What's NEW?

What TIME Should you eat?  Is it A Bad idea to eat before Bedtime? Is a Low Calorie diet GOOD for you? Read the following paragraphs and you will know the answers to those questions. A low calorie diet, i.e., a diet based on eating less calories that the body needs to function properly, will always be associated with some initial weight loss. However, the body's needs are not satisfied, and it will crave for nutrients. In general, slowly but surely, the person will regain the weight and even sometimes ends up with more pounds. Often we are told to not eat late at night in order to lose weight. However, a healthy weight loss program should not only focus on the loss of weight but also on maintaining or gaining lean body mass, i.e.,  muscles. When the last meal of the day is taken too early, the body practically starves for many hours before breakfast. As the sugar goes down in our blood while we sleep (We do not eat when we are sleeping but we continue using energy), our body tends to tap on fat reserves, and proteins to provide energy. Eating a last meal at six PM is a sure way to cause loss of proteins (loss of muscle mass). It is best to eat some well balanced meal (esy to digest) about 2 hours before bedtime in order to keep or increase your lean body mass.  1. What is the best time to have your last meal in order to avoid loss of Lean Body Mass? A. 6 PM B. One or two hours before going to bed C. Twelve noon 2. One of the best ways to achieve permanent weight loss is? A. Eating a low calorie diet made mostly of fruits and vegetables B. Taking appetite suppressants C. Eating frequent balanced meals coupled with exercise D. Eating one large meal only in the middle of the day If eating were a simple matter, it would have been easy to follow a low Calorie diet. We would simply eat less. But it appears that eating less is not easy. People do all kinds of tricks to force themselves into a low Calorie diet. Eating a few meals a day, not eating after a certain time of the day, drinking a lot of water before meals, eating a lot of filling foods with low Calories are among the most common. Fasting may sometimes be another means of reducing daily Calories. I do not recommend to eat a low calorie diet in order to achieve weight loss for at least three important reasons. 1. When you eat less, your basal metabolic rate decreases to adjust to the lack of food 2. Your total daily metabolic rate also decreases (You tend to be less active when you are constantly hungry) 3. Your body craves for food and slowly (sometimes VIOLENTLY*) you go back to your old habit of excessive eating. VIOLENTLY = Eating violently, an expression I borrowed from my family doctor, Doctor Shakir 3. Low Calorie (Calorie-restricted) diets are often achieved by the following methods A. Eating few meals a day (often breakfast is skipped) B. Eating high volume, low calorie meals (vegetables, lettuce etc ... C. Drinking lots of water before a meal D. All of the above 4. Low calorie diets usually result in high rates of weight regain because A. People who follow those low calorie diets realize that they need to eat more B. Family members increase their portions without their knowledge C. The body craves for foods (nutrients) and slowly, involuntarily we increase our food intake D. Our basal metabolism is reduced when we follow a low calorie diet E. C and D are true The macronutrients are those nutrients we eat to provide the BUILDING blocks we need to keep our body intact through constant repair and production of new molecules. They also provide ENERGY since they are the ones containing high energy chemical bonds (Covalent bonds) that our cells are able to break and extract the energy. The macronutrients are notably Proteins - Carbohydrates - and Lipids (or Fats). One (1) gram of protein provides 4 Calories. One (1) gram of carbohydrate provides 4 Calories. One (1) gram of fat provides 9 Calories. Our body uses fat for storage of energy for later use. It makes sense to use fat as storage of energy since one gram of fat stores more than twice the amount of Calories (energy) that one gram of the other macronutrients would store. 3500 Calories correspond to one pound of fat. Losing one pound of body fat results from spending 3500 Calories more than the amount of Calories consumed.    5. Every meal should contain all three macronutrients. The following are macronutrients EXCEPT A. Proteins B. Carbohydrates C. Fats D. Vitamins 6. Fatumata lost 2 pounds of body fat during the month of May, that means during the month of May A. She burned 7000 more calories than she ingested B. She burned 3500 less calories than she ingested C. She did not eat out D. She consumed less carbohydrates than usual 2% Milk contains 2 grams of fat per 100 ml of milk. Whole milk is not 100% milk.Whole milk is about 3.2% milk. Whole milk contains 3.2 grams of fat per 100 ml of milk. Two cups of 2% milk come with 4 grams of fat. One cup of whole milk contains 3.2 grams of fat. Consequently 2 cups of 2% milk have more fat than one cup of whole milk. We continue being alive when we are resting. We contiue burning energy.Therefore the food we eat at any time is never completely used for storage.    7. Two cups of 2% milk contain less fat than 1 cup of Whole milk A. True B. False 8. All the food that is consumed after 8 PM is transformed into fat A. True B. False A little background information Our basal metabolic rate (Calories burned at rest) is a function of the activities taking place in our body while we apparently look resting. Our food is being digested, our liver is working, our brain is working, oule kidney id filtering, reabsorbing, secreting, our skeletalmuscles are contracting ... (even when we are not in mmotion, our muscles are slightly contracted, this is called "muscle tone". Men having more muscle mass than women, in general., burn more Calories at rest since muscles activities account for about 40% of the total basal metabolic rate. When blood sugar is low, in order to conserve the sugar left in the body, our basl metabolic rate is reduced. That's why "dieting" (eating very little) works at the beginning and fails to continue working. Your body adjusts to the fact that the level of sugar is low ... it burns less and tends to store energy as fat whenever food becomes available. 9. When blood sugar is low (hypoglycemia), basal metabolic rate A. Is increased B. Is Reduced C. Stays the same D. Is reduced to zero 10. Men have higher basal metabolic rate than women, i.e., men produce more calories at rest than women because, in general men A. have more body hair than women B. have larger bones than women C. eat faster than women D. have more muscle mass than women 11. Women can increase their metabolic rate by A. Wearing pants B. reducing the number of calories they eat C. eating salad only for a week D. building their muscles with exercise and proper nutrition 12. If women replace some of their fat by muscles they will look A. smaller because fat takes more room than muscles B. bigger because muscles take more room than fat C. the same because muscles and fats have the same volume D. older than they are Home

READ MORE Water Exercise 4 OOPSES about FAT 10 Commandments Becoming a Believer Simple Meal Plan Homework 1 Homework 2 Opinions METABOLISM

In Conclusion 1. We need to eat often. Small balanced meals instead of eating just a few large meals. 2. Low Calorie diets fail in time to keep us in shape because:     A. The body craves for food and we will go back to eating more.     B. When we starve ourselves, our metabolism slows down. Slow metabolism always corresponds to weight gain 3. We must stay alert and think about the food we eat. 2% milk is 2% milk fat but whole milk is NOT 100% milk fat but only 3.2% milk fat. Zero Cholesterol does not mean the food will not contribute to increasing ourcholesterol level ... 4. Most of the Calories we burn are burned at rest (basal metabolism). The more muscles you have the more you burn at rest. The easier it is to control your weight.