Failing to get back on a healthy eating plan soon after the big holiday feast can lead to serious weight gain and most likely a New Year’s resolution to get in shape.
“Most of us will eat snacks and sweets the week leading up to Thanksgiving or Christmas, then continue for days and weeks afterwards,” said Gaye Lynn Hicks, R.D., L.D., a dietitian with the Methodist Weight Management Center in Houston. “This often leads to a whole season of eating and before you know it you have put on a lot of weight in a short amount of time.”
Hicks said this type of behavior can spiral out of control very quickly, so adopting a healthy lifestyle becomes more important than dieting. Concentrate on eating healthy when not at holiday gatherings and exercising at least three days a week. Once you get into the “lifestyle mentality” it will be easier for to eat healthier after indulging in fattening foods usually offered around the holidays.
“Look at your calendar and mark down the parties where you will want to eat more and others that will be more diet friendly,” Hicks said. “If you focus and plan ahead it will be easier to avoid the inevitable pitfalls of wanting to eat more at holiday gatherings.”
“Most of the time it’s all in our head. We think we’ve blown our diet when that is simply not true,” Hicks said. “The bottom line is if you want to eat mashed potatoes, lathered in all kinds of stuff, during your holiday meal, do it. It will be easier to keep the holiday pounds off if you remember that your annual feast is just one meal.”
Monday, October 31, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Proper Protein Intake Crucial for Moderating Energy Intake, Keeping Obesity at Bay
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Obesity is a growing problem worldwide, but proper protein consumption can help keep it at bay, according to a paper published Oct. 12 in the online journal PLoS ONE.
Researchers found that, when subjects were fed a 10% protein diet, they consumed 12% more energy over four days than they did on a 15% protein diet. Moreover, 70% of the increased energy intake on the lower protein diet was attributed to snacking. When the protein content was further increased to 25%, however, the researchers observed no change in behavior relative to the 15% protein diet.
It had previously been suggested that protein content plays an important role in determining overall energy intake, and thus affects obesity, but until this study, experimental verification had been lacking. To test the hypothesis, the researchers tested 16 female and 6 male participants, all lean and in good health. The subjects spent four days on each of the three diets, which were made as similar as possible in factors such as palatability, availability, variety, and appearance, and their intake was monitored.
According to Dr. Alison Gosby, "the results show that humans have a particularly strong appetite for protein, and when the proportion of protein in the diet is low this appetite can drive excess energy intake. Our findings have considerable implications for bodyweight management in the current nutritional environment, where foods rich in fat and carbohydrate are cheap, palatable and available to an extent unprecedented in our history."
Obesity is a growing problem worldwide, but proper protein consumption can help keep it at bay, according to a paper published Oct. 12 in the online journal PLoS ONE.
Researchers found that, when subjects were fed a 10% protein diet, they consumed 12% more energy over four days than they did on a 15% protein diet. Moreover, 70% of the increased energy intake on the lower protein diet was attributed to snacking. When the protein content was further increased to 25%, however, the researchers observed no change in behavior relative to the 15% protein diet.
It had previously been suggested that protein content plays an important role in determining overall energy intake, and thus affects obesity, but until this study, experimental verification had been lacking. To test the hypothesis, the researchers tested 16 female and 6 male participants, all lean and in good health. The subjects spent four days on each of the three diets, which were made as similar as possible in factors such as palatability, availability, variety, and appearance, and their intake was monitored.
According to Dr. Alison Gosby, "the results show that humans have a particularly strong appetite for protein, and when the proportion of protein in the diet is low this appetite can drive excess energy intake. Our findings have considerable implications for bodyweight management in the current nutritional environment, where foods rich in fat and carbohydrate are cheap, palatable and available to an extent unprecedented in our history."
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