BODY FUELING; THE POST-ATKINS SOLUTION
by David Gilks
What will be the next great hype? What do you suppose it will be? Society has been through the low fat faze which only succeeded in making people fatter. Yes sir, just another two boxes of low fat diet cookies and I will thinner than a rake! Following programs like the Atkins Diet and many others like it are doomed to failure for many simply due to the fact that they don't teach us anything about discipline or about focusing on your health first!
As vague as it may be, if more people planned their meals around the Canada food guide they would noticed better results rather than flitting from one diet to the next. I have analyzed hundreds of diets over the years and have found some interesting similarities in the diets of those who struggle the In August 2005 Atkins Nutritionals filed for bankruptcy due to waning interest in the low carb products. This very popular diet program that took North America by storm is suffering financial losses due to loss interest in the low-carb products they produce. The entire weight loss industry is on the brink of another dietary paradigm shift.
Aside from the obvious issue of lack of exercise, the first mistake is the lack of consistent calorie consumption through out the day. What I am referring to is the lack of balanced meals through out the day, spacing our meals 3 or 4 hours apart so that our blood sugar never falls too low, creating those awful high and lows in our energy levels. Many of the dieters assessed ate less than 400 calories by noon when they had risen at 6:00 AM. That is approximately 66 calories per hour; hardly enough maintain a high level mental acuity, let alone physical exertion.
The real key to sustained energy while burning fat at the same time ( yes, you can burn fat while eating) is to have a mix of fuels that will slow the absorption rate of food from the stomach into the small intestine, keeping us fuller longer, generally around three hours or so. The mixed fuel refers to a portion of protein, a portion of carbohydrate and a small portion of fat. This combination acts like a carburetor on a vehicle, slowly releasing digested fuels into the body at a slow and controlled rate, diminishing the dreaded blood sugar crash and reduces the production of body fat. What's that you say? Reduce the production of body fat? Absolutely! The last part of the wonderful side benefits of mixed fueling at each meal time is that you can reduce your tendency to produce unwanted fat. This is done by controlling the secretion of insulin consistently over a period of time which diminishes the "fat building metabolism" that so many of us profess to have.
A great read is the book "Fat Wars" by Brad King which does a great job explaining the process of fat production and how best to win the game. And the funny thing is, dieting is never recommended once! You have probably have heard all this information before, over and over again I'm assuming, so what is stopping you from following through? Look for our next article where we will discuss the real culprit behind fat and fitness failure.
