Strategize Your Meals for Effective Energy

By Kreg Weiss, B HKin • January 10th, 2009 • 5219 Views

Most people view nutrition and body weight management primarily from the point of quantity. How much am I eating. How does the caloric input balance with the caloric output. Having our focus solely on the 'how much' of eating grossly limits one's capacity to effectively nourish the body without generating a positive caloric balance and weight gain. Many people unnecessarily over-restrict the amount of food they eat instead of taking advantage of the 'when and how' strategies of nutritional plans.

Understanding the timing of when we eat along with how we eat can greatly improve our ability to management body weight and to sustain optimal energy levels throughout the day. With these strategies, we often find that we can consume more food without enduring sudden or gradual weight gain.

Looking first at the 'when' strategy of eating, we want to acknowledge the function of food. Food has a basic purpose of providing nutrients and acting as energy sources for cellular maintenance and function. We want to consume food just prior to or during periods when cells are requiring more fuel. When the cells shift into a lower state of energy consumption, our nutritional intake should be greatly reduced or eliminated.

Our society has grown accustomed to eating the largest meal (dinner) at the end of day which is also when most people begin to decrease physical activity. By flooding the body with a large meal (and a series of late night snacks), our cellular systems become overly saturated with nutrients and calories. This overflow of calories remains in the blood stream as broken down blood sugars and results in a cascade of hormonal releases. To bring the blood sugar levels back into a more balance state, the pancreas releases insulin that shunts these sugars into fat cells. An enzyme-lead chemical reaction occurs that converts these unused sugars into stored fat.

From the 'when' perspective, we want to consume our more calorie dense meals at the beginning and middle of the day to take advantage of daily physical activities that will consume these blood sugars and reduce the conversion of excess calories into stored fat. ...

Tweet

• <<
• <
• 1
• 2
• >
• >>

Location:  Montreal, CA

Kreg is a certified Hatha Yoga Teacher and Kinesiologist (exercise science).  All of his classes integrate a purposeful, meditative quality to allow for an experience of connection and reflection while the body explores expansion and renewal. Kreg acquired...