My comment in the last entry about being in a food rut made me want to go and google it, and this is an article it came up with - which is interesting, and kinda scary too. I wonder how much of my weight loss was because I was a) eating less and b) eating foods I had NEVER eaten before?? Interesting, interesting.
Fat Loss:
Food Rotation Can Help You
By James Williams,
Nutrition and Lifestyle Coach Level 2, Cranial Sacral Therapist, London
For many of us, just eating organic food isn’t enough if we want to lose fat.
Your body loves it when you eat unprocessed organic foods because they contain no toxins that end up being stored as fat. Your body appreciates you even more when you include lots of variety. Feeding your body a varied diet is called food rotation and is essential for fat loss and good health. How many days each week do you:
Eat the same foods for breakfast?
Order the same meals from the menu when you eat out?
Make or take-out identical lunches every day?
Get hooked on one food and then eat it to until you’re bored with it?
When I look at food diaries, it often reveals the scary picture that most people only eat up to 12 different foods! If this was the way things were meant to be, then why did Mother Nature give us thousands of varieties of fruits, vegetables, grains? We were meant to eat a varied diet and have done so for thousands of years.
If the "food police" searched your refridgerator tonight, what variety of healthy organic foods would they find?
So, how do you know whether you are stuck in a food rut and need to rotate? Caroline Mein, the author of Different Bodies, Different Diets, defines "rut eating" as eating the same thing three to four days in a row. People also rut eat when they consume the same food at the same mealtime every day. Many off-the-shelf diet books are in fact just rut eating regimes. They fail to include food rotation in their eating plans and take no account of the fact that your body is different from everybody elses! These are two of the key reasons why they do not work. Why rotating your foods will help reduce body fat:
1. Eating the same foods stresses the pancreas because it is continually producing the same enzymes to break the foods down. As the enzyme levels become depleted it results in poor digestion and makes it hard to extract energy from what you ate. The brain detects that your last meal didn’t provide you with enough sustained energy, so it stimulates you to eat yet again. The extra food costs you more money and subtly piles on the pounds.
2. A stressed pancreas may disregulate your blood sugar and trigger bouts of low energy. This causes you to overeat in a bid to get more energy, causing weight gain.
3. You are less likely to develop food sensitivities which rob your body of energy. This means you’ll have more energy available for building health and shedding fat.
4. You will be less likely to binge on treats because your palate is stimulated by a variety of tastes.
Now that you know how important food rotation is, how do you do it?
One of the main methods is based on taxonomy where foods are grouped together by their relationships in nature. This may work well for people with significant health problems. However, a more practical method of food rotation is to eat a specific food only once every four days. Quite simply it means if you eat beef on on Monday, then don’t eat it again until Friday. This approach has been used by well-respected holistic health practitioner Paul Chek, and his clients have found it very successful, particularly those with busy lives. Now that you know how to rotate your foods and that rotation will help you lose weight, you are ready to start.
Review your food diary and notice repetitive food patterns. Try a scientific experiment - for the next week, add more variety. Buy different fruits and vegetables at the grocery. Try at least one new recipe. Eat at a different restaurant. At the end of the week, notice your energy level and read the scale. Your body will definitely reward you for your decision!
No comments:
Post a Comment