Winter has arrived. You're tempted to stay warm by eating fattier comfort foods and cranking on the heat, hibernating watching movies, being sedentary like a bear.
How then to get leaner during the holidays and winter?
Don't go Insane with a Diet
Allow yourself to cheat every once in a while. If pizza is your favorite guilt food, eat one slice per week. You'll end up going crazy if you eat only tofu and carrots everyday. If you enjoy artery-clogging fatty meat like brisket for example, eat only a fist-sized portion.
Find alternatives to foods laden with saturated fat and cholesterol; though keep in mind not all saturated fats and foods that have cholesterol are bad for you, such as coconut oil, excellent to cook with as it stays very stable at high temperatures.
Try eating a Mediterranean diet of lean fish, green salads, nuts, and fruits and vegetables, hummus, and whole-wheat pita, olives and olive oil. (Don't cook olive oil at higher than a medium flame, as it will alter the chemical properties of the oil for the worse.)
Eat More Often!
A sensible eating plan should consist of eating several small meals a day, say four or five. Combined with daily moderate-intensity exercise, eating more often throughout the day will speed your metabolism into overdrive. Some still think that the less often you eat the better for you. The exact opposite is true. If you're only eating twice a day, or spacing your meals five hours or more apart, your metabolism shuts down and body fat is preserved, not burned.
Replace fatty cuts of meat with fish, which is virtually free of saturated fats, contains heart-healthy Omega-3 fatty acids, is loaded with protein and low in carbohydrates.
Which Carbs Should I Eat to Stay Lean?
If you're going to eat carbohydrates, eliminate simple carbs, that is, anything with refined sugar or anything containing white flour. Try to eliminate flour in general as simple sugars will weaken your immune system.
To successfully avoid colds and flu during the winter, you should have your immune system running at optimal levels. This means avoiding simple carbs, as excess insulin spikes will weaken your immunity. The sugar might also exacerbate allergy symptoms.
So avoid doughnuts, white bread, and sadly, yes, bagels. Choose 100% whole wheat bread instead of white bread and brown rice instead of white. Eating foods with flour and processed or refined sugars will spike your insulin production levels, eventually resulting in a loss of energy and an increase of stored body fat.
So if you are hungry for carbs, try lots of vegetables and complex, slow-burning carbs like whole grains.
Unless you plan on hopping on a treadmill right after you eat a piece of candy, the unburned sugar will be stored as fat. If you know you're going to exercise at say five in the afternoon, eat some brown rice (along with a balanced protein/fat source) a couple hours earlier to fuel your workout. Although brown rice is a healthy alternative to white rice, if eaten late at night, it will be stored as fat for your body to use as energy. So if you're hungry late at night, try to eat something that is comprised mostly of protein. Speaking of protein�
...Was Dr. Atkins Right?
The late Dr. Robert Atkins is the most controversial doctor. Atkins advocated a high-protein, low-carbohydrate approach to weight loss. His book, Diet Revolution, became one of the 50 bestselling books in history. Atkins was right in the sense that our bodies don't store excess protein as bodyfat, as carbohydrates do (excess protein is secreted through urine). For people who are obese and don't exercise, the Atkins diet will help them shed significant weight. But life is too short to deny yourself of tasty carbohydrates. Your body prefers carbohydrates as a primary source of fuel. Much of the weight loss for the Atkins diet is from water. If you're on a very high-protein, low carb diet such as the Atkins diet, you will immediately gain weight if you have a portion of pasta, rice or other complex carbohydrate. If you exercise regularly, you will need to eat some carbs in order to have enough energy to perform. The Atkins diet worked for some, most likely because those people were born with protein-dominant metabolic types.
If you're going to eat carbohydrates, eliminate simple carbs, that is, anything with refined sugar or anything containing white flour. Try to eliminate flour in general as simple sugars will weaken your immune system.
To successfully avoid colds and flu during the winter, you should have your immune system running at optimal levels. This means avoiding simple carbs, as excess insulin spikes will weaken your immunity. The sugar might also exacerbate allergy symptoms.
So avoid doughnuts, white bread, and sadly, yes, bagels. Choose 100% whole wheat bread instead of white bread and brown rice instead of white. Eating foods with flour and processed or refined sugars will spike your insulin production levels, eventually resulting in a loss of energy and an increase of stored body fat.
So if you are hungry for carbs, try lots of vegetables and complex, slow-burning carbs like whole grains.
Unless you plan on hopping on a treadmill right after you eat a piece of candy, the unburned sugar will be stored as fat. If you know you're going to exercise at say five in the afternoon, eat some brown rice (along with a balanced protein/fat source) a couple hours earlier to fuel your workout. Although brown rice is a healthy alternative to white rice, if eaten late at night, it will be stored as fat for your body to use as energy. So if you're hungry late at night, try to eat something that is comprised mostly of protein. Speaking of protein�
...Was Dr. Atkins Right?
The late Dr. Robert Atkins is the most controversial doctor. Atkins advocated a high-protein, low-carbohydrate approach to weight loss. His book, Diet Revolution, became one of the 50 bestselling books in history. Atkins was right in the sense that our bodies don't store excess protein as bodyfat, as carbohydrates do (excess protein is secreted through urine). For people who are obese and don't exercise, the Atkins diet will help them shed significant weight. But life is too short to deny yourself of tasty carbohydrates. Your body prefers carbohydrates as a primary source of fuel. Much of the weight loss for the Atkins diet is from water. If you're on a very high-protein, low carb diet such as the Atkins diet, you will immediately gain weight if you have a portion of pasta, rice or other complex carbohydrate. If you exercise regularly, you will need to eat some carbs in order to have enough energy to perform. The Atkins diet worked for some, most likely because those people were born with protein-dominant metabolic types.
The Universal Law of Thermodynamics and Exercise
Carbohydrates, fats and proteins react differently in your body, but what weight loss all boils down to is the Law of Thermodynamics. Simply put, you will gain weight (fat mass) if you consume more calories than you burn. So how do you burn calories?
Set an initial goal for yourself of performing moderate-intensity aerobic exercise three times a week and resistance training two or three times a week. Eventually you will get hooked and want to increase the exercise frequency.
What if I hate running?
Then don't run. Unless you're a well-conditioned athlete, your heart rate should not exceed (when first starting an exercise program) 70 percent of your theoretical heart rate, which is 220 beats per minute minus your age times 70 percent. There are other formulas for figuring your target heart rate, but this is the simplest. Not sure what your heart rate is while working out? Go buy a heart rate monitor (sold at sporting goods stores for approximately $80) and exercise at an intensity that is between 55 and 70 percent of your target heart rate. Remember to warm up and cool down for five minutes each. Initially, strive for 25 minutes of continuous aerobic exercise (including warm up and cool down).
Your metabolism will skyrocket when you add resistance training to your aerobic exercise regimen. One pound of muscle burns approximately 35 calories a day, compared with five calories a day for one pound of fat. How do you turn fat into muscle? Resistance training. The elderly and women need resistance training to prevent osteoporosis and build bone density.
Not sure how to get started with a resistance training program? Consult a personal trainer. You can also use your own body weight to build up strength, increase bone density, increase your metabolism and lose fat, however, getting motivated to perform these exercises on your own is a problem. It's best to train with a fitness professional or exercise with a fitness-savvy friend.
Don't forget to breathe!
The Hebrew word for breath, "Neshima" and soul, "Neshama" derive from the same root. Breathing properly helps us connect to our souls. Inhale and expand your rib cage and belly. Exhale the stale air and carbon dioxide out by deflating your belly when you breathe out. If you want to be on this Earth for a longer period of time and see your children and grandchildren graduate, get married and have their own children, then change your lifestyle. The most honorable, charitable and selfless act you can do is to adopt a healthy lifestyle so that you will be with your loved ones for a longer (and higher quality) period of time.
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