Meal planning
Most of us will do better if we plan ahead, planning ahead has been shown to help with weight loss. One study showed that women were less likely to be overweight if they meal planned and men were less likely to be obese (body mass index over 30).
Meal planning
Meal planning can be incorporated into your weekly schedule.
Look to see what you have in the refrigerator and pantry.
Decide what you will eat for the week.
Make a shopping list and
Once you have planned out our week, try to stick to it as much as possible.
Meal prepping
Meal prep as much as possible to save time.
This could look like,
Cooking a few meals in one day to reheat them later in the week.
Preparing chick peas, lentils and a variety of beans so that they are ready to toss onto salads or use as a side dish.
Cutting up vegetables so that they are ready to go for snacks and
roasting vegetables to have later in the week as salad toppers or side dishes.
Ducrot P, Méjean C, Aroumougame V, et al. Meal planning is associated with food variety, diet quality and body weight status in a large sample of French adults. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2017;14(1):12. Published 2017 Feb 2. doi:10.1186/s12966-017-0461-7
Thoughts on meal planning?
The goal of this challenge is to move forward and improve our health.
This intermittent challenge is a 10 day challenge.
Each day reduce your eating window by 30 minutes.
The most sustainable intermittent fasting period is 16:8
Consider eating 11-7Pm
Studies show that if you eat earlier in the day, the more likely you will be to lose weight.
Studies also show that if you lose just 1-2 pounds a week, these results are more sustainable than trying to lose a few pounds a week.
Intermittent fasting can help with weight loss but the largest benefit has to do with how our body uses insulin and the decrease in inflammation that is thought to occur with fasting.
Most Americans snack after dinner, this is out of habit. If you had a good dinner with protein, vegetables (carbohydrate) and a small amount of fat you shouldn’t be hungry 2 hours later but a lot of us find ourselves going to the kitchen. If this is you make an effort to change this.
The only right way to diet is the diet that works for you.
If weight loss and better health are your goal then make it a
priority to eat nutritious whole foods including vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans and lean meats (less so).
Less packaged foods
Less added sugar
Less refined grains including cakes, cookies and sweets.
This is only a 10 challenge. it will take some people 1 month to reduce their eating window to 8 hours. In some cases, people can’t fast period regardless of the time frame.
Each of our bodies are different. Different genetics, different metabolism and different foods that we like.
If there was ONE best diet that worked for everyone, the diet industry would not be a multi-billion dollar industry.
For sustainable results you must make small changes
Let’s also talk about inflammation
There are 2 forms of inflammation. Acute which is our body’s normal defense mechanism. WE see this when an area of our body sustains injury and gets inflamed
Chronic inflammation is long-term inflammation, it goes on to destry and harm our body.
Exercise has been shown to help decrease inflammation.
One study from the University of San Diego showed that even a fast walk for up to 20 minutes can help reduce inflammation.
Yoga combining deep breathing exercises with gentle movements can help lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety and even improve symptoms of depression.
Bodyweight exercises are one of the best ways that we can build strength without putting additional stress on the joints by loading them with weight. In addition, research shows that resistance training can slow down the inflammatory response as we age.
Beginners can start with 15 seconds each then work towards a minute.
Bodyweight squats or wall squats.
Pushups to work your upper body. You might want to start with wall push ups first or try kneeling pushups.
Planks or kneeling plank or plank
Dimitrov S, Hulteng E, Hong S. Inflammation and exercise: Inhibition of monocytic intracellular TNF production by acute exercise via β2-adrenergic activation. Brain Behav Immun. 2017;61:60-68. doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2016.12.017
