Eat Three Meals Per Day

Many diet plans suggest eating small meals every 2-3 hours throughout the day instead of simply eating the three 'big' meals, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Eating like this can mean eating as many as 5-6 total meals per day, though the meals are smaller.  The concept behind this eating pattern is that it will assist in our weight loss efforts by boosting our metabolism, reducing our appetite, and helping to support normal blood sugar health.  Although this approach is well accepted by many, the science behind the theory remains open for debate.  Additionally, the impact of eating frequency on the amount of total calories consumed and appetite control remain unclear.

A review of the science behind this issue was recently published in the Journal of Nutrition.  The review primarily examined published feeding studies that focused on the effect of eating frequency on appetite and food intake with the 3 meals/day eating pattern used for comparison.  The study investigators reported that...

Eating more than 3 meals per day:

• Reduced the highest level of feelings of hunger,
• Suppressed the highest level of feelings of fullness, 
• Reduced peak levels of some appetite-related hormones, but
• Had no effects on feelings of hunger or fullness when measured throughout the course of the day.

Eating less than 3 meals per day:

• Increased subjects perceptions of appetite (felt hungrier) and
• Reduced their feelings of fullness.

Overall, this review suggests that eating more than 3 meals per day has only a minimal impact on hunger and hunger-linked hormones.  This suggests that eating smaller amounts of food more frequently probably has little impact on appetite control and probably does not reduce the overall amount of food one eats.  Nonetheless, the study investigators did report that actual studies on eating frequency and food intake are inconsistent and conflicting to date, so additional research is needed to determine if eating more than 3 meals per day has any real benefit on reducing overall caloric intake.  In contrast, this current review of the science clearly indicates that eating fewer than 3 meals per day has a negative impact on feelings of hunger and fullness, suggesting that over time we might lose control over our appetite if we try to stick to a diet plan that recommends eating fewer than 3 meals per day.   In general, this study appears to suggest that eating 3 meals per day remains the preferred eating pattern in regards to its effect on our appetite and food intake.  If we choose to eat smaller meals more closely together over the course of the day, it is important for us to keep close track of our total food intake.  Following an eating pattern that includes fewer than 3 meals per day appears to be a poor choice and likely should be avoided.

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Improve Your Dieting Success - Get Plenty of Sleep!

Sleep... we all know how important it is for our overall health.  Despite this it seems like many of us never get enough sleep.  Busy evenings after work and the need for a little 'down time' before heading to bed often result in many of us getting to sleep a lot later than we should.  Combine this with often having to get up early for work or having to get the kids ready for school, and we're lucky to get an adequate amount of sleep.

Previous research has shown us that a lack of sleep puts us at an increased risk for becoming overweight or obese.  This appears to be due to a number of factors including (1) altered metabolic hormones that effect our appetite, (2) changes in blood glucose metabolism, and (3) altered waking behaviors that lead to greater consumption of high-calorie foods and decreased exercise.  While this research clearly indicates that a lack of sleep can put us at risk for becoming overweight or obese, new research also suggests that a lack of sleep can affect our weight loss success when dieting.

A new weight loss study examined the impact of sleep restriction on body fat loss in individuals following a reduced-calorie diet.  In this small pilot study, weight loss investigators asked 10 overweight, adult volunteers to sleep in a sleep laboratory for two 14-day dieting periods.  During the first dieting period, study volunteers were allowed to sleep for 8.5 hours per night.  The volunteers were only allowed to sleep for 5.5 hours per night during the second 14-day diet period.  The weight loss researchers examined changes in body fat loss and lean tissue loss in addition to other measures.  The results of this study showed that:

• Body fat loss was greater when volunteers received 8.5 hours of sleep per night (~3 lbs) compared to when volunteers were restricted to 5.5 hours of sleep per night (~1.3 lbs). 
• Sleep restriction resulted in greater amounts of lean tissue loss (~5 lbs) compared to getting a full night's sleep (~3 lbs).
• Sleep restriction was linked to unfavorable changes in metabolic hormones resulting in an adaptation to caloric restriction, increased hunger, and reduced fat breakdown.

While this is clearly early research done in a very small group of volunteers, these fascinating research results clearly suggest that the amount of sleep we get can effect our weight loss efforts.  While the study volunteers successfully lost weight regardless of how much they slept, getting an inadequate amount of sleep appeared to cause dieters to lose more lean muscle mass than fat mass.  Additionally, a lack of sleep redued the amount of body fat lost.  Ideally, we want to lose fat mass and maintain lean muscle mass when dieting, which is one of the important reasons for exercising while dieting.  However, not getting enough sleep while dieting can make it difficult to achieve healthy weight and fat loss.

If you are on weight loss program or getting ready to start a diet plan, it is important to make sure you get enough sleep.  Getting inadequate amounts of sleep might reduce your weight loss success.

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All-You-Can-Eat Ballparks!

Have you read the recent article on the Sports Illustrated website about the relatively new trend in ballparks?  It appears that despite the fact that two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, ballparks have been opening all-you-can-eat sections in order to boost sales, and it is working.

According to this article, this trend started off with the development of premium all-inclusive packages, but has progressed to include other stadium sections.  In fact, many of these all-you-can-eat sections are sections of stadiums that typically do not sell out. By selling seats that include all the food and drink that you can consume, ballparks have now been selling out sections that were nearly empty before including the all-you-can-eat promotion.  For sports fans it's a great deal.  One park is selling seats in its all-you-can-eat section for $40 per person.  Most sports fans would end up spending quite a bit more than $40 for tickets, food, and drink if they had to pay for the items separately.  Because ticket sales have increased, so has the number of teams using similar promotions.  Currently, over half of the major league baseball teams have all-you-can-eat seats, up from only a handful of teams in 2007.

It is clear that these all-you-can-eat promotions are helping the ballparks and also helping the wallets and pocketbooks of customers who choose to attend a game, but is it helping these customers' waistlines?  Most likely not!  While some ballparks apparently offer salads, fruits and other healthy options, the majority of foods offered are what we consider typical ballpark fare... hot dogs, nachos, peanuts, soda, ice cream, and more.  Not exactly the healthiest of choices.  Even when healthy options are offered, customers reportedly opt for the less healthy choices because it is part of the ballpark culture.  In addition to being offered less than healthy food choices in most cases, the all-you-can-eat ballpark atmosphere leads to some serious overeating.  One customer mentioned in the article apparently eats double or triple what he would normally eat in another section of the stadium, stating "I figure I might as well take advantage of it".  This is the same attitude many of us take at any buffet, whether at a ballpark or our favorite restaurant.

Eating healthy is a challenge for most of us in the best of situations.  Putting ourselves in all-you-can-eat situations makes it even more difficult to eat healthy.  While I would never tell anyone to stay away from a ballpark, I would suggest that you practice restraint if do you have the opportunity to watch a game from an all-you-can-eat section.  Some of the tips below might help:

• Eat a healthy snack of fruits and/or vegetables before going to the game.  This will curb your appetite so that you can resist the buffet longer and decrease your chances of overeating.
• Try to avoid repeated trips to the all-you-can-eat buffet.
• If you order nachos, only get one and share it with a friend.
• If they offer grilled chicken, choose it over less healthy options.
• If a salad bar is available, include a salad as part of your meal.  It is a healthier option and will reduce the amount you eat of less healthy options.  
• Choose healthier dessert options if available (e.g. frozen yogurt over ice cream)
• Choose calorie-free drinks when possible.

My protein bars, shakes, and chips make great options to either consume before going to the ballpark in an effort to reduce your risk of overeating or to take with you to the game (where allowed of course!).   Visit us at www.drtabor.com to learn more about my delicious foods and easy diet plan.

Weight Loss Tip: Don't Serve Food From The Table

There are lots of weight loss tips floating around and many of them work if we actually follow them on a regular basis.  A new research study examined the effectiveness of one weight loss tip on caloric intake.

In this new healthy eating research study, researchers investigated whether the place from which food was served had an impact on how much food was consumed.  For the study, food was served to 78 study volunteers either (1) from the kitchen counter/stove or (2) from serving dishes placed on the dinner table.  The number of calories consumed under each serving condition was measured.  The results showed that:

• Serving food from the kitchen instead of the dinner table resulted in a 23-35% decrease in food consumption.
• The decrease in food consumption that resulted from keeping the serving dishes of the dinner table was greater in men than women.

This is a great example of Mindless Eating®.  If the food is placed on the table in a serving dish and we are allowed to eat what we want, we typically eat more than we realize.  This is because it is much easier to take a second or even third helping if the food remains on the table in front of us.  If we have to leave the table to get an additional helping of food from the kitchen, we are less apt to have a second helping.  The study researchers suggest that this same strategy can be used for foods of all types... simply keep healthy foods, fruits and vegetables in particular, in plain sight and easy reach and hide unhealthy foods from site.

Keep simple ideas like this in mind when trying to develop healthy eating habits.  Following a good diet plan is another way to start developing good eating habits.  My diet plan is an easy and delicious way to help with your weight management goals.