Have you ever noticed at the gym that after a major holiday like Thanksgiving, even on the days that you were the sole person in there, for example a Sunday afternoon, the place is packed. You are wondering are they running a special that you haven’t heard about. People want to believe that they can run to the gym and miraculously burn off the calories they ate three days prior. This is far from the truth especially if the majority of those calories were from simple carbohydrates (cakes, pies, juices, candied yams, etc.) and dinner was served at 6.
I don’t want it to sound like carbs are the enemy. Carbohydrates are a necessary part of our diet. The chemical structure is what determines how they are digested and absorbed. When you eat complex carbohydrates the absorption is slower and they provide a steady supply of energy and thus the amount of sugar converted to fat and stored is limited.
It might be surprising but it is recommended that up to 60% of your daily caloric intake come from carbohydrates. The bulk of these should be complex and the ones that are simple should come from sources such as fresh fruits (not juice), yogurt and other ones that contain vitamins and minerals.
When you speak of weight loss you want to eat fat-burning foods, proteins, fibrous carbohydrates and whole grains. Although walking is a good source of exercise, let’s be realistic, it would take a lot of walking to burn off the typical Thanksgiving dinner.
A good rule of thumb that I heard just recently was for breakfasts eat like a king, at lunch a prince and at dinner a pauper. So if you are going to have that Christmas spread, try scheduling the meal for early afternoon and for dinner eat light and afterwards crank up the music and hit the dance floor.
Posted By: Belinda Anderson
Friday, December 5th 2008 at 10:11PM
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