Three Tips for Rapid Weight Loss
November 20th, 2009
Here are 3 techniques for rapid weight loss:
1. Go food-free after 7 pm. Give your intestinal track digestive relief every night. Get into the habit of eating your last evening meal at or before 7 pm. If you abstain from eating between 7 pm and 7 am, you stop any digestive activity and your body goes to sleep having fully digested the food it’s been fed all day. When you do this, there are no unprocessed calories in your body as you sleep, which would otherwise transform into fat while you sleep. Going to bed on an empty stomach gives your body 12 full hours to break down and rid itself of its natural metabolic waste and dietary toxins, which pile up in our fat cells, making them bigger. If you need to eat late at night, choose opt for a healthy snack of some fresh fruit and a small amount of low fat yogurt or raw vegetables and herb tea. Dr. Shulman says that if you do this practice alone, you can lose a few pounds in under a week.
2. Be a grazer. Eat three small but balanced meals each day, and one or two light, healthy snacks in between. This practice of eating, which some call grazing, will keep you energized through the day and more importantly, will wield a high metabolic rate (which is the speed at which our body burns calories). Especially important is to eat breakfast. Medical studies suggest that those who skip breakfast are more likely to gain weight than those who eat a well-rounded, protein-rich breakfast every morning. Breakfast skippers are more likely to snack to compensate for lack of nourishment. In addition, skipping breakfast (or having a fruit-only breakfast) will spark blood sugar spikes, which in turn trigger insulin production, which then tells the body to store fat.
3. Protein, protein, protein! Although his dieting methods are arguably extreme, and quite unhealthy if pursued long-term, Dr. Atkins definitely has a point. Nutrition and weight loss research continually points to protein as an essential weight loss secret. A deficiency of dietary protein has been linked to excess weight, and diets high in protein are among the most successful for dropping pounds relatively quickly. But again, too much protein has it’s health risks, so we look to moderation when factoring protein into a weight loss regimen. Dr. Barry Sears, who conceived of the Zone Diet, is a great voice of reason about using protein as as weight loss aid. His research and other studies in weight loss reveal that protein helps us lose weight for two central reasons: 1) it moderates blood sugar and insulin levels, preventing the conversion of calories into fat and 2) it secrets a hormone called glucagon, which encourages the metabolization of body fat. Dr. Sears and Dr. Shulman agree that including a medium amount of protein in every meal is an excellent, long-term weight loss approach. Optimal sources of protein are egg whites, turkey, chicken, cold water fish (salmon, tuna, mahi mahi, tilapia, ), protein powders, soy and low-fat dairy products.
