isn’t sound. “Most cravings come from overly restricting your food intake, using food as a drug, or over exercising,” Kronberg says.

A cheat day use to mean that for dinner on Sunday you could eat dessert. You could have an extra 200 or 300 calories, but today it seems to be a day you can go crazy and stuff yourself all day long. That's why I don't like "cheat days". Years ago when someone would diet they would restrict their calories and pretty much starve themselves, but today you quit doing that. Today when we want to lose weight we stop eating "comfort food" and we eat start eat healthier. We eat enough to keep from having craving but we are eating healthy and that's how we lose weight.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Losing Weight Is All About The Food You Eat

Dieting isn't really necessary if you "clean up your diet". But if you want some guidelines just read on.

Eat the right food and you won't add on body fat. Eat the wrong foods and you'll add body fat everyday. And then there are some foods that help you lose fat. Losing weight is not about counting calories as much as it is about eating the right foods.

This is a common mistake many people make. I want to lose weight so I'll go on a diet. My friend went on a 1000 calorie a day diet and lost 20 pounds in just a few weeks, I'll try that. So I'll have coffee and toast for breakfast, for lunch I'll have a salad with bottled dressing, I like that low-cal french. And for dinner I'll go to Subway and get a foot-long. I think that's under 1000 calories, I'll do that.

Okay that's under 1000 calories alright, but you have very little nutrition. Yes, you made a good choice with the salad if it has the right veggies like kale, tomatoes, beans, spinach leaves, cucumbers etc. Just a pile of lettuce and a couple cherry tomatoes isn't a salad. It just looks like a salad and use some olive oil on that salad. Just because lettuce is green doesn't mean it's loaded with nutrition. Toast and coffee has no nutrition and you can't lose weight if you're going all morning without eating any protein. And as far as that foot-long sandwich, bread, lunch meat and processed cheese isn't a good choice for any meal. If you eat the right sandwich you can keep the calories low, but if you want to stay on this diet for any long period of time, you need to pack more nutrition in those 1000 calories.

This is the typical mistake people make when they are new at dieting or their not taking the diet seriously. 9 out of 10 people who start a diet end up quitting. 9 out of 10 people who try to lose weight will quit. So what's the problem? Most people don't do their homework and are not really serious about lose weight.

If your really serious you'll first either do some homework and change the way you're eating, or get some professional help.  We are a country that loves to eat out. Restaurants will have some healthy food on their menu, but their real goal is to make food that tastes good. Restaurants have to take care of their customers, so popular food items will never go away. But because of public opinion restaurants are putting healthy food choice on the menu and if they become popular then they'll stick around.

It's  going to be the consumer that will change the grocery stores and restaurants. If we don't demand better quality foods we will only get what the manufacturers can produce at the highest profit margin. So until we can buy already prepared foods that are healthy we need to buy fresh and eat clean. That means we'll be preparing a lot of our own meal and trying to make some healthy choices on the salad bar.

So if your ready to get serious about losing weight you need to do some homework and learn what you can eat and more important the foods you can't eat.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Can Caffeine Help You Lose Weight?

This is from the HungryGirl website and will clear up all the stories you hear about caffeine.

Mmmmm… Coffee. It tastes good, it’s a great way to start your morning, and the hot mug warms up your hands when it’s cold outside... but could the caffeine in that cup also help you lose weight? 

When it comes to the connection between caffeine and weight loss, there are three common claims...

1. Research suggests that consuming caffeine can jumpstart your metabolism and help you burn fat. One study, for example, found that in the three hours after consuming coffee, metabolic rates were significantly higher in those who drank coffee than those who did not.

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2. Another common belief is that caffeine boosts your energy level. The theory here is that the energy boost will make you more motivated to exercise, help you exercise for a longer time, or both. In fact, the International Olympic Committee puts a limit on caffeine intake for athletes so as not to give them an unfair advantage.

3. Coffee is often cited as an appetite suppressant. This suggests that drinking the caffeinated beverage could lead you to eat less.

Here’s my take on the subject… 

It’s definitely tempting to believe that caffeine is the answer to your weight-loss woes. But there are several reasons why consuming caffeine won’t necessarily lead to shedding those extra pounds. Plus, consuming too much caffeine can be dangerous. 

Studies do show that caffeine intake can increase your metabolism... but the effects only last for a few hours, and the effects are much less pronounced in obese people. In other words, people who need to lose significant amounts of weight are much less likely to have their metabolism boosted by caffeine.

As for exercise performance, studies really only show that caffeine can help boost energy for short workouts (about 5 minutes) and for endurance exercise done by trained athletes. There isn’t much evidence that caffeine has a positive effect on mid-length, moderate workouts.

The appetite suppression claim is probably just that: a claim. One of the only studies on the subject found that drinking coffee had little to no effect on participants’ appetites.

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Plus, people grow tolerant of coffee pretty quickly, so any positive effects tend to be short-lived.

Even if caffeine does help some with weight loss, it’s likely that any positive effects would be outweighed by the extra calories people tend to consume when they get caffeine in the form of sweet beverages. Coffee and tea are often drowned in cream and sugar, and it’s no secret that coffee-shop concoctions can be super high in calories. And soda, iced tea, and many other bottled caffeinated beverages can also be high in sugar, carbs and calories.

HG warning: Caffeine is a diuretic, which means it will contribute to losing some water weight on a short-term basis, but too much can be dangerous in the long-run. Always be sure to stay hydrated! Here are some tips for getting those 8 glasses of water a day.

And finally, here are some coffee-centric Hungry Girl tips and tricks...

If you get your caffeine from coffee, be aware of what else you're taking in. A lot of coffee drinks are packed with calories, fat, and sugar.

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When you’re on the go, follow these tips. Order your drinks with just a splash of fat-free milk, trade traditional syrup for sugar-free, and choose no-calorie sweeteners over straight-up sugar. Click here for more coffeehouse help! 

If you make your cup of joe at home, stick with smart milk and sweetener choices. I always recommend unsweetened vanilla almond milk (it’ll add creaminess and flavor to your coffee for minimal calories) and natural no-calorie sweeteners. If you like your coffee more like a milkshake, try Hungry Girl’s Vanilla Java Swappuccino. And if you’re looking for a swap for hot and sweet coffeehouse drinks, check out our Salty-Sweet Caramel Mocha. They’re both low in calories, of course! 

I have my own take on caffeine and here goes. First, you want to understand that I drink coffee and black tea straight black, I put nothing in my tea or coffee.  Caffeine does seem to reduce my cravings. I think it does have much to do with caffeine, it more to do with changing the taste in my mouth. After dinner is the hardest time for me and if I drink a cup of black tea after dinner, I seem to lose my appetite. 

Designer coffees or teas are loaded with calories and will only ruin your diet.  Some people believe that caffeine will keep you regular but I think your body will get use to the caffeine after a few weeks, so it might work in the short-term but not forever. 

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

You Might Burn More Calories By Skipping Dinner

Overweight people who eat during a much smaller window of time each day than is typical, report fewer hunger swings and burn slightly more fat at certain times during the night, according to a new study. The science behind this theory is not to reduce your food but to eat most of your calories early in the day and no calories in the late afternoon and evening. Why you might ask. Your body burns most of your calories during the hours you are the most active.

Most of us slow-down after work and that's when we tend to consume most of our calories. Not good because your body only burns a few calories in the evening. And those other calories are stored in fat cells. Example, If your body burns 1200 calories a day, then say, 900 calories are burned in the morning and early afternoon and only 100 are burned after that. The average worker consumes most of their calories after work when the body is resting.

I personally understand the reasoning and I do believe that if you want to lose weight, you have to eat most of your calories early in the day. Breakfast and lunch should be 80% of your total daily calorie intake. This will also reduce your urge to snack. Eat breakfast before work and then lunch around noon or 1 pm and you won't be hungry in the afternoon. Eat something small at night like half your normal portion at your evening meal. When your body is use to this new meal schedule and you stick to fresh food your waist will begin to shrink. And the bonus is that as you lose weight you gain energy which will burn even more calories. This way of eating is a new way of life, not a diet that you can quit after you lose the weight. 

The assistant professor of nutrition sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham thinks the idea is worth examining as a potential weight-loss approach and hopes to conduct a larger study.

The approach is called early time-restricted feeding. It's been tested in animals, where researchers have found that it reduced fat mass and the risk of chronic disease.

Body mass index is a rough measure of a person's body fat based on height and weight. A BMI of 30 is considered obese. Someone who is 5 feet 9 inches tall would need to weigh 203 pounds to have a BMI of 30.

All of the study participants tried each approach -- the early restricted-eating and the typical pattern. During one four-day period, participants ate between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. only; during another four-day period they ate between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

The participants ate the same number of calories during each approach and they ate only the food given to them by the researchers and under supervision.

Researchers then tested the impact of the longer fast time on calories burned, fat burned and appetite. The restricted eating time didn't change the total number of calories burned, she said.

Personally, I do think there's merit to the theory. One very big problem that overweight people have is night-time eating. Snacking at night and eating that big meal at 6 pm or later and then not being active enough after dinner will cause weight gain and most of that is simply bad habits.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page.