While many recommend you what food items are good for your health and which are not,what is also important is ‘when you should eat’ or ‘how much should you eat’.
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Believe it or not, these two factors have a larger impact on your calorie intake than the type of food items you are consuming in the day.
There have been a number of studies and researches conducted to analyze which is the best time in the day to consume high-calorie foods and in what intervals you should be eating your meals. We bring to you a comprehensive checklist that will help you plan your meals in the most effective manner through the day.
- Breakfast of a King
A new study in the Journal of Nutrition has found that not only should you eat breakfast, you should eat a big one. The study consisted of a review of the dietary patterns of 50,000 adults and its findings conveyed that breakfast eaters experience a decrease in BMI (Body Mass Index) as compared with breakfast skippers.
Since our body’s metabolism is the best in the morning, a nutrient-dense, heavy breakfast ensures that your food is being processed and is not getting accumulated as fat in your body. Furthermore, a big breakfast helps you curb snack-cravings at odd hours of the day and keeps up your overall energy level.
- Timing is Everything
Have you ever managed to not eat anything for an entire morning and afternoon, and then reward yourself with a scrumptious meal for dinner? Well, if your answer is ‘yes’, you are in for a big trouble! While cutting total calories leads to weight loss, but hoarding your calorie intake to one part of the day does more harm than any good which came from cutting down your calorie intake through the day.
A good idea is to unwind your eating cycle and start afresh. Rebalance your day by having a proper breakfast and then eating at regular intervals from there on. In two to three days, your appetite will adjust automatically and you will start feeling more energetic and healthy. In fact, many experts suggest that to effectively lose weight, you should have at least seven to eight meals in a day!
- Chew, Not Swallow
Did you know that an average brain takes about twenty to twenty-five minutes to register that your stomach is full? This implies that by eating fast, you are not allowing your brain to have enough time to convey this message, and instead, you end up continuing to eat much past the point when you should have stopped. A number of studies and researches suggest that by only eating your meal slowly, you can lose up to 20 pounds in a year.
When you chew your food, you are essentially ensuring that large particles of food do not enter your stomach and intestines, thereby, causing digestive problems. Chewing your food thoroughly allows you to absorb more nutrients from your food, facilitates faster and easier digestion, helps you maintain a healthy weight, and also ensures that you develop fewer digestive issues like gas and bloating.
The thumb rule to follow here is to chew your food until the food in your mouth is liquefied and has lost all of its texture, before you take another bite.
- Shrink that dinner
Nutritionists suggest that to optimize the results of your weight-loss diet, it is imperative that you don’t consume more than one-third of the calories of your day, during dinner. Since, in the post evening hours, the metabolism of your body is naturally at its slowest, consumption of a high-calorie diet would only lead to your food being stored as fat.
Further, another good habit to inculcate in your daily routine is to go for a stroll post your dinner. You don’t have to keep a check on your walking speed, but the idea is to not sit on the couch or lay on the bed while your body is commencing the difficult task of processing your food.
Another point to be noted here is to ensure that you are not skipping the dinner, but just eating light.
- Get Some Sleep
If you pair your diet plan with an everyday routine of healthy sleeping, you will be amazed by the results your body gives only in a matter of few days.
While a poor night of rest increases the stress hormone in your body, which in-turn leads to an increase in appetite, storage of fat in the abdominal area – where the weight is much harder to lose; regularity of proper sleep can have massive positive effects and changes in your mood, and energy levels.
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