To Lose Weight, Eat!

What if I said, you could eat more food, more often and lose weight? Would you think I was crazy?  Before I move forward, one must know that the daily amount of oxygen we consume directly translates into the amount of calories we convert as energy (burn).  This can be achieved through different types and levels of physical activity. Exercise is a key factor in creating an environment in your body that demands an increased oxygen intake.

The human body has 3 types of muscular systems: Skeletal Muscle, Cardiac Muscle, and Digestive (smooth) Muscle. When these muscles contract, the bodies’ need for oxygen increases. There are 3 types of exercise: skeletal muscle exercise, i.e. resistance training; cardiovascular exercise, i.e. walking/aerobics, etc.; digestive exercise, i.e. consuming difficult-to-digest foods that actually take more calories to digest than you consume. But what foods cause this effect? Here is a short list:

 Vegetables-Asparagus, Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Celery, Cucumber, Green Beans, Lettuce, Onion, radish, Spinach, Zucchini.

Fruits-Apple, Blueberry, Cantaloupe, Grapefruit, Honeydew Melon, Lemon, Lime, Orange, Strawberry.

Every time we eat, we are consuming calories and the body immediately starts the digestive process.  Here is where all foods are not created equal in regards to digestive energy expenditure.  Foods like candy and white flour based foods are calorie dense and very easy to digest: out of 300 calories of white flour it may only take 25 calories of digestion, leading to a surplus of 275 calories that can be potentially stored and converted to fat.  Foods like celery are lower in calories and very hard to digest.  Out of 50 calories of celery it may take 100 calories to digest, creating of a 50-calorie deficit that can potentially aid in fat loss.

Eating these fruits and vegetables several times a day and choosing the vegetables as late night snacks can lead to noticeable changes in metabolic rate and increased fat loss in conjunction with a proper balanced diet and exercise program.  You can’t do cardiovascular or skeletal muscle exercise while you sleep, but you can digest and raise your metabolic rate.  Try this out yourself – for the next 2 weeks push aside the chips, pretzels and popcorn and start eating some of the vegetables listed above while lounging around at night. You may like the results?