|
3 Simple Tips for Losing Weight Go to sleep. Getting enough sleep every night keeps you slim. Why?
When your body doesn't get the 7 to 8 hours it needs every night, it doesn't get a full resupply of serotonin and dopamine,
two feel-good brain chemicals it craves. So it looks for ways to replenish them, and guess what immediately releases both
in the body: sugary foods. That's why when you're tired you start craving sweets! So tuck yourself in early and stay slim.
Keep your hands full. You'd think that sitting around playing video
games, solitaire, or surfing Yahoo! would be a recipe for putting on pounds. Nope. When your fingers are flying, they're not
knuckle-deep in a bowl of chips. Now, that's not to say that endless hours on your duff are good for your waistline, but when
you keep your hands and brain occupied, you're not automatically reaching for something to eat. In fact, you're probably not
even thinking about food. So the next time you start to open the fridge door, turn on the computer or pick up your knitting
instead. Pick and stick. Yeah, sure, variety may be the spice of life.
But it can also be the death of dieting. When you have a lot of choices for a meal, it's a lot easier to slip out of good
eating habits and into buffet binges. One way to avoid trouble is to eliminate choices for at least one meal a day. Pick the
meal you rush through most, and then automate it. For most people, that's lunch. Find a healthy lunch -- maybe salad with
grilled chicken or a turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread -- and have it for lunch every day. Every day. Yes, every day. The
less you think about food, the easier it is to control your appetite. And decreasing choices decreases temptations. All three tips are from two weight-loss experts: RealAge superdocs Michael Roizen, MD, and Mehmet Oz,
MD, authors of the huge best-seller, YOU: On a Diet Eat This and the Pounds Will DropTrying to lose a few? Aren't
we all. You’ll lose even more if you set out a plate of this before each meal: apple wedges. Eating a bit
of high-fiber fruit -- like a small apple or pear -- before each meal is a proven weight-loss booster. Fruit
BoosterYou've seen those ads for weight-loss pills that promise to help you lose even more weight
when you diet. It's possible that apple wedges could give those pills a run for the money. In a recent study where women were
divided up into fruit-before-meals and no-fruit-before-meals groups, the fruit group lost more weight -- even though they
all followed the same reduced-calorie diet. The key? Choosing fruit that's high in fiber but low in calories (read: high water
content, like apples). Here's why fiber and water make a fabulous combo. Eat Breakfast to Curb Middle-age Weight
Gain | | Content provided by Reuters | | Tuesday, February 12, 2008 |
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Looking for
ways to limit middle-age weight gain? Eat more at breakfast and less later in the day, researchers suggest. "Shifting a greater proportion of a day's
total calorie intake to breakfast time is potentially beneficial for lower weight gain over time among middle-aged men and women," Dr. Nita Forouhi told Reuters
Health. Forouhi, of the Institute of Metabolic Science, Addenbrooke's Hospital, in Cambridge, UK, and colleagues
studied 6,764 men and women, 40 to 75 years old, who were assessed at the start of the study and an average of 3.7 years later.
At the outset, the investigators gathered 7-day food diaries to measure overall diet and breakfast eating habits, and
collected information on lifestyle, such as physical activity and smoking, the team reports in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
"Although everyone gained some weight over time, people who ate a greater proportion of their calories at breakfast
time gained less weight," Forouhi noted. "People who ate a greater proportion (22 to 50 percent) of their
total daily calories at breakfast time gained 0.79 kilograms of weight over time," Forouhi said. By contrast, those who
consumed no more than 11 percent of their total calories at breakfast had a greater weight gain of 1.23 kilograms. Each
10 percent increase in calorie consumption at breakfast, the investigators note, equated to about 210 to 320 grams less weight gain on average over 4 years.
Moreover, the association between lower weight gain over time and greater calorie intake at breakfast remained when
the researchers factored in the effects of a healthier lifestyle, baseline weight, total calorie intake, and individual demographics. The investigators conclude that redistributing
a greater proportion of daily energy intake to breakfast, and a smaller proportion over the rest of the day, may help reduce
weight gain in middle-aged adults over time. |
5 Super Foods for Weight Loss
By Jonny Bowden, PhD,
CNS Look, let's get real. Some foods make it really difficult
to lose weight. They create their own self-sustaining cravings ("Betcha can't eat just one!") and play havoc with
your blood sugar and, ultimately, your waistline. But some foods do
just the opposite. By now almost everyone knows how great foods like
broccoli and blueberries are and how they can help you lose weight -- but here are some foods you may not have thought of
when you first saw the title of this article. Yet every one of these foods (and one beverage) meets at least one major criteria
of being a super food for weight loss. - Grapefruit.
Remember the old "grapefruit diet"? Turns out there may actually be something to back up grapefruit's reputation
as a fat fighter. In a recent study at the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, researchers studied the effect of grapefruit on weight
loss and found that eating half a grapefruit before meals actually helped people drop weight.1 The researchers
studied the effect of grapefruit capsules, grapefruit juice, and real grapefruit. All three seemed to help, but the folks
eating the real grapefruit got the best results. The mechanism isn't completely understood but the results speak for themselves.
As an added benefit, grapefruit contains cancer fighting compounds like liminoids and lycopene -- and red grapefruit has been
shown to help lower triglycerides. And a half of a grapefruit has only 39 calories!
- Sardines. I call sardines one of the greatest health bargains of all time,
and it's definitely a boon to anyone wanting to lose weight. Why? First of all it's loaded with protein, which helps stabilize
blood sugar, makes you feel full (and less like overeating), and helps stimulate metabolism. Second, it's a great source of
omega-3's, which not only strengthen the cardiovascular system, but are helpful in boosting mood. (When you're in a good mood,
you tend to crave less junk food!). Third, sardines are convenient, easy to find, and cheap! And because they're very low
on the food chain, they're remarkably free of contaminants.
- Pumpkin. You may only know this vegetable for its central role in Thanksgiving celebrations,
but it's one of the great weight loss foods of all time. Plain old canned pumpkin is absolutely loaded with fiber -- each
1/2 cup serving has a whopping 8 grams and only a mere 40 calories. Dozens of studies confirm that high fiber intake is associated
with a host of health benefits, not the least of which is weight management. And here's the deal: it's the easiest food in
the world to prepare. You can sweeten it with some Xylitol (or even Splenda), sprinkle it with blood-sugar lowering cinnamon
(and nutmeg for good measure), throw in some healthy almonds, and make it into one of the best tasting weight loss treats
around. It's filling and it's delicious.
- Grass
Fed Beef. I'll be honest with you -- meat is a great weight loss food, but it's hard to recommend it if it's filled
with antibiotics, steroids, and hormones. Buy grass-fed beef and avoid the problems while getting all the terrific benefits.
(Buffalo burgers are a good alternative if you can't find grass-fed beef). Higher protein diets are associated with weight
loss for a variety of reasons. Protein stimulates the metabolism, helps you feel fuller longer, and helps decrease the desire
to overeat. High-protein breakfasts are one of the best weight loss tricks in the book (try a buffalo burger for breakfast
sometime and see what I mean!). And grass-fed beef has a high omega-3 content giving you multiple health benefits as a bargain.
- Green Tea. OK, technically it's
not a food, but it's one of the great weight loss beverages of all time -- rich in antioxidants, promotes heart health, aids
digestion, and regulates blood sugar and body temperature. It raises the metabolic rate and speeds up fat oxidation thus helping
people lose weight. Drink it daily to boost your metabolism. Some research has shown that five cups a day is the magic number
for fat loss. As an added benefit, the theanine in green tea is also a great natural de-stressor.
Make these foods part of your daily diet and watch the pounds come off!
Widespread
Weight Loss May Reap Health Benefits | | Content provided by Reuters | | Tuesday, October 30, 2007 |
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - If a large swath of the population cut down on calories and took up exercise, the resulting
health benefits could be extensive, a new study suggests. The findings are based on an analysis of the economic crisis in
Cuba from 1989 to 2000. While the circumstances were dire, and Cuban citizens' health suffered in certain ways, researchers
found that significant health benefits also emerged.
Specifically, people's
overall calorie intake declined, while their physical activity levels climbed -- mainly as a result of walking or biking instead
of paying for public transportation.
As a result, the prevalence of obesity
fell by half -- from 14 percent of the adult population to 7 percent -- and deaths from diabetes, heart disease and stroke dropped substantially.
"This
is the first, and probably the only, natural experiment, born of unfortunate circumstances, where large effects on diabetes,
cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality have been related to sustained population-wide weight loss as a result of increased
physical activity and reduced caloric intake," lead study author Dr. Manuel Franco said in a statement.
Less-dramatic changes in diet and exercise -- ones that would not dampen the quality of people's
diets -- could go far in reducing rates of heart disease and diabetes, according to Franco, of the
Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in Baltimore.
The findings,
which appear in the American Journal of Epidemiology, are based on vital statistics and population surveys from the years
1980 through 2005. Franco's team found that after 1989, the first year of Cuba's prolonged economic downturn, calorie intake
dropped substantially.
In 1988, the average person consumed 2,899 calories;
that fell to 1,863 by 1993. Based on a number of population studies, the prevalence of obesity was cut in half over roughly
a decade.
Even more importantly, the researchers found, deaths attributed
to type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke dropped sharply between 1997 and 2002 -- by 51 percent, 35 percent
and 20 percent, respectively.
There were negative health effects as well.
Among elderly Cubans, the all-cause death rate actually inched upward and there was an epidemic of degenerative nerve damage
as a result of widespread nutritional deficiency. During the economic crisis, rice and sugar cane were the staples of most
Cubans' diets, Franco's team notes.
The adverse effects seen in this study
could be avoided by cutting calories but maintaining a balanced, nutritious diet, according to the researchers.
"Future steps towards prevention of cardiovascular disease and diabetes should focus on long-term
population-wide interventions by encouraging physical activity and the reduction of caloric intake," Franco said.
SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, online September 19, 2007. |
4 Simple Breakfast Rules for Shedding PoundsFour simple rules could turn your breakfast into a cravings crusher, pound
shedder, and mood booster.
It’s all about timing and balance, according to Dr. Kathleen DesMaisons,
author of Potatoes, Not Prozac.
One, Two, Three, Four . . .
Here are DesMaisons’s four simple
rules for using breakfast to counterbalance the biochemical mechanisms behind sugar cravings, obesity, and depression. (Browse her book online.) - Do it daily. Your goal is to make it
a daily, automatic habit. The reward? You can kiss late-day low blood sugar and sugary snack cravings goodbye -- permanently.
Learn why some foods are more addictive than others.
- Do it sooner rather
than later. For the best results, eat breakfast within an hour or so of waking up -- even if you’re not hungry.
Morning-time low blood sugar produces a brain chemical designed to mask hunger pangs -- but can cause sugar cravings later
in the day. Try these 10 other easy ways to outsmart your appetite.
- Make it complex. We’re
talking complex carbohydrates here (whole-grain cereals, steel-cut oats, high-fiber fruits, etc.) The fiber keeps blood sugar
on an even keel and helps you feel full longer. Here’s a complex-carb take on a breakfast standard: Healthy Pancake Mix.
- Power it with protein.
Protein slows digestion, helps prevent spikes and dips in blood sugar, and can even give you a dose of depression-fighting
tryptophan. DesMaisons recommends that you get a third of your daily protein at breakfast. (How much protein do you need each
day? Find out with this tool.)
Get a complete breakfast makeover by reading this article. RealAge Benefit: Eating breakfast can make your RealAge as much as 1.1 years younger.
metabolism 7 Secrets to Revving Up Your Metabolism
By
Jennifer Gruenemay, ACE-Certified, LifeScript Staff Writer
You’ve
heard the word metabolism before, so you probably know that
it’s the key to maintaining a healthy weight. But what
if your
metabolism is too slow? Is there anything you can do? Absolutely! If
your sluggish metabolism is a result
of poor eating habits and a
sedentary lifestyle, you can provide your body with the tools it
needs to boost your
metabolism back to normal. Use these tips to rev
up your metabolism and help unlock your true weight loss potential.
Plus: Test your calorie IQ...
Get an Early Start
There are two things that you should be doing in the morning
to boost
your metabolism throughout the day. The first is to eat breakfast.
You probably think that you’re
not doing yourself any harm by
skipping that bowl of oatmeal, but you’re missing the first
opportunity of
the day to jump-start your metabolism. Eating
stimulates your metabolism by breaking your body out of its
overnight
"starvation" mode, so make sure to have a healthy breakfast
every day.
The second thing you can
do in the mornings to jump-start your
metabolism is to exercise. It can be extremely difficult to convince
yourself
to get out of bed before you really have to, but in terms of
kick-starting your metabolism, it’s worth it. Research
shows you can
actually burn more calories throughout the day by exercising in the
mornings. Morning exercise also
gets the blood flowing to your brain,
helping you to feel more alert throughout your day.
Exercise Regularly
Speaking of exercise, you should do it every day. Cardiovascular
exercise (running, swimming, aerobics, walking) stimulates
your
metabolism, helps you burn calories more efficiently and can actually
act as an appetite suppressant following
the workout. Weight-training
tones your muscles and boosts lean tissue mass, which burns more
calories per pound
than fat. The more lean muscle tissue you have,
the more calories you burn each day. If you want to reap the benefits
of being fit, add both cardiovascular exercise and weight training
into your daily routine.
EAT!
When
is it okay to skip a meal? Never. People on weight loss diets
often try to get that extra dieting edge by cutting entire
meals
instead of just cutting calories throughout the day, but this is
actually counterproductive. Contrary to popular
belief, skipping
meals forces your metabolism to slow down and conserve calories to
compensate for the lack of food.
When you finally do eat, you will
store more calories because your body is preparing itself for the
next time you’re
going to starve it. Stay off this rollercoaster by
eating at regular intervals throughout the entire day.
Eat
All Day
Not to be taken literally, "eat all day" means that you should be
eating more snacks or smaller
meals instead of just three large
meals. Eating five or six small meals throughout the day keeps a
steady stream
of energy flowing into your body, boosting not only
your metabolism, but also your brain power, which is important to
having a productive day. Keep healthy snacks with you, such as fresh
fruits, veggies, nuts and yogurt, and then graze
throughout the day
as needed.
Eat the Right Way
Balanced eating is accomplished by simply selecting a
variety of
foods from all of the five food groups – grains, vegetables, fruits,
dairy, and proteins (meats,
beans, legumes) – every day. When you eat
from every group daily and choose a variety from each group, you will
get the right balance of nutrition and energy your body needs.
Cutting out a whole food group can lead to nutrient
deficiencies and
is not recommended.
If you’re on a low-carb diet, don’t cut out fruits and vegetables
completely, which are a rich source of vitamins, minerals and
antioxidants. Instead, choose low-carb, high-fiber fruits
and
vegetables. Carbohydrate foods supply a quick and efficient source of
energy to the body, which is also needed
by the brain. If you are a
vegetarian, you are probably at risk for vitamin B12, iron and zinc
deficiencies, so
consider taking a daily multivitamin. Vegetarians
need to pay closer attention to their protein intake as well by
adding legumes and nuts to their diet. To summarize, everyone has
their own individual challenges to nutrition, but
anyone can eat the
right way if they aim for balance
Get Spicy
Adding spices to your meals may do more
than just add great flavor.
Spicy foods, such as jalapeños, hot chile peppers and spices, such as
hot cinnamon,
may actually increase body temperature. Body
temperature and metabolism are directly related, because as you burn
energy, heat is released. So, the theory goes that by increasing your
internal body temperature, spicy foods may temporarily
raise the
metabolism and stimulate the use of stored fat as energy. The experts
go back and forth on this theory,
but adding spicy foods to your
meals will at the very least add great flavor, which never hurts.
Calcium Counts
A large body of recent research is showing that calcium, an essential
mineral, can actually boost your basal metabolic
rate (BMR), which is
the base level at which your metabolism functions. Boosting your BMR
boosts your daily calorie
burn, which in turn can help tremendously
with your weight loss efforts. If you don’t eat enough calcium-rich
foods, such as dairy products and dark green veggies, you should
either start adding them to your diet or you should
consider taking a
daily calcium supplement.
How Calorie-Conscious are You?
One of the great secrets of
weight loss isn’t such a secret after
all - limit the amount of calories you consume each day and eat the
right
amount of calories for your body and you’ll lose weight. While
calorie-counting seems like a tedious task, having
a basic knowledge
of which foods will send you into a diet trap isn’t. So just how
calorie-conscious are you?
Take this calorie quiz.
metabolism Shift Your Metabolism
Into Drive | | By Carly Young, Special to LifeScript | | |
What’s
worse than being on a diet? Being on a diet and not seeing any results! If you’re trying to maximize your metabolism
and lose weight, you need to make sure that you understand the guidelines for eating well. Otherwise, you’ll unknowingly
undermine your own efforts and ruin your weight loss plan. To succeed in your diet and avoid drowning in confusion, follow
one simple rule: If you’re not hungry, don’t eat. Below are some common facts that can be misleading to dieters.
Each piece of advice is accompanied by tips that will help you to learn how to eat because you’re hungry, not because
you think you should. So start learning how to maximize your metabolism and begin losing fat. Plus: Test your calorie IQ… Commonly Misinterpreted Weight Loss Facts #1: Your
metabolic rate drops sharply when you reduce your overall caloric intake and wait long hours in between meals. The basics: During
the caveman days, our ancestors had to survive on a limited amount of calories. Whenever they had to go long periods with
little or no food, their metabolism dropped and their body slowed down, requiring less energy to keep on going. While having
a sluggish metabolism was a good thing when mammoth meat was scarce, in modern day this fact of life can make crash diets
backfire. Whenever your “calorie balance” falls more than 20% below your energy needs, your metabolism starts
to drastically slow down, which means you burn fewer calories. |
#2: Eating six smalls a day will provide
your body with a steady stream of energy and help you maximize your metabolism. The basics: Eating every three hours can
stave off hunger pangs and keep your blood sugar at a stable level. By eating six small meals a day instead of three big ones, you constantly provide your
body with the energy it needs during the long hours between meals. If you eat snacks regularly, you won’t be starving
when it comes time for a meal, rendering you less likely to binge. But if you’re not hungry, don’t eat: You can’t
use the above fact as an excuse to shove handfuls of chips into your mouth or down a bowl of ice cream every few hours. If
you decide to eat several small meals in one day, you still need to keep track of your total caloric intake. For example,
if you’re aiming for 1,500 calories and you want to eat five times a day, then that means you need
to limit each meal to 300 calories. If you chow down and throw food into your mouth willy-nilly, you’ll sabotage your
weight loss plan. The unneeded calories that you consume will only serve to expand
your waistline. |
For some people, having a small meal every few hours is impractical. If
you work an eight-hour shift, you may be unable to get away from your desk to prepare a little snack. Many professionals like
to come home from work and have a real sit-down dinner with their families, not a mini-meal of cottage cheese and a piece
of fruit. If you’d rather eat small meals throughout the day and it’s practical for you to do so,
then go for it. But if you’re a three squares type, there’s no need to force yourself into chopping up your beloved
meals into little pieces. From a weight loss perspective, as long as you stay within your daily calorie
budget and don’t get too hungry, it shouldn’t matter if you eat three regular or six small meals a day. Pay attention
to your body’s hunger signals, not what time it is, to determine when and how much to eat. #3: Breakfast is the first opportunity
you have to maximize your metabolism and provide your body with the energy to start your day.
A good breakfast will help you stay full throughout the morning and prevent you from binging on unhealthy foods before lunch
time. The
basics: When your body goes long hours without any food, your metabolism slows down. While the 10-12 hours between
dinner and breakfast is by no means a famine, it’s enough to slow your metabolism down slightly. If you eat breakfast,
you can get your sluggish metabolism back up to speed. A study in Journal of the American Dietetic Association reported
that those who didn’t eat breakfast had a BMI of 27 (considered overweight), while those who ate breakfast
three times a week had a healthy BMI of under 25. |
But if
you’re not hungry, don’t eat: If you wake up and your body’s telling you that it’s not hungry,
don’t even consider putting food in your mouth. If you’re not hungry right when you get out of bed, you’ll
probably be hungry within the next two hours – eat then, when you really want food. Don’t consume unwanted calories because you’ve read that eating breakfast will maximize
your metabolism. It’s perfectly fine to wait one or two hours after waking up before eating. All that really matters
is that you don’t let yourself grow ravenous before lunch. And don’t use this fact as an excuse to pig out! When
scientists say that eating a healthy breakfast can help you lose weight, they don’t mean that you can gorge yourself on stacks
of pancakes, hoards of greasy hash browns and sugar-filled coffee drinks. Make sure that your breakfast includes a mix of
whole grains, protein and healthy fats. To
maximize your metabolism and fuel weight loss, it’s crucial that you refrain from
twisting diet advice around to mean that you can eat all day and gorge on whatever you want. Learning to eat when you’re
truly hungry, not when the clock tells you to, is a skill that will keep your waistline down and rev up your metabolism – no dieting required! How Calorie-Conscious are You? One of the great secrets of weight loss isn’t such a secret after
all - limit the amount of calories you consume each day and eat the right amount of calories for your body and you’ll
lose weight. While calorie-counting seems like a tedious task, having a basic knowledge of which foods will send you into
a diet trap isn’t. So just how calorie-conscious are you? Take this calorie quiz. |
|  | |
|
There
are many types of fat. Saturated fats are found in animal products such as steak, whole milk and eggs. Hydrogenated fats (also
called trans fats) are found in many processed foods. These man-made fats help extend the shelf life of many foods and were
used as a replacement for saturated fats during the low-fat craze of the 1990s. I usually recommend all my clients minimize
or avoid the use of these trans fats for optimal health. Finally, there are essential fatty acids, also called omega fats.
These omega fats are true gems when it comes to weight loss.
Fats can help fuel your weight loss in three critical ways. First, and most important, omega fats help maintain
healthy, lean muscle while suppressing your appetite and making you feel full on less food. Second, these omega fats can help
unlock stored body fat so your body can burn it for energy ... Finally, omega fats boost your body’s metabolism, so
you’ll burn more calories all day long. No other fat on earth will do this ...
Although you are free to eat any fats you want, you’ll maximize your
weight loss efforts if you primarily try to stick with omega fats. They’re also great for your overall health and youth
preservation ... You’ll find omega fats in flaxseed products, olive oil, soybeans and other seeds, nuts (especially
almonds), almond butter, olives and olive oil, fatty cold-water fish such as salmon and avocados ... Cool inflammation by quitting toxic foods and eating an allergy-free
diet for just seven days. Avoid foods with refined sugar and flour, trans fats, hormones and pesticides, as well as
gluten, dairy, eggs, corn and yeast. |
metabolism Boost Your Metabolism: 24 Hours to the Body of Your Dreams
By Selene Yeager for Prevention
Metabolism is a mystery. You may know that mastering it is the key to losing weight, but what is it? And where is it? Turns
out it's the engine that drives every cell, and that means it's everywhere. Your metabolism helps you walk, talk, fight off
illness, even read this magazine. Its fuel is calories. Each one you consume goes into the metabolic tank that powers the
machine that is you. Keep that tank filled and you're good to go, right?
If only it were that simple. As you age,
your body becomes less effective at burning calories, mostly because of a gradual decrease in activity and resulting loss
of muscle. Your metabolism can dip as much as 25 to 30 percent over your adult life, says Miriam Nelson, PhD, director of
the John Hancock Center for Physical Activity and Nutrition at Tufts University. As a result, your body tends to store excess
calories in the form of -- you guessed it -- body fat, and that extra weight only slows you down more.
You don't,
however, have to resign yourself to a life of forgiving jersey fabrics and shape-disguising tunics. For most women, strength-training
can help boost metabolism by as much as 10 percent in 12 weeks by rebuilding muscle. You can increase it further by making
small but targeted lifestyle changes. "Anything that energizes you -- a good night's sleep, fresh air, sunlight, a healthy
diet, regular exercise -- ultimately helps drive metabolism," explains Nelson.
With that in mind, we've designed
a round-the-clock plan that will tune up your fat-burning engine, boosting its efficiency and maximizing calorie burn morning,
noon and night. By shifting your body into high gear, these timely tips will help you burn 200 to 300 more calories a day.
(And that doesn't even take into account your regular exercise routine.) Can't do it all? Don't worry -- employing even a
few of these steps will confer benefits. Now let's get going.
Morning
Eat a 300- to 400-calorie breakfast
In the AM, your energy stores are depleted by as much as 80 percent from the night before. Without food, your body shifts
into starvation mode, which means it begins to conserve energy and burn fewer calories. (In other words: Your metabolic rate
takes a nosedive.) That may be why, in one study, breakfast skippers were 4 1/2 times more likely to be obese than breakfast
eaters. For more long-lasting energy, include whole grain complex carbohydrates like oatmeal.
Throw in a cup of
halved strawberries
Research suggests that getting enough vitamin C -- 75 mg a day -- may be essential for optimal fat
burning. The strawberries provide 90 mg.
Get a dose of sunlight
"Exposure to bright light decreases
melatonin and increases serotonin, shifting your body from sleep to awake mode and, in turn, revving your metabolic furnace,"
says health and psychology researcher Robert K. Cooper, PhD, author of the metabolism book 'Flip the Switch.'
Take
your multivitamin
Antioxidant nutrients help protect mitochondria, tiny structures found in every cell, from damage;
they're the microscopic fat-burning furnaces that convert food into fuel.
Move at the office
"Moving
throughout the day -- even if it's just walking to a colleague's office rather than sending an e-mail -- keeps your metabolism
higher than doing a workout and then remaining sedentary," says James O. Hill, PhD, director of the Center for Human
Nutrition at the University of Colorado at Denver.
Sip a cup of coffee or tea
Caffeine is a central nervous
system stimulant that moderately boosts metabolism, helping you burn about 20 extra calories.
Have a midmorning
snack
Good choices are a reduced-fat cheese stick or a cup of low-fat yogurt and a piece of fruit. Every time you eat,
your body burns additional calories to digest the food. Take advantage of this automatic boost by eating something -- even
if it's very small -- every 3 to 4 hours.
Your AM Routine: Energizing Yoga
Accelerate the natural metabolic
boost that occurs when you wake up by doing these poses. Yoga can also help control levels of the stress hormone cortisol,
which begins to rise after waking and can contribute to muscle loss and a resulting dip in metabolism.
Downward
Facing Dog
Kneel with hands directly beneath shoulders, knees beneath hips, and toes tucked. Press palms into floor
and lift tailbone toward ceiling, straightening legs so body forms an inverted V, as shown. Keep shoulders away from ears
and relax head between arms. Hold for three to five breaths. Bend knees and relax down to floor.
Cobra
Lie
facedown with legs extended, toes pointed. Place hands on floor beneath shoulders, elbows close to torso. Press feet, thighs,
hips, and pelvis firmly into floor and straighten arms, lifting chest as high as comfortably possible, as shown. Keep shoulders
down and back, lifting through breastbone, opening chest, and lengthening spine. Hold for three to five breaths. Tuck toes
under and push back into Downward Facing Dog. Repeat moves three to five times.
Afternoon
Eat a protein-packed
lunch You'll burn more calories digesting your midday meal because protein is more difficult to break down than carbohydrates
or fat.
Try:
? roast turkey breast with sliced veggies and hummus wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla; add a piece
of fruit
? salmon salad (like tuna salad but with canned salmon) topped with lettuce and tomato on a whole wheat bun;
carrot sticks and grapes on the side
? chicken-vegetable soup with a whole wheat roll
Snack on nuts
As your blood sugar and energy levels hit the postlunch slump, your metabolism also takes a dip. The protein and fiber in
a handful of nuts (about 20) can help stave off hunger and keep you energized until dinnertime. "Nuts also contain monounsaturated
fats, which have been found in studies to stimulate fat burning," says Cooper.
Laugh it up
Laughing
eases stress and boosts calorie burn up to 20 percent, reports a Vanderbilt University study of 90 men and women. Need a little
inspiration? Check out The Onion, an irreverent -- and completely fake -- news site.
Take the stairs
Climbing
stairs quickly elevates your heart rate for a metabolic jolt that burns 8 calories per minute -- twice as much as brisk walking.
Try to accumulate 5 to 10 minutes during the afternoon.
Brew some green tea
Studies show that the polyphenol
compounds in 2 to 4 cups may help raise metabolism by as much as 35 percent and encourage fat burning.
Commute
-- with a CD
Relaxing music has been shown to reduce cortisol, a key metabolism-tempering hormone. Once tension has
been tamed while on the highway, switch to more energizing music; upbeat tempos raise your heart and breathing rates and metabolism.
And you'll be ready to tackle whatever awaits you when you arrive at home.
Stretch at your desk
Counter
the metabolism-depressing effects of midday stress by boosting circulation and easing upper-body tension. And take deep breaths
while you stretch to provide cells with the energy-producing oxygen they need to burn fat.
Chair reach and drop
A. Sit on edge of chair, feet flat, back straight. Extend arms overhead, palms facing each other, and gently arch back
as far as comfortable. Hold 1 to 2 seconds, then sit back up and lower arms out to sides.
B. Clasp hands behind
back and lean forward from hips, bringing chest toward thighs, arms toward ceiling. Hold 10 to 15 seconds. Release and repeat.
|
|
