Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Weight Loss: The First of Six Rules for Calorie Reduction

I have six rules for calorie reduction. If you follow all six rules with almost no exceptions I almost guarantee that you will be down to a 1200-1500 calorie diet.

The first rule, and I feel the cornerstone of any calorie reduction plan, is to eat as much fresh raw fruits and vegetables (except potatoes) as you want. This is the most critical because by doing this you both remain full during the day.

The reason this also works is that you replace high Glycemic foods with low glycemic foods. What is the Glycemic Index? The Glycemic index is a way to tell how much a food you eats effects your blood sugar and how fast that food raises your blood sugar. A high glycemic index food such as; white sugar, most breakfast cereals and almost all candies and sweats; lead to a rapid raise in you blood sugar and almost 100% absorption and utilization of the calories in the food. While low glycemic foods such as; fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains and certain rices; take a long time to get absorbed and to raise your blood sugar.

I emphasize raw vegetables and fruits because of the difference between eating raw and cooked foods. Now I am not asking you to do a complete raw food diet or only eat raw fruits and vegetables, but what I am saying is that you can eat as much raw fruits and vegetables (except potatoes) . There are several factors that explain this. First, fruits and vegetables are composed of a high portion of water. Most of this water is lost with cooking so you get filled up more when raw then when cooked. Second is the issue of the calorie content. I need to explain how calories are measured in a food. The food is placed in a calorimeter, a device that incinerates the food to ash, and the amount of heat released above the heat applied is measured as the calorie content of that food. As you can see this assumes that all the stored energy in the food is absorbed by the body. This is not the case for several reasons including: that the body needs to expend energy to break down the food; the fiber in the food carry many of the calories away (need I tell you); and the fiber itself is part of the calorie count. The estimate is that you only process and absorb 50% of the calories of raw fruits and vegetables.

My experience has been that with this as the cornerstone of my diet (but don't worry I eat a very balanced diet, more of that in later blog) , I am full most of the time and hardly have hunger urges. The first two weeks were the worse but I quickly got over this. There are some days I eat 5 pounds of raw fruits and vegetables a day and I still have lost 1/2 pound a day consistently for the 18 weeks so far of my diet.

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