Don't Wait to Eat: Advice for Healthy Weight Loss

In Allen Bethea's Three Principles for Guaranteed Weight Loss, he asserts that one should eat only when hungry. I disagree.

All calories are not created equal. Some foods qualify as high glycemic and some as low glycemic. High gycemic foods are absorbed into the blood stream quickly, because they contain high percentages of glucose, spiking blood sugar levels and triggering your body to produce insulin. Low glycemic foods are typically more filling, as well, because the body's insulin levels stay constant; when the insulin levels spike, often producing more insulin than needed, the body feels hungry again because it needs more sugar to counter-balance the insulin. With more high glycemic foods, the person continues to yo-yo as his insulin spikes and dips and this, among other things, creates a pattern of over eating. To counteract a high glycemic food, accompany it with protein.

By waiting until one is hungry, he typically overeats, as food is not digested quickly enough to send signals that he is full. So, rather than eating a 100 calorie snack followed by a 400 calorie meal, the dieter eats a 600-900 calorie meal because he feels hungry. A good rule of dieting is to make sure you don't feel hungry. Eat small snacks during the day. Of course, monitor these snacks.

One rule is the rule of three; whenever you snack, make sure there is fat, carbohydrate and protein present. So, if one snacks and eats a high glycemic carb, he will quickly be hungry again. However, add some protein to the mix, and the feeling of being full lasts. So, rather than eating some fruit, eat fruit with some cottage cheese.

Another rule is to eat vegetables. "A study of more than 2,000 low-carb dieters found that, on average, the biggest losers were consuming four servings of nonstarchy vegetables a day. That's virtually any vegetable of your choice other than potatoes (white, sweet, or fried), carrots, and corn. (Men's Health). These vegetables increase one's in-take of fiber, which helps a person feel full.

Great snack ideas are a handful of nuts, celery with peanut butter or cottage cheese with fruit.

Later in the article, Bethea discourages exercise saying that when he started to exercise, he actually gained weight. This often happens when people start to exercise; one reason is that muscle weighs more than fat. So, if a person turns fat into muscle, he will gain weight on a scale. However, most calories burned by the body occur through normal living or at rest. And, muscle burns more calories than fat. So, the more lean muscle a person has, the more calories he burns when sitting at the computer, sleeping at night, etc. This is the greatest reason to exercise, especially lifting weights. Remember, professional athletes with bodies a normal person could only dream of often weigh far more than a normal, overweight individual. Look at an NFL lineback who is 6'1, 230 lbs with 7% body fat vs a normal 5'10 210lbs man with 40+% body fat; the linebacker is ripped and defined while the average guy has a belly and no muscle tone. It is not the weight that matters as much as the body fat percentage. I look leaner now at 190lbs than I did in college at 170lbs and I am in better shape as well.

By exercising and eating regularly throughout the day, one increases his metabolism, which keeps one's body burning calories all day long. By burning more calories at rest through increase in lean muscle mass, one improves his weight loss goals. Simply starving oneself is not a good means for weight loss as eventually the person will eat a huge meal or overindulge to eliminate the hunger pains and then the weight will return. This is one reason why dieters typically have a hard time keeping weight off. Starving oneself might work in the short term, but it is not a long term answer.

The long term answer is a shift in daily living to one which incorporates more activity and more smaller meals throughout the day, including lots of water (eliminate soft drinks and coffee from your diet and you can lose 10 pounds in a year without any other changes) and vegetables. By changing one's habits, one can lose weight and keep it off and keeping it off is the real weight loss goal.

For a good nutrition resource, check out John Berardi.