by WellnessWise on July 2, 2010
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: carbs make you fat and you need to cut back on carbs to lose weight. Well, I can tell you that I hear that at least once a week. I am here to dispel that myth and tell you that carbohydrate is essential. Carbohydrate fuels your brain. It is the nutrient that your brain needs to function.
Carbohydrates come in two forms: complex and simple. Complex carbs are those that are rich in nutrients. You’ll find complex carbs in whole grains, bread, fruits and vegetables. Simple carbs provide calories and not much else. You’ll find simple carbs in most everyday sweets such as table sugar, honey, cookies, and soda.
As a general guide, complex carbs are good. Simple carbs, well, not so much.
So when it comes to carbs, how much should you eat? Of your total calories, you should eat about 50% from carbohydrate. If you are eating an 1800-calorie diet, then 900 calories should be coming from carbs.
Other than to fuel your brain, why should you eat carbs? Well, here’s why:
- Carbs fuel your muscles and your central nervous system.
- Carbs are your body’s preferred source of energy.
- Carbs allow protein to do get its own job done — muscle and tissue repair, hormone synthesis and enzyme formation.
- Carbs allow fat to burn completely (we actually need carbohydrates to burn fat properly)
- Carbs help satisfy hunger. Complex carbs provide bulk and fiber, aiding digestion.
So go ahead and carb up! Enjoy that whole grain bagel and delicious sweet summer fruit.
by WellnessWise on March 18, 2010
A nutritious breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Without breakfast you’ll feel starved by mid-morning, crave and eat snacks on your way to lunch (breakfast treats at the workplace, anyone?), and then binge at lunch. Without breakfast, you’ll start your day lacking energy and attention and you’ll increase your chances of gaining, not losing weight. Let’s understand why.
Skipping breakfast increases your chance of gaining weight. Why is this? While you sleep, your metabolic rate slows down because you don’t need as much energy as when you are awake. If you skip breakfast and go without food, your body goes into a starvation state and reserves energy for the possibility of going hours and hours with out food. Your body knows it just lasted 15-20 hours with out food, isn’t sure when it will get food again, and works to keep your metabolism slow. When you finally do eat — even if you eat a really nutritious and healthy, high fiber, low-fat lunch, — your body will store those healthy calories as body fat for reserved energy.
In other words, by skipping breakfast you are teaching your body to store calories as body fat.
Many people think to themselves “I’ll just skip breakfast and reduce my calories, and then I’ll consume those calories later in the day.” Your body thinks differently. Your body thinks “I don’t know when I’m going to get calories again, so I’d better store these up for a long time.”
Now, I am not saying that you need to be eating a big meal the minute your feet hit the floor in the morning. But you should eat something nutritious within at least an hour and a half after waking.
By “something,” I do not mean grabbing a coffee and a pastry, or coffee and a bagel, or fast-food junk.
The best nutritious breakfast option is a combination of carbohydrate (whole grains, fruits, vegetables, juice) and protein (eggs, nut butters, yogurt, milk). Drinking a small glass of 100% juice and eating a piece of whole grain toast with almond butter or a bowl of cereal with low-fat milk and berries will do just fine. You are telling your body “nourishment is on the way! Speed up my metabolism!” A speedy metabolism is one sure-fire way to drop those pounds. You just kick started your body back into gear for the day. You just gave your body the energy it needs for thinking, physical activity and for staying healthy.
You should think of your body like a car. Can it run without fuel? No! You can’t run your body with out fuel either. Food is your fuel. Breakfast is your gas ‘n go!
Eating breakfast is the best way to keep you on your wellness track and help you keep your weight in check.
