What about your
metabolism?
In all the years that I coached people, I ran across quite a
few who did not eat all day—sometimes waiting until 8PM
to have their first nourishment of the day.
When people wait until the end of the day to eat, they are
messing with their metabolism. They are either not eating
enough on a daily basis or then making up for it in a few
days on a weekend, or they are overeating every night, because
by evening they are starving!
Guess what happens to common sense planning when you
are very hungry? It goes out the window. You eat a lot all
at once—and moreover, you feel entitled to eat
whatever
you want! In this state you are unlikely to make healthy
choices. This is precisely the reason that diet programs
consistently warn people not to go grocery shopping when
they are hungry. The tendency is to buy out the store and
fill your cart with a lot of junk food and poor choices
because all food looks good! Can you identify with that?
So what role does your metabolism play in why you eat?
Think of your metabolism as a fire in your body. If you put
some kindling and paper on the embers, a fire will begin.
If you keep adding kindling and some smaller logs you will
keep your fire burning throughout the whole day.
During the night, or whenever you stop eating for a longer
period of time, your body goes into a mini fast, and your
metabolism and digestion will slow down until you eat
again in the morning. That is when you “break the fast”
from the night of not eating. Hence, the word breakfast.
So the sooner you eat in the morning, the longer your
metabolism will be operating. The faster your metabolism
starts in the morning, the more efficiently you will use the
food you have eaten to fuel your body.
Your morning meal fires up your metabolism. But it is
important to eat things that will not slow your metabolism.
A big huge breakfast may not be wise. Instead, consider
breakfast foods that you find easy to digest. After all, our
digestion has to restart for the day, so make choices such
as juice, yogurt, fruit, toast, and boiled egg—foods that are
gentler on the stomach.
If you don’t eat your first meal until later in the day, that
is when your metabolism will start again. Going back to my
fire analogy, if you put on a big huge log—a big meal once a
day at the end of the day—it will smolder and just sit there.
When leaving your food consumption until the end of the
day, two things can happen: you can be so hungry that you
overeat, or you are tempted to consume all your daily calories
at one sitting. If you don’t use that food energy right
away, it gets stored as fat. And your metabolism is not
working at its optimum.
If you only eat once a day your body will go into “fasting”
mode, shutting down for the night and the daytime. Food is
fuel for your body. You need good fuel, delivered regularly,
for your brain to function properly. If you only eat once a
day, either your body believes you are fasting and shuts
down, or your body believes it is in starvation mode and all
food gets stored as fat. Tinkering with regular eating times
sabotages the way the body is supposed to operate.
Eating 5–6 smaller meals or snacks several times a day
helps to keep your metabolism going. If you are not accustomed
to eating this often during the day, go slowly as
you adjust your meal habits. Ease into having foods several
times during the day so that you don’t feel like you have
overdone it when you do eat. Cut back on your portions;
space your meals and snacks no more than 3 hours apart.
Just like those smaller pieces of wood on the fire, smaller
amounts of food eaten 2–3 hours apart keep your metabolism
working efficiently—and it begins at the beginning of
your day with that all important meal we call breakfast.
Let’s do some self-discovery journaling to find out how you
approach fueling your body with food.
What is your self-talk about breakfast?
Ask yourself: Do you get an upset stomach if you eat too
early? Or if you eat too much at breakfast? Remember that
your body is just coming off a mini fast so it is important to
start out slowly and be gentle on your stomach. The digestion
is just turning on and it is slower at the beginning of the day.
What can you do to slowly introduce food in the morning?
Don’t over do it; even a piece of dry toast in the morning
is better than nothing. Later in the morning when you are
more on the go, some whole-wheat crackers with peanut
butter would be a good idea.
Here’s a sample day of what eating 5–6 small meals and
snacks might look like:
Breakfast Whole wheat toast with naturally
sweetened
jam.
Snack Whole wheat crackers with some
peanut butter.
Lunch Grilled chicken on a garden
salad with a
balsamic vinegar dressing and a side of fresh
fruit slices.
Snack Yogurt with sliced almonds and
raisins.
Supper Roast beef with pasta served with
a steamed
veggie and a fruit cup.
Snack Celery sticks with light cheese
and an apple.
(Note that I haven’t put amounts beside the food items in
this example. People will have different energy needs depending
on their activity, age, body type, gender, metabolism,
and health concerns.)
Notice I have put a protein—in this example, peanut butter,
chicken, yogurt, nuts, beef, and cheese—with almost every
meal. The reason is because we digest carbohydrates—
fruits, vegetables, breads, crackers, raisins, pasta etc. first,
then we digest protein. We digest fats last; in this example
fats are: some of the peanut butter, salad dressing, some
sauces, butter, beef fat, cheese and yogurt. By having a
carbohydrate
with a protein, you receive a short-term energy
stint and then have enough protein to last a few hours until
the next meal or snack.
Plan out a day similar to what I have done above and document
it in your journals. Here’s a suggestion: Set up a template
for your day like the one I have given you above and
then swap out the foods each day.
For example, where I wrote Lunch – Grilled chicken on a
garden salad with a balsamic vinegar dressing
and a side
of fresh fruit slices, you can replace the grilled chicken with
slices of turkey or ground seasoned beef for a taco salad,
or the meat with cheese. You might replace a garden salad
with cucumbers and tomatoes. You could substitute a light
Italian dressing or a light sour cream for the balsamic vinegar.
You get the picture! You have the template for what you are
eating, just change the foods a bit. This is just a suggestion
of how to start; after a while you will come up with some
more ideas to have a balanced day. (Portions will depend
on you as an individual and will take into account the stage
you are at in your weight program or health concerns. You
can check with your food guide, your diet program, your
gym, your community health authority, your physician, or
a local nutritionist for a more detailed guideline.)
Plan out a couple of days on your own:
DAY ONE
Food list Approximate time
Breakfast:
Snack:
Lunch:
Snack:
Supper:
Snack:
DAY TWO
Food list Approximate time
Breakfast:
Snack:
Lunch:
Snack:
Supper:
Snack:
DAY THREE
Food list Approximate time
Breakfast:
Snack:
Lunch:
Snack:
Supper:
Snack:
It is good to have some mild hunger signs just before you
are due to eat; this tells you that your metabolism is working.
Everyone is different, but some common hunger signs
are:
- stomach grumbling
- cold nose, hands, and feet
- slight irritability
- slower reaction to things
- reduced attention span
Drink water in between meals and snacks. Water not only
fills you up, but water is very important for all aspects of
your body. Water, water, water! Just like the oxygen (O2) in
your body, water (H2O) is vital for your organs, blood, skin,
electrolytes, equilibrium, and most of all, for burning fat!
Breathe, breathe, breathe!
Slow down when you eat. It takes 20 minutes for your
stomach to tell your brain that you are full. How much can
you eat in 20 minutes...in 5 minutes? The answer is a lot!
How to slow down? Put your fork or spoon down when you
are chewing. After swallowing, pick up your utensil again
and resume eating. Drink water in between mouthfuls. Take
your time chewing, taste your food, appreciate the various
flavors and textures, and enjoy what you are eating—
mouthful by mouthful.
What are your hunger signs?
What are you going to do about your metabolism?
P.S. exercise can help!
What is your plan to slow down?
Extra Tips:
}Greek
yogurt with vit c fruit
}Amino
acids – Protein
}High
blood sugars promote fat storage
}Chili
peppers – Tabasco help to curb your appetite while raising body temp –
helping metabolism. Black pepper, wasabi peas
}Cook with
vinegar to slow carb absorption.
}Drink
water – feel fuller
}Tea –
white tea with pineapple to help energy
}Papaya –
enzyme helps digestion & absorption - ginger
}Matcha green
tea, sage leaf tea, oolong tea
}Cacao
nibs – anti inflammatory qualities
What to do:
}Flush
toxins – h2o
}Fiber
}Stress -
↑cortisol -↑belly fat-↓metabolism
}Make
better choices
◦Meals-snacks
& combinations like the
camp fire
◦Beverage-
choose better choices
◦Spices
things up-↑heat-↑metabolism.
}Blood
sugar levels stable
◦Avoid
caffeine or sugar crash or poor diet
◦Restrictive
diet will slow your metabolism down
}Get
moving-muscle helps
}Avoiding
processed foods, refined foods, alcohol
}Sleep!
}Get a
check up with DR
Check
that your mental part is not messing with you.
More ideas to come.
