Keeping Fit is A Daily Battle

YOU PROBABLY HEAR it a lot, casually thrown around in your gym, the fact that, “Weight loss is all about revving up the metabolism”. Your body’s physical shape is very closely connected to its rate of metabolism, which simply refers to all of the body’s physical and chemical processes that use energy.

“It’s calculated as a basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is the number of calories your body burns per day at rest,” says clinical nutritionist, Dr Nupur J Krishnan. Metabolism varies vastly from person to person, depending on factors like age, sex and weight.

If you starve yourself in the morning, the signal that your body gets is that food supplies are low and whatever meal comes in next has to be stored as fat. Fruits contain fibre that is essential for the metabolic process.

”The normal BMR range is 1,200-1,300 for women and 1,400-1,600 for men. People with a sluggish metabolism may find it difficult to lose weight,” adds Dr Krishnan.

If your doctor finds your metabolism slower than normal and you’re having a hard time losing weight, here are 10 tips from the pros on how to speed up the burner.

Build muscle
The body burns more calories in maintaining muscle tissue than it does with fat. Regular cardiovascular exercise that trims fat, and weight training that helps build muscle mass will definitely rev up your metabolism.

“Weight training is the best way to raise your metabolic rate and burn more calories. It adds to your overall weight loss - the more lean muscle tissue there is, the more calories the body burns at rest,” says fitness expert Leena Mogre.

“Weight training causes muscles to breakdown and then rebuild themselves better when you’re resting, which increases muscle mass, which in turn increases metabolic rate,” says Ritesh Patil, fitness consultant and operations manager, Sykz Gym.

Aerobic exercise
Any form of cardiovascular exercise raises the body’s BMR for over an hour or so after the workout. “People with very sluggish metabolism are often advised more cardiovascular workouts to increase their rate of burn,” says Mogre.

Small, frequent meals
You stimulate your metabolism every time you eat. So six small meals a day will actually help you burn more calories than three large ones. The body utilises multiple packets of nutrients in smaller meals much better than it does a single load of nutrients from one large meal.

“Keeping up this eating pattern will boost your BMR in the long run,” says Mogre.

Never skip breakfast
It’s the first meal of the day when you literally break your fast after eight to 10 hours of sleep, so a good breakfast provides a critical energy surge as you begin your day.

“A proper breakfast also keeps your energy levels high throughout the day,” says Anjum Shaikh, chief nutritionist, Sykz Gym.

Skipping breakfast could actually leave you piled with extra kilos of fat. “If you starve yourself in the morning, the signal that your body gets is that food supplies are low and whatever meal comes in next has to be stored as fat. Starving yourself for too long also leads to muscle breakdown,” says Mogre.

Don’t cut off carbohydrates
The first thing most of us do to lose weight is cut down on carbohydrate or starchy food.

Bread, pastries, pastas become off limits. “But drastically reducing carbohydrate intake can reduce the body’s metabolic rate. You have to eat enough carbohydrates to keep your metabolism high. And cutting carbohydrates totally is never a good idea,” says Shaikh.

Pack in the proteins Protein-rich foods like egg whites, chicken, fish, dal, and sprouts don’t directly cause your metabolism to shoot up. “But protein and calcium absorbed by the body through milk and milk products will help strengthen your bones, increase your lean body mass, and thus your BMR,” says Shaikh.

Managing thyroid trouble
Improper functioning of the thyroid gland, which manages your body’s metabolism, can slow down weight loss. “People with hypothyroidism don’t produce enough thyroid hormone, which leaves them with a slow metabolism. But it’s not impossible for them to increase their metabolism,” says Dr Krishnan.

Eating right is critical. “Avoid foods like cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, turnip, broccoli, soyabeans and tofu. These are rich in goitrogens, a substance that interferes with the functioning of the thyroid gland. Those suffering from hypothyroidism should especially avoid these foods,” says Shaikh.

Drink lots of water
Water is directly involved in the metabolism process and the more you have of it, the higher your BMR. But that doesn’t mean indiscriminately gulping down 10-12 glasses per day. “It’s no longer a blanket rule applied to everyone. If you sit at a desk in an air-conditioned space, you don’t need 12 glasses of water a day, simply because there’s hardly any loss of water due to sweating.

Up to eight glasses a day is good enough to keep your metabolism running,” says Dr Krishnan.

Trim the trans fat
The reason is simple. Too much fat or oil intake increases the body’s fat percentage, which slows down metabolism. “Avoid junk food and oily snacks - they only make your system sluggish and lower your metabolism,” says Shaikh.

Metabolism boosters Complex carbohydrates and high-fibre vegetables and cereals burn more calories than simple carbohydrates and are more likely to get your metabolism going than a large serving of French fries.

“Eat lots of colored vegetables like carrots, tomatoes, red and yellow capsicum. These are rich in anti-oxidants and phytochemicals that help the fat burning process,” says Dr Krishnan.

When it comes to dieting, many people rely on mainstream diets. Whichever diet that is being promoted, many people looking to lose weight by jumping on the bandwagon. However, later on, many people learn that these diets cause many health risks. Therefore, you should create your own healthy diet with the use of fat burning foods. These fat burning foods are healthy for you and you can use them together and feel one hundred percent secure that you and your family are eating well. Fat burning foods are much tastier then these commercialized and mainstream diets so you are actually in a win- win position if you incorporate fat burning foods into your diet.

So what do fat burning foods consist of? All fat burning foods are all natural. This means that a variety of fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood and herbs are all included on this large list of fat burning foods. Also, many people give up on their diet because the food becomes repetitive and bland. Using fat burning foods in your diet, means that you will never encounter this problem. There are over one hundred different types of fat burning foods that you can eat and create wonderful fat burning foods that are unique and scrumptious.

By starting the day of bright and early with different types of fat burning foods such as fruit will give you a good start to the day you can consider a grapefruit or what about a fruit salad consisting of melons,oranges,apples,strawberries,blueberries,papaya,watermelon,tangerines,nectarines,rasberries and peaches if this doesn’t fill you up you could add adding oatmeal or even a whole wheat grain mixed cereal which is delicious i have been eating this fat burning food in the mornings and i wouldn’t do without it now.

You can interchange your fat burning foods for lunch and dinner. If you have fat burning foods like meat for lunch you may want lighter fat burning foods for dinner such as seafood or salad, or vice versa. Such types of meat and seafood that are excellent fat burning foods include Chilean Sea Bass, Crab, Cod, abalone, flounder, oysters, bass, catfish, mussels, steak, trout, turtle, clams, frog legs, tuna, lobster shrimp, clams and the list goes on. You can see that there are so many fat burning foods on this list alone that it would take months before you would have to repeat a fat burning meal. The best part about these fat burning foods is that they do not need to be eaten plain.

These fat burning foods can have various different herbs on them allowing for an excellent seasoning that only helps to burn your fat. Such fat burning foods herbs that you can use include parsley leaves, chervil, garlic and celeriac. Garlic is one of the best fat burning foods available on the market. You can also saute your fat burning foods in a mix of onions, leeks, chives, shallots and scallions for even more fat burning flavor. All of these fat burning foods have one things in common; they allow you to have great tasting meals while dieting. Many diets may make you feel deprived, but by adding fat burning foods to your diet you are able to eat healthily while burning away the fat. This will also be a diet that you will enjoy staying on by incorporating fat burning foods into your diet.

I read that the glycemic index is overrated and that what we should really be paying attention to is glycemic load. What’s the difference?

The glycemic index is overrated. You should be paying attention to glycemic load. There’s a big difference. Here’s the scoop:

Glycemic index is a way of measuring the impact a given amount of carbohydrate has on your blood sugar, something you definitely want to know. But to do a fair comparison, they have to use a fixed amount. In the case of the glycemic index, it’s a standard 50 grams of carbohydrate.

Problem is, very few carbohydrate foods in real life are 50-gram portions.

See, if you go to a store to buy spices and there’s a spice that’s $500 a pound, that sure sounds like a lot of money. But if you’re only buying a half-teaspoon of the stuff, it’s pretty irrelevant. You want to know what you’re going to pay at the register, not necessarily what you’d pay if you bought a pound.

Similarly, you really don’t care what the impact of 50 grams is on your blood sugar; you care what the impact of the amount you’re actually eating is.

Glycemic load is a more sophisticated formula that takes into account the actual grams of carbs you’re eating — the portion size. The glycemic index of carrots is high, leading a lot of people to think you should never eat carrots, which is a dumb conclusion. Fact is, the average carrot has 3 grams of carbs. You’d have to eat like a giant rabbit to have a significant impact on your blood sugar.
The glycemic load of a carrot, on the other hand, is only 3, making it an extremely low-glycemic food — unless you’re drinking pure carrot juice or eating 13 carrots at a sitting.

Pasta, on the other hand, has a moderate glycemic index, but is almost never eaten in 50-gram portions. Factor in the portion size at a typical Olive Garden and your blood sugar will be on the roof, and stay there for a week. Not surprisingly, the glycemic load of pasta is very high.

The technical formula for glycemic load is GI (glycemic index), multiplied by the number of grams of carbohydrates in the portion, then divided by 100. Low glycemic load is between 1 and 10, medium is between 10 and 20, and anything over 20 is very high.

That said, remember that both glycemic index and glycemic load only refer to the food eaten alone. Add some fat or protein and the total impact goes down. And plenty of high-glycemic foods are good for you (say, carrot juice) while plenty of low-glycemic foods (fried donut holes) are not.

So take glycemic load into account, but don’t be a slave to it. It’s just one measurement to consider when planning a diet.

Incidentally, athletes in training actually can benefit from high-glycemic foods, especially when they’re training twice a day. Mrs. Smith with Metabolic Syndrome… not so much!