Eating Plans

Most of us develop our eating habits from our parents and watching our peers. The foods they ate, the eating habits they displayed and what they fed to us while we were growing up form the basis for our adult diet. As adults, we have our own minds and can make our own decisions with regards to what we eat, drink or how much activity we do. However we may not learn to exert those abilities until it is too late and we may need to change some bad habits picked up along the way.

Genetics does play a part in this, however just because it is genetic that does not mean you cannot lose weight. So think about what sort of eating and lifestyle example you wish to set for your family and remember they most likely will utilise the same principles that you demonstrated when they are in control of their own eating and lifestyle habits. Remember monkey see, monkey do!

So not only will making an eating and lifestyle plan benefit you personally, it will also benefit your family. By following the eating and lifestyle principles which incorporates healthier foods, minimises the unhealthier options and increases our levels of activity we are able to regain control of our weight and lives. That's easy isn't it? Well, it takes a bit of understanding of what is healthy for you and what is not for your eating plan.

This is what you’ve got to look forward to:

So keep reading….

Firstly we need to understand a bit about the body’s metabolism, which is how our bodies digest, absorb and process the foods and beverages we consume and the way it regulates how it is either used in the form of energy or stored from this process. Your metabolism is constantly at work simply to keep you alive however it’s effectiveness (metabolic rate) changes over time, influenced by several factors, some of which are;

• Age
  When we are young we have a higher metabolic rate because a lot of energy goes into the growth process, then as we age that pace and our metabolic rate naturally slows.
  
• Muscle mass
  Sustaining muscle requires your metabolism to work at a higher rate compared to the process of storing fat. As we age we tend to have lower levels of activity and lose muscle because we no longer use it.
  
• Physical Activity
  The more you do, the higher your metabolic rate because your body is busy making and using energy.
• What we eat
  For example protein, which is commonly found in lean meats, fish and dairy products requires more energy to be broken down into a form our bodies can utilise compared to fat or carbohydrates. This makes our metabolism work harder and longer.
• When to eat
  Ironically the more often we eat the higher our metabolic rate. By eating less we actually end up with the paradox of slowing our metabolic rate as it still thinks like a caveman and believes there’s a famine. So to preserve life it slows the metabolism – one of the fundamental reasons why many diets fail!

So, eating can actually help you lose weight!

On average 15% of the calories you burn in a day are burned simply by digesting your food. When you skip meals your body has a “famine attack” and goes into storage mode. Rather than burning energy at the normal rate is slows the metabolic rate and starts to store fat in case it needs it to survive at a later stage. Skipping meals is also bad practice because you tend to miss out on additional nutrients that your body needs to operate smoothly.

weight loss

If you incorporate snacks between your meals, you increase your calorie burn because you are digesting food more often. Consistent eating habits helps to regulate your appetite by keeping your body satisfied between meals and this leads to healthy weight loss.

The following shows the energy levels over a day. The blue line shows the traditional 3 meals a day intake of food and the green line is the balanced 6 smaller meals a day. The red line shows the maximum amount of food that can be absorbed into the body in one meal. The food intake above the maximum absorption would be turned into fat. Notice that the energy levels drop off severely which only causes us to overeat more at the next meal.

So eating can actually help you with weight loss. For this to be effective you need to incorporate healthy snacks and reduce the size of your main meals so that you are not actually eating more over the course of the day.

You should be looking at changing your eating habits to incorporate small healthy snacks in-between your usual meals as follows:

• Breakfast
• Snack
• Lunch
• Snack
• Dinner
• Snack

Be aware that as you are adding extra food to the day you should reduce your meal sizes accordingly, it being important to not only watch what you eat but how much you eat for each meal or snack. The idea is to eat healthy foods in the right proportions to keep you going and satisfied until your next food intake, which should be spaced about 2 to 3 hours apart.

What is considered a snack and what makes up a meal? The size of each will vary from person to person and are to be increased dependant on your activity levels. The more active you are the more energy you use up in the course of your day therefore you need to eat more to sustain your energy levels. You’re not expected to measure out your meals, the following is a guide to assist you in understanding portion sizes.

A snack is basically considered to be an intake of healthy food to see you through to your next meal while keeping up your energy levels. An example portion size could be one of the following:

A meal is basically considered to be your main refuelling stop such as the following examples:

Think about this, if you are going for seconds or more for a meal, are you doing so because you are still hungry or is it just because it tastes good?

Read the article 'What to eat' to find out how to eat smarter.