| |
Solution for weight-gain problem So there is a solution to the weight-gain problem. How can you apply it to your own life.
First of all, throw away ideas about counting calories. Generally speaking, you can eat as much as you want and still lose weight – as long as you eat the right type of food.
Secondly, stop expecting sacrifice, deprivation or blandness; there is no need. Feeling hungry is a sign that something is wrong,
and prolonged hunger causes your body to slow the overall rate of metabolism is defense. Moreover, there are mechanisms in our bodies that
naturally allow the right kind of plant-based foods to nourish us, without our having to think about every morsel of food we put in our mouths. It is a worry-free way to eat.
Give your body the right food and it will do the right thing.
In some studies, those who follow a whole foods, low-fat, plant-based diet consume fewer calories. It’s not because they are starving themselves. In fact, they will likely spend more time eating and eat a larger volume of food than their meat-eating counterparts. That is because fruits, vegetables and grains – as whole foods – are much less energy-dense than animal foods and added fats. There are fewer calories in each spoonful and cupful of these foods. Remember that fat has nine calories per gram while carbohydrates and protein have only four calories per gram. In addition, whole fruits, vegetables and grains have a lot of fiber, which makes you fill full and yet contributes almost no calories to your meal. So by eating a healthy meal, you may reduce the calories that you consume, digest and absorb, even if you eat significantly more food.
This idea on its own, however, is not a sufficient explanation for the benefits of whole foods, plant-based diet. Over the long term, these subjects will find it very difficult to continue consuming an abnormally low level of calories; weight loss due to calorie restriction rarely leads to long-term weight loss. This is why other studies play such a crucial part in explaining the health benefits of a whole foods, plant-based diet, studies that show that the weight-loss effect is due to more than simple calorie restriction.
These studies document the fact that vegetarians consume the same amount or even significantly more calories than their meat-eating counterparts, and yet are still slimmer. The china study demonstrated that rural Chinese consuming a plant-based diet actually consume significantly more calories per pound of body weight than Americans. Most people would automatically assume that these rural Chinese would therefore be heavier than their meat-eating counterparts. But her is the kicker: the rural Chinese are still slimmer while consuming a greater volume of food and more calories. Much of this effect is undoubtedly due to greater physical activity…but this comparison is between average Americans and the least active Chinese, those who do office work. Furthermore, studies done in Israel and the United Kingdom, neither of which represent primarily agrarian cultures, also show that vegetarians may consume the same or significantly more calories and still weight less.
What is the secret? One factor that I have mentioned previously is the process if thermogenesis, which refers to our production of body heat during metabolism. Vegetarians have been observed to have a slightly higher rate of metabolism during rest, meaning they burn up slightly more of their ingested calories as body heat rather than depositing them as body fat. A relatively small increase in metabolic rate translates to a large number of calories burned over the course of twenty-four hours.
|
|
