I am new here and haven't even read a post yet. But I wanted to post here to tell people how I control my weight because I think it can help other people given we have a 30% obesity rate in the US.
Snacks between meals are the problem, not the type of food you eat. Here is why and what I do.
Space your meals a minimum of 4 hours apart (six is better) and do not snack or drink any blood sugar producing drinks like beer, soda with sugar, etc in between meal times.
Eat whatever you want but healthy is better. Just be sure to eat enough to last the 4 to 6 hours between meals without feeling Hungary. This is important in order to stick with this plan.
Why does this work:
Because no matter what you eat (barring strictly very low carb foods) will produce an insulin spike in your blood stream that will last 1 to 2 hours. This is called "STORE TIME" in my diet plan. The reason I call it store time is because the insulin in you blood that reduces the sugar will also trigger you body to store fat since your body knows that it has enough blood sugar already.
The rest of the time between the insulin spike (1 to 2 hours) and your next meal I will call "BURN TIME" because once the insulin level in your blood decreases to normal levels it will trigger your body to start burning body fat in order to keep your blood sugar regulated. You need this BURN TIME to last as long as possible hence the need to wait as long you can before you trigger another insulin spike in you blood stream.
After reading the above it should become clear that eating snacks and drinking sodas between meals will cause extra insulin spikes and basically keep you in STORE TIME mode pretty much all the time except at night when you sleep. Sleep is kind is neutral. Since your body does not need much energy while sleeping you and you are not eating to add blood sugar not much happens.
I read all about low carb diets etc. and had good success with them but it is hard to maintain a low carb diet. Luckily it finally occurred to me that it wasn't the low carb part that was effective. It was the time between meals (or time between insulin spikes) that is effective.
Now I eat anything I want without regard to carbs, fat or whatever. Ice cream is great and I also like apple and cheery pie a lot. I just make sure I eat them with my meal and never between meals. In fact they actually help me last the 6 hours until my next meal. Sometimes I will eat a low carb small meal after 4 hours and then 4 hours later eat a large meal.
I am 62 years old and am 5' 6" and weigh 155 pounds. I have maintained this weight with my diet plan for years now and I love what I eat. At one time I weighed 185 pounds and was on my way to 190. That is when i started researching how to control my weight. I am glad I did.
It is obvious to me now that snacks were my problem and not bad food choices. I still can eat snack food as long as eat them at meal time and not between meals. SNACKS between meals in my opinion are the reason we have a 30% obesity rate and a huge diabetes problem in this country. Just look around you and you will see what I mean. Now that you know, you do not have to do it anymore. Stop using stupid diets that just cause you to eat more often and reduce your BURN TIME. Stop buying potato chips and cookies to eat 2 hours after your meal while you watch TV. The medical professionals do not seem to be able to put two and two together on this issue since they know all these principals but do not have a decent diet plan for you.
It is really not about WHAT type of food you eat but is really about WHEN you eat them. Time is the missing link that I never hear people with diet plans talk about enough.
I hope this helps others like it helps me.
Randy
Snacks between meals are the problem, not the type of food you eat. Here is why and what I do.
Space your meals a minimum of 4 hours apart (six is better) and do not snack or drink any blood sugar producing drinks like beer, soda with sugar, etc in between meal times.
Eat whatever you want but healthy is better. Just be sure to eat enough to last the 4 to 6 hours between meals without feeling Hungary. This is important in order to stick with this plan.
Why does this work:
Because no matter what you eat (barring strictly very low carb foods) will produce an insulin spike in your blood stream that will last 1 to 2 hours. This is called "STORE TIME" in my diet plan. The reason I call it store time is because the insulin in you blood that reduces the sugar will also trigger you body to store fat since your body knows that it has enough blood sugar already.
The rest of the time between the insulin spike (1 to 2 hours) and your next meal I will call "BURN TIME" because once the insulin level in your blood decreases to normal levels it will trigger your body to start burning body fat in order to keep your blood sugar regulated. You need this BURN TIME to last as long as possible hence the need to wait as long you can before you trigger another insulin spike in you blood stream.
After reading the above it should become clear that eating snacks and drinking sodas between meals will cause extra insulin spikes and basically keep you in STORE TIME mode pretty much all the time except at night when you sleep. Sleep is kind is neutral. Since your body does not need much energy while sleeping you and you are not eating to add blood sugar not much happens.
I read all about low carb diets etc. and had good success with them but it is hard to maintain a low carb diet. Luckily it finally occurred to me that it wasn't the low carb part that was effective. It was the time between meals (or time between insulin spikes) that is effective.
Now I eat anything I want without regard to carbs, fat or whatever. Ice cream is great and I also like apple and cheery pie a lot. I just make sure I eat them with my meal and never between meals. In fact they actually help me last the 6 hours until my next meal. Sometimes I will eat a low carb small meal after 4 hours and then 4 hours later eat a large meal.
I am 62 years old and am 5' 6" and weigh 155 pounds. I have maintained this weight with my diet plan for years now and I love what I eat. At one time I weighed 185 pounds and was on my way to 190. That is when i started researching how to control my weight. I am glad I did.
It is obvious to me now that snacks were my problem and not bad food choices. I still can eat snack food as long as eat them at meal time and not between meals. SNACKS between meals in my opinion are the reason we have a 30% obesity rate and a huge diabetes problem in this country. Just look around you and you will see what I mean. Now that you know, you do not have to do it anymore. Stop using stupid diets that just cause you to eat more often and reduce your BURN TIME. Stop buying potato chips and cookies to eat 2 hours after your meal while you watch TV. The medical professionals do not seem to be able to put two and two together on this issue since they know all these principals but do not have a decent diet plan for you.
It is really not about WHAT type of food you eat but is really about WHEN you eat them. Time is the missing link that I never hear people with diet plans talk about enough.
I hope this helps others like it helps me.
Randy