Why You Should Eat Breakfast and the Best Times for the Rest of the Day’s Meals

Keeping track of what you’re supposed to eat to stay healthy can already be overwhelming, but it turns out that when you eat what can also be important for keeping your weight in control and for warding off chronic disease.

It turns out Mom was right: you should eat breakfast. And if you don’t believe Mom, a growing body of studies shows that a good meal in the morning can help your body prepare for the day to come, and lower your risk of heart disease, diabetes and obesity. But what about the rest of the day’s meals? Here’s what nutrition experts say about the best times to eat and why.

Morning
Don’t skip breakfast. Reporting in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, Harvard School of Public Health researchers studied the health outcomes of 26,902 male health professionals ages 45 to 82 over a 16-year period. They discovered that the men who skipped breakfast had a 27% higher risk of heart attack or death from heart disease than those who honored the morning meal. According to the scientists, skipping breakfast may make you hungrier and more likely to eat larger meals, which leads to a surge in blood sugar. Such spikes can pave the way for diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels, all risk factors that can snowball into a heart attack.

Pass on the pastry. Eating in the morning — and what you eat — is important for setting your blood-sugar pattern for the rest of the day. “If you eat something that is whole grain and has some fat and protein to it, your blood sugar is going to rise slowly and go down slowly. If you eat something refined, like an overly sweet cinnamon roll, that’s the worst thing you can eat,” says Judy Caplan, a registered dietitian nutritionist for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “You get an insulin [spike], and [then] your blood sugar drops too low so you get hungry again. That’s why people get into a cycle of overeating junk.”

To ease your body into a more consistent blood-sugar pattern, try some oatmeal, whole-wheat toast with almond butter, or an omelette with spinach and avocado. Caplan’s favorite breakfast is a baked sweet potato with a little bit of cinnamon and a small bit of butter. Who says you have to eat just cereal in the morning?

Afternoon
Fuel up at the right time. In the 1960s, nutritionist Adelle Davis popularized the mantra “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.” Why? Fueling up makes sense earlier in the day, when your body needs the most calories for energy. That’s why in many European countries, the largest meal of the day occurs in the afternoon. “Ideally, you want to give yourself fuel before you do harder labor,” says Caplan.

If you’re used to eating a smaller meal for lunch and a larger meal later, you can still fill up with a hearty meal that has significantly fewer calories. “A fairly large meal [that] is full of salad and vegetables [is] big in volume but light in calories,” says Caplan.

Evening
Don’t overdo it. Calories get burned up no matter when you eat them, so theoretically it’s O.K. to eat after dark. But if you eat a heavy dinner, you’re not as likely to get rid of those calories before you turn in. “What you don’t burn off is more likely to be stored as fat, as you become less active toward the end of the day,” says Tracy Lockwood, a registered dietitian at F-Factor Nutrition. “Eating too close to bedtime increases your blood sugar and insulin, which causes you to have a hard time falling asleep. Therefore, your last meal should be the lightest of the day and should be eaten at least three hours before you go to sleep.”

There’s another reason that late-night eating, after dinner, isn’t a good idea. In most cases, those visits to the fridge involve sweet treats such as ice cream and other desserts that can send blood sugar soaring right before bed. That can lower levels of the hormone melatonin, which is supposed to help you feel tired and relaxed, so waning levels can make it harder to fall asleep. “A boost of energy coming from your dinner, which may have consisted of pasta, rice or bread, can act as a short-lived stimulant, causing you to feel more awake immediately after a meal,” says Lockwood. “Also, it is not recommended to lie down immediately after a meal, especially a big one, since it increases your chance for acid reflux.”

Keep it light. “If you go to Europe and places where there is not as much obesity as the rest of the world, people eat very late and they’re not necessarily overweight. That’s because they are walking everywhere and they are typically not eating a huge and heavy meal,” says Caplan. “Instead, it may be avocado and toast with a side of soup.”

There’s clearly no formula for healthy eating that applies to everyone for maintaining a healthy weight and avoiding illness, but paying attention to both what and when you eat might be a good place to start.

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Lose Weight Now: 3 Essential Tips You Must Know for Success

One of the biggest problems people trying to lose weight face is changing their old eating habits. In order to be successful (and keep the weight off), it is crucial that you are able to develop different eating habits.

Why not set yourself up for success? Give yourself the best chance ever of doing it this time! There are 3 essential tips that will assist you in this area. By implementing these tips you will empower yourself with tools that are necessary for long term weight loss success.

Tip #1: Curb Your Chance of Temptation

No matter how strong your commitment may be, there will be times when temptation will creep in and try wrapping its ugly arms around you. Being prepared is your best defense!!

Purge your kitchen/pantry/house of all the food items that no longer support your new way of eating. Having them around will only ensure that you can easily give into temptation when it comes calling.

If you have unopened cans/packages/jars, donate them to your local food bank or homeless shelter. That way the food isn't going to waste and you can feel doubly good about cleaning out your kitchen!

Another important way to curb your temptation is to never go grocery shopping when you are hungry. This is just a recipe for disaster. Everything that will sabotage your success will look oh-so-good with a hungry stomach. No amount of resolve or will is a match for a grumbling belly... so just don't do it!

As these changes become habit over time, you will automatically start looking at other ways that you can strategically cut down or eliminate many of the things that might otherwise threaten to derail your progress.

Tip #2: Arm Yourself for Success

So, your cupboards are bare and your belly is full... it's time for a trip to the grocery store!! First, make certain that you have a list of what you plan on buying; only items from this list are allowed into the grocery cart.

Stock your kitchen with those foods and ingredients that will help you lose weight. In addition to items you have listed for meals, be sure to include a few "quick grab" items for those times when you either want a snack or need something to eat immediately.

Good tips for quick grabs would include apples, bananas, nuts, mini carrots and hummus, celery (spread peanut butter on a few stalks and you have a great mini-meal). The important point is that it be quick and easy for you to eat.

Quick grabs are also great for another important element of arming yourself for success: always have one or two snacks with you wherever you go. Carry them in your pocketbook, tuck them in your desk drawer at work, pop them in the glove compartment in your car.

This will ensure you don't get caught off guard. How many times have you thought for certain you'd be home by a certain time, only to get stuck in traffic; or the line at the bank took forever; or you were delayed at work?

Employing these strategies will help you avoid situations that could derail your best efforts and keep you on track to achieve your goal.

Tip #3: Be Proactive, Not Reactive

The kitchen is stocked and you have snacks stashed in all the right places. It's a great start, but don't stop there! It is now crucial that you make a plan for your meals in the coming days. Without one, it is too easy to slide into old habits and make poor choices.

Being proactive involves thinking ahead about your meals: deciding what you will eat for lunch, figuring out what nights you will be able to cook a full meal; preparing the salad ahead of time if you will be coming home late; cooking extra so you have another meal for later in the week.

If you don't plan ahead, that leaves you susceptible to making decision from a reactive state: you leave the office late, you are now hungry, it will take you an hour to cook when you get home. On your drive back to the house you pass the great golden arches of McDonald's. Can you see where this is heading?

Avoid these types of situations by being prepared and planning. It is always far more empowering to act from a position of proactivity to one of reactivity. Doing so will increase your chances of long term success.

By implementing these 3 tips you will be taking steps toward your long term success. People who struggle to lose weight sometimes forget that their ultimate goal is actually a culmination of the success of many smaller goals.

Start using these tips today, and know you are on your way to losing the weight forever!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8385249

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Will Dairy Boost Your Weight-Loss Resolution?

If weight loss and dieting are on your New Year’s resolution agenda, an unlikely food group may be the help you need.                                                                                     Consuming dairy products as part of your daily diet can help keep weight down, according to several studies. Findings in the Journal of Nutrition demonstrated that higher-protein, high-dairy diets shaved off belly fat and increased lean muscle.

“One hundred percent of the weight lost in the higher-protein, high-dairy group was fat. And the participants gained muscle mass, which is a major change in body composition,” says Andrea Josse, lead author of the study and a graduate student in the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University.

In addition, a Harvard study, which suggests that the food quality is more important than its calorie count, found that eating specific high-quality foods was linked with less weight gain over time. Its data showed that the more daily servings people ate of fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains and yogurt, the less weight they gained. In fact, the research found that each extra daily serving of yogurt prevented 0.82 of a pound of weight gain.

The Nutrition and Metabolism journal reported a study in which participants who consumed three or more servings of dairy a day after weight loss were able to eat more calories without gaining weight than those who didn’t consume dairy.

Milk is nutritionally unique in that it is a great source of nine essential nutrients: calcium, potassium, phosphorus, protein, vitamins A, D and B12, riboflavin and niacin. It provides three of the five “nutrients of concern” that children do not get enough of: calcium, magnesium and potassium.

By combining a high intake of nutrient-rich dairy with regular physical activity, it won’t even feel like you’re trying to lose weight.

“However, as with any diet, you must be realistic. Results take time, so first commit to getting through January to establish a real routine,” says Alyssa Greenstein, a registered dietitian with the Dairy Council of Florida.

According to a National Health and Nutrition survey, 86 percent of women and 76 percent of men fail to meet the recommended dairy intake of three servings each day. That means the majority of Americans don’t have satisfactory levels of essential nutrients like potassium, zinc, calcium and folate. These levels plummet when dieters attempt to trim calories by purging dairy.

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Interested in Leading A Healthy Lifestyle? Things That You Should Do

If you are one of the people who want to lead a healthy lifestyle, here are a few things that you should do to have the lifestyle of your dreams.

It's all about the diet
'You are what you eat' is a popular line that is true. For you to be healthy, you need to eat right. This means that you need to ensure that the food that you eat contains all the necessary nutrients. The food should contain: proteins, vitamins, carbohydrates, oils, and other macro and micro nutrients.

The first meal that you need to watch out is your breakfast. This is because this is the first meal of the day and gives you all the energy that you require throughout the day.

It has been shown that many people tend to eat more minerals and vitamins and less cholesterol and fat. This is wrong and it results to low cholesterol levels in the body and a leaner body that is unattractive.
To be on the safe side, you should eat a meal composed of carbohydrates, proteins, and small amounts of fats. To get these nutrients, you need to consume a variety of foods.

Other than breakfast, it has been shown that many people tend to get it wrong when it comes to the snacks that they eat. It has been observed that many people eat snacks that contain plenty of carbohydrates. The result of consuming plenty of carbohydrates is plenty of calories in the body which results to weight gain.
To be healthy you should eat fruits and vegetables as snacks. The good side with these snacks is that they play a vital role of boosting good health.

The fruits and vegetables aid in: reducing the risk of cancers (such as colon cancer), improving memory, enhancing the immune system, promoting cardiovascular health, and beating the signs of ageing.
For ideal results, you should consume at least five servings of the snacks every day.

Incorporate healthy habits
You can't have a healthy lifestyle if you keep on engaging in unhealthy habits. For example you can't be healthy if you smoke or drink excessive amounts of alcohol. This means that you should quit smoking. You also need to drink alcohol in moderation.

Another healthy habit that you should practice is dental hygiene. It has been shown that people who practice proper dental hygiene tend to live 6 years more than those who don't observe proper dental care.
Researchers say that dental plaque enters the bloodstream thus blocking blood vessels. This results to heart diseases and other diseases such as stroke and diabetes. These diseases usually shorten the life expectancy of a person.

Proper dental care involves brushing of teeth for at least twice a day. You should also floss at least once every day.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8372526

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Weight Loss Program: Motivate Yourself For Losing Weight

We all have to deal with excess weight after the holidays, but we also know that it is not so easy to follow a weight loss program or a diet to lose fat. We need motivation to start the program and complete it. Here we are going to discuss the top 4 weight loss motivation tips. Listen, only if you are able to motivate your mind about losing weight, you'll be achieving it one day.


Otherwise you'll be just dreaming of those wonderful things that would be happening once you lose pounds of weight from your body - but that won't be happening if you don't motivate yourself to loss weight! So, start motivating yourself through the following top 4 weight loss motivation tips.


1- Hitting the gym and lifting weights will surely increase your weight. But should you stop there? Never! You'll see an increase in weight you were building muscles while lifting weight. And muscles weighs more than fat. For the same reason you may find an increase in your body weight in the initial stages. But then you'll start losing weight in no time.


2- Just think about what you'll be able to do once you starting losing weight. Now, take a snapshot of yours and take a print out of it. It should be the "before" pic of yours - after you have succeeded in losing weight. Your plans should be to take that "after" pic - which will be looking awesome with you having succeeded in losing weight!


3- Never withdraw yourself from weight loss programs once you start it - thinking that it is tough and you won't be able to continue any longer. The fact is - only the first few weeks are the toughest. And once you are able to go further through the same weight loss program for a couple more weeks, you'll see you losing weight pretty easily than those early weeks.


4- Never make a plan to lose weight all at once! Did you put on weight overnight all at once? So, why should you lose weight all at once? You weren't knowing that you were putting on weight since the process is pretty slow. But it is continuous. Take note of the word "continuous". You should plan to tackle it doing things for losing weight in a continuous manner. Yup, you should be consistent in following your weight loss programs.


Only then you'll be able to lose weight the same way as you put on weight!


Also remember this last part of any weight loss plan is rest: it might seem not extremely essential, but whenever you are burning that fat, the body will probably be taxed and you will be tired. Keep in mind to get at least 8 hours of sleep every night!

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