Holistic weight reduction - Part14 - A Day and a Weekend on a Holistic diet

Once the principles mentioned earlier : the ‘arithmetic’ of weight reduction are understood, one can proceed to create for oneself a personalized reducing diet that is fairly easy to adhere to taking into consideration individual preferences and schedules of work as well as activities of daily living. Traditional wisdom maintains that one should have a king of a breakfast, prince of a lunch and a pauper of a supper. The implication apparently is that the largest meal should be in the morning before one goes to work and the lightest meal should be in the evening. This may have had some validity when civilization was modeled on the demands of an agricultural society in which most people spent most of their caloric expenditures in the morning hours and went to bed early, soon after an evening meal. However, the life of a present day human being is so drastically different and varied in the pattern of its energy expenditures that it is not necessary to adhere to this proverbial approach to energy consumption in the form of food intake.

The most important aspect for the distribution of the total caloric intake during a 24hour period that is appropriate for weight reduction according to the calculations in the previous chapter is to make sure that the food intake is appropriate to the activities that a person undertakes during the next four hours after a meal. This is especially true of the amount of carbohydrate that is in each meal because of the tendency of both simple sugars and complex sugars such as starch to have a significant effect on brain function. Too great a load of simple sugars at any given time is likely to be followed by a cascade of events previously described in chapter 2 which may predispose to fluctuating levels of blood sugar that may impair brain function. This may lead to nervousness as the adrenal gland releases adrenaline to raise blood sugar level to higher levels. Similarly a large load of complex carbohydrate or any large meal may divert blood flow to the intestines predisposing to reduced blood flow to the brain resulting in drowsiness. This may necessitate the need for stimulants in the form of coffee or soft drinks containing caffeine, which may in their turn cause hyperglycemia and nervousness. A vicious cycle gets set up with snacks and stimulants crossing the oral orifice almost as a reflex activity! If one is anticipating vigorous physical activity, it may be appropriate to make sure that there has been an adequate carbohydrate intake about 24-48 hours before the event to provide enough glycogen storage, even though the body has plenty of fat reserves of fuel to meet the energy needs. It is more important to ensure that there is adequate fluid intake to replace fluid loss that accompanies profuse sweating.

For a weight reduction diet, it is best to distribute caloric intake fairly uniformly throughout the day in the form of 3 or 4 meals. If possible, each meal should consist of the 3 main energy sources in more or less equal amounts. Remembering that the total caloric intake has been decreased to achieve weight loss, one should pay extra attention in the early stages of dieting to make sure that hunger pangs do not sabotage one’s determination to stay on the diet till the previously distended stomach returns to a normal or slightly below normal size. Till then, it may be worth using a low calorie filler such as a salad to suppress hunger at every meal. The best source for this is a salad made of a variety of colorful vegetables spiced with a little olive oil. This combination fills the stomach and prevents its rapid emptying thus keeping hunger pangs at bay till the next meal and thus avoids the need for snacks in between.

For those who do not have the time to prepare or eat a full meal either at breakfast or lunch, it may be possible to divide up the calories for each of these meals into 2 smaller meals both of them in the form of snacks, but making sure that such snacks are carefully chosen not to include large or disproportionate amounts of refined sugars or saturated fats which are commonly present in commercially available ready-to-eat meals. However, the absence of adequate filling of the stomach will result in hunger pangs between meals and it is therefore recommended that all meals have a salad filler as an essential accompaniment. Most packaged snacks have information about the calories contained, the relative amounts of the three energy sources and the amount of cholesterol, sodium and fiber content on the label. At least one meal a day must be a balanced meal with attention to the needs for the daily amount of protein, vegetables, vitamins and minerals as already discussed in earlier chapters. If this happens to be the evening meal, care should be taken to ensure that it is not too close to bedtime.

Avoidance of foods containing ‘empty calories’ must receive particular attention during a weight reduction program. These are ready-to-eat or fast foods, which are deficient in nutritional value but high in caloric count and are addictive in nature due to the presence of disproportionately high concentrations of sugars and/or salt. These must be carefully avoided. Alcohol in its varied forms must be included in this category, because it is a very readily usable source of energy for the body and will cause accumulation of fats in areas such as the heart, liver and other vital organs and will prove dangerous to health. Use of high fiber containing vegetables or fruits such as apple or pear before they are too ripe may be used to suppress hunger without providing a high caloric load.

Most people work during five days a week and have their week-ends available for enjoyment of life without the demands of commuting to work and attending to the needs of children who go to school. These days are particularly dangerous for persons on weight reduction programs because socialization, which often occurs during the weekend, is associated with the rituals of eating and drinking (see chapter 11). Concentrating on low calorie food items such as vegetable platters, diluted fruit juices without alcohol and using small plates for eating the main meal are tricks recommended for novices by veterans at the game of sticking to the diet. One way of negating the ill effects of a high calorie cook out is to undertake a significant amount of safe exercise before the party, but definitely not after the party on a full stomach! It is better to avoid the temptation of such weekend extravaganzas rather than work off the extra weight after the event!

The principle of exchange diets used in management of diabetes is very relevant in creating menus that enhance the success of individualized diets. Knowledge of caloric equivalence of desired food items that form the core of breakfast, lunch and dinner make it easy to vary the constituents of these meals without transgressing the caloric limits placed on each meal. For example, a number of food items are available in units of 100 Calories, such as a piece of toast, an egg, and an apple. Once a list of items regularly used for breakfast and lunch is memorized, it is fairly easy to create a breakfast of 400 Calories and a lunch of 400 Calories without transgressing the self-imposed limits. The main evening meal may well use up 600 calories and a late night snack about 200 calories, making a total energy intake of 1600 calories. If the goal is to lose a fat weight of one pound per week on this diet of 1600 calories, energy expenditure has to be at least 2200 calories. This means that if calculations made during the pre-program period showed an average daily energy expenditure of 2200 Calories, this diet of 1600 calories will result in an average loss of one pound of fat weight per week without any change in physical activities. Depending on the very same calculations, one can determine whether additional energy expenditure in the form of physical exercise has to be figured in to effect the one-pound loss if caloric expenditure was less than 2200. If two pounds of fat weight loss per week is the planned program goal, 600 Calories worth of additional physical exercise will have to be included along with restriction of calories to 1600 (for other alternatives see chapter 7). If it is not possible to undertake such heavy physical activity during weekdays, at least some of it can be postponed to the weekend. Procrastination has its serious consequences, because when a weekend comes around, parties and feasting may seem more attractive than physical exercise! During the early part of a weight reduction program, a calorie counter that gives caloric equivalence of food items and physical activity is an essential tool for success. A regular physical exercise program in as simple a form as walking 2-3 miles everyday has more to commend itself rather than concentrated heavy physical activity over the weekend.

About the Author : Abe Kurien MD, is a proponent of holistic medicine. He writes profusely on subjects of Weight reduction. His enlightening articles can be found on the smatix weight reduction section : Nutrition and Health