Archive for the ‘healthy eating’ Category

Breaking the Dogma of Meal Timing


20 Oct

Being in the midst of the Big Meal Challenge has brought up a lot of questions of some people about meal timing. I thought we could take today to set the record straight on just how many times a day you should be eating and how we evolved to thinking of multiple meals as the only given option.

If you go back, way back into the history of man they guided by a very simple eating style which was “Food, OMG food, eat it!” Hmmm, I guess that isn’t so different after all. However, the huge difference was their cry for food was out of extreme hunger and to survive longer in life and movement. Our cry is at the smell of the decked out long lines of trays filled with chicken wings, pizza, and warm brownies topped with ice cream. This is no longer America I am speaking about, this is any developed and economic flourishing country. If we desire we can eat all day long, from wake to sleep, food is there for the taking and all we have to do is control our dietary habit of how much of it we eat.

At a point researchers, based on mostly EPI based studies, and a few various controlled studies, decided that people who ate multiple meals a day were in better health condition than those who, claimed, to eat 1-2 times a day a skipped breakfast. Let us now take a peak into how the science that governs our lives works…

*insert dream waving lines*

Doc with survey: So how many times a day do you eat?
Fat person who is unhealthy: Usually just eat dinner, sometimes a snack during the day.
Doc with survey: So you don’t normally consume breakfast?
Fat person who is unhealthy: No, I am not usually hungry.

Let’s note for a moment that the reason, usually, those who are largely overweight aren’t hungry in the morning is because they were going to town the night before.

Doc with survey: So how many times a day do you eat?
Skinny person with recycled tree print purse: Few times a day I pick foods from my garden, maybe I will have a light breakfast with some fruit or nuts. A night a larger meal with some wine.
Doc with survey: Well aren’t you the perfect human, did you know we hate you all?
Skinny person with recycled tree print bag: Yes, yes I do. I think you need some B12 for that.

Now it may appear that I am severely “type casting” but that is the point. If you think that your dietary guidelines came out of something a lot more deeper and prolific than that, then think again. The majority of you are eating based upon nothing more than a magazine quiz at a doctors office that you always lie on.

The truth is that meal timing is a very personal and individual based thing. Some say it could be heritage based. For example, if you have heritage of a more coast residing great grandpa then you might be, by genetics, more accustom to eating multiple meals as it was more readily available to you. Those living by the shore where fishing and imports flourished had more varieties and frequency of foods. However, if you were deep inland, it is not as if there were grocery stores all around. It could be days before the next kill, bread press, or delivery of the few foods that could travel came through, particularly in the winter time. For you it wasn’t even just one meal a day, it could be a one meal every three.

This isn’t to say that this was recommended but, the Greeks were certainly doing well in the power dominating category, however others proclaimed the classic phrase of “Hunger is the best sauce.” Fast forward again and our revolutions are televised and they are supported in hand with “Chester Chettah.” Someone had to save us, enter in diet and fitness authors of the 80’s. Not until the 80’s did a harsh look come in to the basis of meal timing. Sure it was in the underground before then but at the peak of bodybuilding, gyms for fun, and jazzercize people started looking at the cherry picked benefits of multiple meals in a day. People started noticing that the bellies were growing and their had to be a reason. The answer, and still seems to be today, was Sugar. Sugar highs, sugar lows, and sugar woes. What was the solution given to a nation of growing bellies and sugar crashes?

Eat more, and more often.

To be truthful this concept isn’t all bad, nor is it all good. As always with any dietary strategy nothing is ever that cut and dry nor does it fit with everyone. The problem is that we, as a people, don’t like the following words…

Maybe
Depends
Possibly
Likely
Unclear
Without Certainty
Could Be

We as a people need leadership and answers that are absolutes. We like black and white as it gives us a comfort and a place to rest our worries. The truth is that when it comes to meal timing there is only one absolute to how often we should eat.

Grab a snack to hold you over for tomorrow where you are going to find out…

  • What meal frequency eating type you are.
  • How many meals you should be having in a day/week.
  • What time of day is best to eat for you.
  • The tell-tale signs of when what you are doing is wrong.
  • How to best test the theories that have set the course of healthy eating as we know it.

(HFCS) High Fructose Corn Syrups-New Sweet Surprise Commercials


03 Sep

By the end of this post you will never be confused about what is good and bad to eat again.

I don’t know if you have caught the new commercials on tv, but apparently corn was starting to get a little bitter about their constant bad press. It isn’t that I disagree really, I just think it is funny as an industry, as a country, that we are making pro High Fructose Corn Syrup ads. That is just the funniest thing I have seen in a long time.

To quickly note, sugar isn’t just sugar. Nothing is ever that black and white, but, is HFCS going to kill you, are they right? The short answer is, under current research, there is no danger with intake of HFCS on small levels. If looking for a interesting take on various HFCS study information hop over to Alan Aragon’s Research Review for the August edition. It might just surprise you.

I will be the first to admit that I have “feelings” about substances. My feelings about substances that you take into your body are pretty simple. I am going to do you the favor of sharing with you…the system. I have a rating system that I have designed that without a doubt will allow me to make, on average, the best food decisions. I guide by this rating system everyday. Sure, there are occasions where I have intake that goes against this rating, however it is rare and it is by just personal choice, not phobia.

Are you ready for my rating system that will help you guide by what to eat and what not to eat on a daily basis?

The System:

Eat Often=Foods that have a lot vitamins, minerals,  and nutrients.
Eat Little=Foods that don’t.

That is the system.

Ask not what your food does to you, but what your food does for you.

Chocolate & PB2 High Protein Dessert Souffle’


22 Aug

Recently I mentioned this recipe on Fitcast. The response has been overwhelming to say the least. You, the reader, have literally bullied me for more information on this rich and intoxicating treat. My response to you is…fine, here it is.  ;) This is going to be one of the recipes in the upcoming Body By Eats book.

Items Needed:

Mixing Bowl-Medium
Whisk
Souffle Dish (Can use smaller bowls and coffee mugs but may need to adjust the times depending on how shallow/deep the container.)

Ingredients:

30 Grams of protein Powder
20 Grams of PB2
10 Grams of Regular Peanut Butter
10 Grams of Cocoa Powder
2 Grams of Splenda or 1 Packet of Stevia
3 to ounces of Skim milk

1. Put all dry items in mixing bowl and mix together.
2. Add the Peanut Butter and Skim Milk.
3. Whisk together all items until completely mixed. No lumps of powder or peanut butter. If need you can add small drops of extra milk for some thicker peanut butters.
4. Pour Mixture in Souffle Dish.
5. Place dish in Microwave and heat for 30 secs.  Take out the dish and move (small amount) of cooked outside towards the middle allowing the mass of liquid to hit the outside again.
6. Heat for 15-20 secs more, repeat same step of moving outer cooked layer inside. If it was really liquidy the first time still then do 20 secs. If it had some firm spots stick to 15.
7. Heat for 15-20 more secs (time again depending on how liquid.
8. Allow it to sit for 1 min. Then take a butter knife and run around the edges of the dish, turn the dish over onto a plate and like that, you have a beautiful, soft, melting in mouth, protein souffle.

Stats:

Calories: 322
Protein: 39 g
Fat: 10g
Carbs: 24 g

*Note this is assuming the highest possible with splenda, peanut butter, and protein powders. Can be less than this in calories and carbs*

Please let me know how it turns out or if you need any tips or advice.

The Fat Loss Troubleshooter – Leigh Peele

Common Sense Meets Advanced Knowledge