Q&A for: 9-May-06
1563. Q:
reply to 1560, so is brownrice, potatoes, wheat bread all low GI foods?
A:
Brown rice is a good food choice. For bread, make sure it's a whole-wheat bread, not just 'wheat'. Potatoes are best replaced with sweet potatoes. If you absolutely want to eat regular potatoes, stick with with baby red potatoes. And for all potatoes, regular or sweet, best way of cooking them to keep GI low is to boil them.
1564. Q:
actually why do people spread their meals
A:
Eating many small meals throughout the day is best for both losing fat and gaining muscle. Except for brief periods of intense physical activity (such as workouts) your body needs energy steadily throughout the day -- eating many small meals supplies that energy. Otherwise, if you just have 2 or 3 big meals then those meals give a big dose of energy to your body that it has no use for -- the result is that those extra calories go into fat deposits.
Eating small frequent meals keeps your metabolism up. Another analogy is to think of your metabolism as a camp fire. If you throw big logs into the fire every several hours, it won't do it any good. On the other hand if you keep feeding the fire with small branches it will burn strong.
Of course you have to keep in mind that your body is far too complex to be completely explained with simple analogies like that, but the overall theme is still correct: eat small frequent meals to keep your metabolism up, burn fat, and build muscle.
1565. Q:
hi mike im the guy from 1556, i decided to add Quaker Low Fat Granola Bars as you say i should eat more healthy fat so i guess this Granola Bars are healthy as have oatmeal , high source of calcum, 0 tans fat and is low fat so should be okay
A:
Meal bars are one step away from junk food, even though they claim to be healthy. True plain old-fashioned oatmeal is a great food, but by the time its processed into the bar with all the sugar and preservatives added, it's nothing like what it started as. Plus the 'low fat' bars are not going to add healthy fats to your diet. Instead I'd recommend eating plain old-fashioned oatmeal (some bananas or apples or strawberries sliced into it make it taste great) instead of the bars and plain roasted nuts (not oil-roasted) for healthy fats, for example. Other sources of healthy fats include extra virgin olive oil, avocados, eggs, and fatty fish like salmon.
1566. Q:
hi mike im serverly overweight and the problem is i cant control my hunger is there any way because i really need help do you think by seeing a doctor they will give me pills to curb my hunger??, btw i heard that pills have side effects on you so im very concern i rather do it the old natural healthy way. i will aways think of food and will feel hungry unless i eat until im so full and that would be alot and i mean alot i feel really guilty all this years
A:
Your situation is unfortunately very common, but you have exactly the right mindset to get yourself out of it. You should see a doctor first to make sure you don't have any serious problems, beyong just being overweight. But assuming everything checks out OK, your next goal should be to learn about eating healthy and implement it into your everyday diet.
The very food you eat is the mostly likely cause of your constant hunger and your constant thoughts of food. Most of the foods people eat are neither healthy nor filling. These include not just outright junk like pizza or chips, but also foods you might not think of as unhealthy such as white bread, pasta, and cold breakfast cereals! Eating these foods leads you to gain fat along with developing a host of other health problems while being hungry and eating more of those same unhealthy foods all the time. Good news is that all you have to do to break this cycle is start eating healthy!
First, read my nutrition article. Reread it a couple of times if needed. It'll tell you everything you need to know to eat healthy (except actual recipes :) Now you'll need to start implementing those suggestions into your every diet. Most important is to start eating healthy foods. They are more filling and less calorie-dense so you'll get fuller sooner and won't get as hungry as quickly. These changes will not always be simple and you will undoubtedly sometimes will still binge on your old foods and that's OK -- don't even think about it, don't feel guilty, just get back to your new diet program.
As you get used to eating healthy foods you can start working on finer points of the diet such as more carefully controlling portion sizes and eating several small complete meals per day. You can also start learning about weight training which is an extremely effective way to exercise to lose fat, and then start thinking about whether you want to start exercising at home or join the gym. This way after a few short months like this you'll be well under way with a brand new diet and exercise programs and you should be losing around one pound per week. Slow steady weight loss like that is best in the long run, so don't try to lose a lot of weight quickly.
So stick with your resolution to lose weight the right way, learn what to do, and start doing it! Don't give up at and don't worry about setbacks, just stick with your plan. Ask me any questions here and I'll do my best to help. Good luck!
1567. Q:
Hi mike!If i put weights on my stomache when doing situps will it be more benificial to me?Thanks!
A:
Sure, that's a good way to make the exercise more intense. This especially makes sense if you can do many (20 or more) situps in a row. I would advise keeping the weight up more on the chest than the stomach for maximum effectiveness. Just remember that situps alone will not make you lose a lot of weight or give you a six pack -- you need a complete diet and weight training program for that as described here
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