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Archive for the ‘Meal Replacements’ Category

Thanksgiving to the New Year seems to be the Scariest time for most people who are Health Conscious. Most people view these 6 weeks as the inevitable time they Gain Weight and becomes the classic downfall to their program. I am here to tell you that you Can Have Your Cake and Eat it Too… it all comes back to Understanding the Body and Educating yourself on the proper adjustments before and after you have an “Off Plan” meal and realizing that a few additional days of extra enjoyment has a very minor effect on your waistline in the grand scheme of things.

Let me use my recent Thanksgiving Meal as an example. First, you should know that I love Thanksgiving and I love to eat! When dinner was served I ate everything on the table: Turkey, Stuffing, Bread, Butter, Broccoli Casserole, Pumpkin Bread, Vanilla Ice Cream and of course Whip Cream! Needless to say this was a meal that spiked my blood sugar levels and I enjoyed every moment…

In the past I would feel guilty before I ate the meal, while I ate it and after I was finished, thinking that I was sabotaging myself. I thought I needed to be 100% compliant 100% of the time. Even when I was knee deep in it, that mentality just never seemed realistic so I decided to focus on the body’s physiology, and uncover some secrets that would minimize storing fat from big meals. Now these Secrets should be used for all “Off Meals”, not just during Holiday time.

Let’s start with the most important secret, Eating Consistently before the Meal. Too many times people don’t eat anything all day in preparation for their feast of an “Off Meal”. This becomes a nightmare for your metabolism. What ends up happening is you burn lean tissue mass all day long while you are skipping meals. Your muscle mass is responsible for a fast metabolism, so if you burn muscle mass you slow down your metabolism causing you to store more body-fat. Additionally you will be eating with low blood sugar; this in turn maximizes your appetite. The end result is a very high blood sugar spike alongside an Increase in fat storage. This metabolic swing can be avoided simply: just eat balanced meals right up until the “Off Plan” Meal. Doing this will keep your body stable and burn energy more efficiently through the day. It will also prevent you from severely overeating at the “Off Plan” meal.

The second secret to surviving these kinds of meals is to eat a Meal of Just Protein and Fat 4 hours after the “Off Plan” Meal. Eating food causes the digestive system to work, and an active digestive system typically means an active metabolism. Most people after an “Off Plan” meal will not eat for the rest of the evening. This causes the body to flip right over into a storage state, something that carries over to the next day – and they’ll have no appetite upon waking. There is an easy solution to this. Even 4 hours after an “Off Meal” the body’s blood sugar may still be high, so by having a ½ Meal of just Protein and Fat (No Carbohydrates), you’ll allow stimulation of the digestive tract and will increase your body’s metabolic rate, helping digest your initial “Off Plan” meal. In this second meal, you want to avoid carbohydrates since your blood sugar is still high and carbohydrates are the biggest component in causing elevated blood sugar. You will notice that this second meal will cause your appetite to increase later in the evening and this way you’ll wake up the next morning hungry. These are very good signs that your body has used the extra energy available to it.

The last Secret is to accept that “Off Plan” Meals are good for you! There are 365 days in a year, if you are consistent 85% of the time you are doing Fantastic. “Off Plan” meals are a great way to indulge in your favorite foods, enjoy Social Gatherings, and most important give yourself a Vacation from your regimen. There are even studies showing that an “Off Plan” meal can be helpful in breaking through Plateaus, due to the way they tend to shake up the body’s metabolism.

There you have it, the Three Secrets to fully enjoying your Holiday meals as well as any Future “Off Plan” meals. It’s important to remember that the Key to Achieving your Permanent Nutrition and Fitness Goals is your day to day consistency. “Off Plan” meals, if used in moderation, are excellent for maintaining a realistic and balanced approach to your program. By embracing these ideas, you can now let go of the worry about Weight Gain during the Holidays. Implement these three secrets and you can Have Your Cake and Eat it Too!

Copyright (c) 2009 Stephen Smith

Many people believe that having 5 or 6 small meals a day will make them put on weight but in actual fact it will help them lose weight!

Most people eat three meals a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner. The problem with only having three meals a day, or even fewer meals, is that there is a large gap (greater than 3 hours) between meals. This large gap between meals results in a substantial decrease in the body’s blood glucose level. This causes the body to invoke its ‘Anti-Starvation Response’.

Consuming 5 or 6 small meals a day is enormously beneficial from a weight loss point of view and cannot be over-emphasised. It keeps your body’s metabolism elevated, which means you burn up more calories and therefore more fat during the day.

Having 5 or 6 small meals a day (ideally every 2-3 hours) means your body is constantly supplied with the energy it requires to function, as well as the amino acids it needs to maintain and build body tissues.

The feeling of hunger is also dramatically reduced, as is the tendency to over-eat at each meal. People who only eat three or fewer meals a day have a greater tendency to over-eat at each meal because they feel hungrier than people who tend to ‘graze’ (eat more often) throughout the day.

This tendency to over-eat is even more pronounced in people who skip meals to lose weight. Skipping meals results in uncontrollable urges to binge eat, especially during the evening – the worst time of the day to be consuming a large amount of food.

Following is a summary of the advantages of consuming 5 or 6 meals a day:

Increased metabolic rate.

This increase in metabolism occurs because the body is being constantly supplied with energy (food) every few hours. Through the process of digestion, the body is forced to expend more energy.

Also, since the blood glucose level remains more stable, the body’s metabolism doesn’t have to slow down as it would if only three meals were consumed.

Positive nitrogen balance.

Nitrogen balance is a measurement of how much nitrogen is lost (through sweat and urine) against how much nitrogen (from protein) is gained through dietary intake (food). Nitrogen balance determines whether the body is breaking down body tissue (negative nitrogen balance) or building up body tissue (positive nitrogen balance).

Ideally it is best to keep your body in a positive nitrogen balance at all times. Maintaining or building tissue (particularly muscle) means your body’s metabolism will remain elevated, making it easier to burn off body fat and lose weight.

Having protein in each of the 5 or 6 small meals a day means there is a constant supply of tissue-building amino acids to assist in the maintenance and building of lean body tissue, which includes muscle.

When you eat only three meals a day your body will be in a negative nitrogen balance at some times during the day because of the delay between meals, even if you eat protein at each of these meals.

Reduced hunger.

Feelings of hunger are reduced when there is a constant supply of glucose to the brain. This can be easily achieved by consuming 5 or 6 small meals a day and by ensuring there is a slow influx of glucose into the bloodstream.

Sustained energy.

By having 5 or 6 small meals a day there is a constant supply of glucose in the bloodstream, sustaining energy levels. This is in direct contrast to having three meals a day, which results in large fluctuations in blood glucose and therefore, energy levels as well.

Reduced fat storage.

Another reason why having 5 or 6 small meals a day is so effective for losing weight is because smaller meals don’t affect the blood glucose level and in turn, insulin levels, as dramatically as three larger meals do. A lower insulin level means there is less opportunity to convert carbohydrate into fat.

Eating more frequently also means the body is constantly using up energy digesting food. This is why eating breakfast is so important – it gives your metabolism a ‘kick-start’. If breakfast is skipped, your metabolism and therefore your body’s fat-burning ability stays sluggish until your first meal.

Increased fat mobilisation.

Your body’s tendency to mobilise fat for fuel increases with smaller and more regular meals. This is mainly due to the fact that insulin levels are low. A low blood insulin level means more fat can be mobilised from the body’s fat stores.

On the other hand, a high level of insulin inhibits the mobilisation of fat for fuel and larger meals tend to promote the release of greater amounts of insulin from the pancreas.

So become a grazer and watch the weight fall off your body!

Considering a home meal delivery service? These services prepare meals for you and then ship them to your home weekly.

All you do is store the meals in your fridge or freezer until you need them. Then when you’re ready – just heat and eat.

There are many different types of meal home delivery. You can get gourmet meal delivery, weight loss meals, low sodium meals, low fat meals, Zone compliant meals, vegetarian meals, diabetic friendly meals and more.

You can choose meals by occasion like a special date, birthday, new baby or holiday meal. You can even send gourmet meals as a unique gift to a friend or business colleague.

Meal delivery is exploding in popularity as people realize that it can save them both time and money. Here are a some of the ways a meal delivery service can help you:

1) Save Time – When you have meals prepared and shipped to you, you save a lot of time. There’s no shopping for groceries, washing ingredients, preparing the meals. Plus there’s minimal cleanup afterwards.

Plus, depending on if you’re using a microwave or conventional oven, it can take from 5 to 30 minutes to heat your food – so it’s ready very fast.

According to some services you can save 10-15 hours per week just on food preparation alone. The time you save can then be spent on more important things like your family, career or hobbies.

2) Save Money – Most people think meal delivery is expensive. But actually it’s not. And in fact, it can save you money.

How? Because these services can buy food in bulk and get huge discounts. They’re experts in knowing exactly what they need to buy and what they don’t. These savings get passed on to you.

There are some diet food delivery services for example that come in around $3 a meal. Other services cost around $15 a day for breakfast, lunch and dinner – which is less than most people spend on food per day. You can even find gourmet food delivery services that run around $25 a day which is still less than you’d spend on a typical restaurant meal.

There’s also another way you save money. You save on groceries – because you’re not stuck throwing out food that has gone bad in your fridge.

3) Get Healthy Food For Your Family – This is a big one. With childhood obesity rates skyrocketing, many families are looking for healthier alternatives to fast food meals.

But what can you do if you work full time? There are meal delivery services that will prepare complete, healthy, nutrient-balanced meals for you.

So you can make sure the kids are getting proper nutrition without the excess calories and preservatives found in prepared or fast foods. Plus when there’s dinner ready and on the table, kids are less likely to snack on junk foods out of hunger.

4) Send a Gift That Stands Out- If you’re looking to avoid the standard box of chocolates or flowers and send a gift that really stands out, you can send a gourmet meal to someone special.

There are delivery services that have special themed chef-prepared meals that you can choose to send to someone else. Themes include Birthday meals, New Baby meals, Thank You meals, Congratulations meals, Meals for Her and Meals for Him.

This is also a much more personal gift to send to someone if you can’t be there on their special occasion like Mother’s Day, the holidays or a birthday.

5) Look Like A Gourmet In Front of Your Friends or Significant Other – Ok, so you’re not the best cook in the world – I can relate. But you want to entertain in style. Or you really want to impress that special someone.

So what do you do? You can actually get gourmet chef-prepared meals delivered to your home before the big day.

You can order anything from a Romantic Italian feast to a Marine Shore Clambake with live Lobsters. And with detailed heating instructions on the package, even the worst cook can look like a gourmet chef.

6) Great For Ill or Recovering Patients – Many people find that meal delivery is a God-send if they are ill or recovering from surgery. It takes very little effort to just heat a meal up in the microwave of oven.

You don’t even have to leave the house – which is a great way to take care of yourself if you’re sick. And ordering from a service that prepares healthy, nutrient balanced meals can even speed your recovery time.

So those are some of the ways a meal delivery service can help you save time and money. The most time you’ll spend with meal delivery is trying to decide which service to choose and finding all of your available options. There are lots of different services out there so take your time deciding which one is right for you.

But overall, if you’re looking for a convenient way to eat healthy, gourmet meals even on a budget, meal home delivery may be the perfect solution.