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Designing Meals for Weight loss

For years good nutrition was considered a daily balance of vitamins, minerals, protein, fiber, etc.

New research is proving that optimum health for adults requires nutrition balance at each meal and this balance is especially important during weight loss. If you don’t have the right balance at each meal you will always be hungry and tired and you will not lose the unwanted and unhealthy body fat.
The right food choices at each meal are created with a balance of three main nutrients:

  • protein
  • carbohydrates
  • fiber

The ideal balance has been scientifically tested and is now presented in the
METABOLIQ Lifestyle and visually represented with the METABOLIQ Plate­Look concept.

Generally during weight loss the best way to control total calories and get a balanced diet is to eat
three daily meals. The concept of eating lots of small meals and snacking is a concept derived from
early research (now proven not correct) and from use of high Carb diets that leave you always hungry
(see up coming blog: Snacks and Obesity). Lots of small meals create a carbohydrate addiction and
keep your body in continuous fat storage. You can’t lose weight if you keep insulin high all day.

This first meal of the day is critical to jump­start your metabolism and get you into the fat­burning
mode. (see previous blog: Breakfast to Energize Your Day) If you make mistakes at breakfast, it’s
virtually impossible to correct your metabolism or feel good for the rest of the day. Once you get
breakfast right the other two meals have more flexibility. Most Americans have a small meal at noon
and a larger meal during the evening. While the larger “dinner” meal can be at either noon or evening,
the timing should be consistent every day. Many individuals find they are more satisfied (and less
hungry) if they have their dinner meal at noon. This also works well for individuals who wake up early
and off to bed by 9:00 pm.

Dr. Donald K. Layman Qivana, CSO
Dr. Donald K. Layman
Qivana, CSO

There are four main steps in creating the right meal balance.

1) The first step at every meal is to decide on your protein source and how much protein you want. For every meal you need a minimum of 30 grams of protein but you can always eat more. Sixty or 70 grams of protein for lunch or dinner is okay. You want to get your “full” feeling at a meal from the protein and fiber in the meal, never from the carbs like bread, chips, or French fries. When you’re out at restaurants never eat bread or chips before the protein arrives.

2) The second step in meal planning is to reduce starchy and sugary foods such as grain­based foods like breads, rice, pasta, chips, crackers, and cereals, plus starchy foods like potatoes and corn, or sugary foods like bananas. The Plate­Look rule is this group of starchy and sugary foods can never be visually larger than your protein choice. For every bite of the protein food group you can have a bite of the carb group. This visual size relationship of 1 to 1 will keep you from overeating carbs. These foods are part of the fun of eating, but they have almost no nutritional value and they must be controlled for successful weight loss. If you’re not losing the weight you want, this group is the problem.

3) The third section of the plate is the “SmartCarbs.” These are vegetables and fruits that have a ratio of total carbohydrates/fiber of less than 6. Using the carb/fiber ratio less than 6 guarantees that the food is high fiber and low calories. At breakfast, foods in this group are most likely berries; at lunch, choices are likely to be salads and fresh vegetables like carrots, celery, cauliflower; and at dinner salads or colorful vegetables like green beans, asparagus, beets, and peppers. Use this section of the plate to be sure you feel full. For every bite of food out of the protein and starchy Carb sections, you should have 2, 3 or 4 bites out of the SmartCarb section of the plate.

4) The last principle for designing the METABOLIQ balance is making good fat choices. Remember
the villain in the obesity problem is carbs not fat. Don’t obsess about fats, but you should make good
choices. Avoid high fat and high carb foods like French fries, pizza, chips, donuts, desserts, and
candy. Always select reduced fat foods like 1% milk, lean meats or fish, and low fat salad dressings.
Avoid foods that claim to be fat­free because that means they contain high carbs. Finally the best fats
are olive oil, fish oil (omega­3), canola oil (or rapeseed and flaxseed oils), and butter. Avoid
margarines and other hydrogenated oils.

Planning your meals around these four steps allows you to create good eating habits. Whether you’re
eating at home or in a restaurant you should always be able to visualize the Plate­Look you want to
create. Don’t fall into the “clean­your­plate” habit. Almost all restaurants serve you over 1000 calories, so eat the proper balance and take the leftovers home for lunch. A last point to make here is to recognize the unconscious calories in drinks including sodas, sport drinks and alcohol. A liter of soda contains 400 calories and a margarita has over 500 calories. Calories in drinks substitute for the
carbohydrate portion of the meal.

The METABOLIQ Lifestyle is a simple approach to meal planning. Once you understand protein there
is no counting and no measuring. Get the balance right and you’ll be successful. Food is fun. You
should always enjoy eating, but cherish being healthy.

For your health,

Dr. Donald K. Layman

Qivana, CSO

 

Dr. Donald K. Layman, Ph.D is Professor Emeritus of Nutrition in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois. With more than 33 years of teaching and research experience, Dr. Layman has numerous awards and recognitions, including awards from the American Society for Nutritional Sciences, the National Institutes of Health and the Nutrition and Metabolism Society. To learn more about Dr. Layman, click here

The Ugly Truth

I do a weekly brainstorming session just to make sure that the ideas that spin in my head aren’t just one hit wonders. Most times if an idea makes it to my note pad more than once, then I will, in time, write about it. I also ask for ideas from other people. Today I got a note from my husband asking

“Why do people struggle to lose weight and keep it off.”

Seems simple enough right? Calories in needs to be lower than calories out. Poof, you have lost weight. Right? NEVER!! This question from Doug, my husband, would seem odd from the outside. In the fall of 2011 we were in a very different place. We were both fat. Very fat. But for him, although he knew he was big, it didn’t happen overnight and it just was what it was. And apparently for most of the world.

Obesity definitions, sources and methods:
Obesity definition: obese is a person with a body mass index (BMI) over 30 kg/m2.
BMI is defined as the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in metres (kg/m2)
The data on obesity displayed on the Worldometers' counter is based on the latest statistics published by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Globally, there are more than 1 billion overweight adults, at least 300 million of them clinically obese. Obesity rates that have risen three­fold or more since 1980 in some areas of North America, the United Kingdom, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, the Pacific Islands, Australasia and China. Economic growth, modernization, urbanization and globalization of food markets are just some of the forces thought to underlie the epidemic.

One day Doug had a mind shift and for him that is all that it took. He was going to get this extra weight off and be healthy. Three and a half years later, he is still working on that last 5 lbs with a body fat % of 11%. He made a choice and did it. But he is the anomaly. Most of us can’t seem to lose it and when we do, it usually comes back on and then some.

When Doug decided to make the change, I also did. We worked on it together. But I have not lost all of my weight. I am still struggling. Yes I have lost some, have dropped several sizes, but I still have more than 20 to go and I am at an age where the medical professionals tell me that I am expected to gain weight in the next few years. Yippee.

In our comparisons is

THE UGLY TRUTH.  

Losing weight is not easy!! There I said it. We are as a society told a lot of ugly lies. But let me lay the truth out for you.

1 Losing weight is not easy.
Anyone who says losing weight is easy is either lying to you, is naturally blessed with
a fast metabolism, hasn’t really tried to lose a few, or is also lying to themselves.

2 It will take more time than you think.
All the programs in the world are created for an imaginary person living in an imaginary world.
YOU are unique and need to be treated as such.

3 Life will get in the way.
Even the best intentions will have birthdays, weddings, parties, BBQ’s and the list will
go on.

4 Your friends will not support you.
Yeah I know that one hurts but its true. As long as they are looking better than you, you are
relatively safe. But as soon as you start to make a real difference, I’m sorry to say, but it's
going to get ugly.

5 You will backslide a little.
Nobody is perfect, let’s face it. If you think that your journey will be without road
bumps, you are fooling yourself

6 You may get hungry.
Let’s face it, if we didn’t change the way we eat, then we won’t be able to change the
way we look. You shouldn’t always be hungry, if you are, then you won’t stick with it, but a
little deprivation isn’t all bad.

Now, after all that, it’s not all bad. There is hope. Let’s help with just a few ideas to get you back in the light.

1    There are so many ways to get support if you have decided to get healthy. Find the one that works
for you. This Q4Fit page has been set up just for that reason. We want to be there for you and be your support.

2    Remember who you are doing this for, YOU. You deserve to be healthy and happy.

3    None of us got to where we are now overnight, so don’t panic. One little healthy decision at a time.

4    The scale is only one form of measure, so stop staring at it. If you are putting physical activity into your new eating habits, you will be building muscle. We all have seen the ugly pictures online of what a pound of fat looks like compared to a pound of lean muscle.

5    Make small bite size goals. Losing a size in a month is a little lofty, yup, it can be done, but plan for a little more time and then if you are ahead of the plan. Booyah, good for you.

6    A healthier life is a longer life. Just get started. Do what you can. Plan to succeed and you will.

 

“Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.” –  Nido Qubein

The Dreaded Grocery Store

If I were to say shopping to you what would you think about?  Most men would groan.  Women, I think, would go to one of two places…the mall and shopping for fun or the supermarket not because they like it, but because they need to go.

I remember as a kid thinking that the greatest job would be the checkout girl.  There were no scanners back then, but you got to see what everyone else eats and check out food that you didn’t know what it was and ask how the customers cooked it.  Now with scanners, the fun is somewhat gone unless you go to a store where they still scan for you and especially if they bag for you.  You get to have conversations about food.  How fun is that.  Well, sometimes the trip to the grocery store is not fun at all.

We have become a society that seems to shop on a daily or nearly daily basis.  What do you want to eat tonight, and is it easy to cook and prepare.  Rushing home from work we are already hungry, cranky, and you know that there is a ‘hangry’ mob waiting for you.  So the meals are quick and therefore not thought out as much as they should be.  There must be an easier way to get this part of the day done.  Lets look at a few options that may make things a little easier and therefore healthier.

  1. Unfortunately in order for the shopping to get done without spending the whole rest of your wallet and the rest of your evening, you need to spend a little time planning.  Unavoidable but true.
  2. Something what I try and do is plan out my meals for a week or at least a few days at a time.  If I know what I want to cook later in the week, those items can make it to my list as I am thinking about it.
    • The list itself.  We all know that you shouldn’t go without one.  Yeah, yeah I know too, but who has time to make one and then who remembers to bring it.  I have a great app called Workflowy  It’s free!  I always try to find free.  It is a list app and that is all it does.  But the thing I like about it most is that I can have it on my computer at home, on my phone, ipad, my kids can have the list too.  So as I am thinking about recipes, I add it to the ‘shopping’ list.  Because I always seem to have my phone with me, I open the app, and check my list.  I have even had somebody at home adding to my list as I am shopping so that I don’t forget stuff.
    • Without the list, I tend to hit every aisle.  The good and the bad, I end up getting stuff I don’t need and get too excited about the ‘fun’ food that I shouldn’t be getting
  3. The health experts will tell you that almost everything that you need is on the outside edges of the store.  Nextime you are in, stop for a moment and look.  Produce, dairy, meat, bakery are usually all out there in the open.  So, try to do most of your shopping there.  Obviously there are other things in the middle that you will want too, but next time look at what they are; pasta, canned veggies, frozen quick meals, dreaded snacks, sauces, and crackers and pickles.

There was a time where we only got paid once a month.  With three kids at home, it was tough to budget for a month’s worth of groceries but I did for a while.  Trying to get back to the store for only milk and produce throughout the month taught me a lot about shopping.  One thing for sure was that when I bought treats for the kids and they ate them right away, we all learned how long the month really was.  I only bought that stuff with the ‘big’ shop so either the kids learned to ration the treats or go without them.  Its not a bad lesson to learn.

  • Another thing that I try to do is plan meals that I like to have for leftovers.  If this week is crazy, then pick up stuff for great reheat meals.  We are not great for eating leftovers, unless they are better that way, chilli, lasagna, chicken breasts for salads and wraps.

But the most important thing is to make sure you don’t go to the store hungry.  When you are hungry you tend to graze.  You look at impulse food, you look with your stomach, and look at snack food.

Lastly, enjoy the trip to the store.  If  you go with a grumpy attitude, you will miss out on the new and different things in the store.  You will miss out on new fruit, what is in season, the latest products, the chance to try new stuff.  If you must go with a ‘less than’ attitude, then just make it as quick as you can and go back when you can browse.

As a child my family's menu consisted of two choices:  Take it or Leave it.

~Buddy Hackett

 

Breakfast to Energize Your Day

The importance of breakfast is a principle of nutrition taught to children.

If you want to perform well in school you need a good breakfast, and children who skip breakfast often have low energy, poor attention, and reduced performance. The problem was low blood sugar. Nutritionists thought the solution was eating carbohydrates. This led to breakfasts that were high carbohydrate and low protein such as cereal and OJ or even donuts and pastries. Carbs became a staple for the American breakfast.

As the science of nutrition evolved we learned more about how the body uses protein, carbohydrates and fats, and our concepts about meals changed. We now know that the best way to stabilize blood sugar for children – and adults – is eating fewer carbs and more protein. Carbohydrates can give you a quick burst of energy, they but also lead to a big insulin response that causes a drop in blood sugar in about two hours. This drop in blood sugar saps your energy and leads to snacking. If you’re young, exercise daily, and have normal body weight, you may be able to tolerate a higher carbohydrate diet and snacks, but for most adults, high-­carb breakfasts and snacks lead to weight gain and unwanted body fat. It’s time for a new breakfast.

When you wake up, it’s likely you have been without food for about 12 hours. Your body is burning fat – which is great – but also breaking down your lean tissues including muscle and bone. What you eat at the first meal determines how your body burns fat and protects itself for the rest of the day. Breakfast determines your metabolic pattern. If the first meal is high in carbs and low in protein, the rush of insulin shifts your body from burning fats to storing fat and even converting the carbs you eat into new fat. Lack of adequate protein at breakfast also leaves your body breaking down lean tissues. The ideal breakfast contains protein, carbohydrate, and fat with the balance of protein and carbs being the critical parts. The METABOLIQ Lifestyle is designed to create the right balance.

Dr. Donald K. Layman Qivana, CSO
Dr. Donald K. Layman
Qivana, CSO

Let’s consider breakfast for three different adults: 1) an individual wanting to lose weight, 2) an adult maintaining weight, and 3) any adult with morning exercise.

1.) An adult trying to lose weight must be careful with diet choices. Any mistakes at breakfast and you’re likely to be hungry, tired, and unsuccessful with weight loss. Breakfast should contain at least 30 grams of protein and less than 40 grams of carbohydrates. The METABOLIQ Shake is a complete meal replacement with an ideal balance of protein, carbohydrates and fats. The protein is an optimal blend to energize your muscles, the carbs are selected provide energy but minimize insulin, and the fats are rapidly burned for energy.

The Shake can be mixed with water or milk to allow you to get the right amount of calories for your weight loss. The Shake mixed with water provides 220 calories. Mix it with 4 oz. of water and 4 oz. of 1 % milk for 270 calories, or 8 oz. of 2% milk for 340 calories. The Shake can be mixed with soy milk if you like, but avoid almond or rice milks that add a lot of carbs with very little protein. Select the calories you need so that you’re not hungry before lunch and lose weight. If you feel hungry during morning, then you need more calories at breakfast.

2.) An adult maintaining weight has a little more flexibility with calories and can mix the Shake in 2% milk or even Kefir (read the label to avoid extra sugars).

3.) Morning exercise means you need to adjust your meal timing. If your exercise is low intensity, like walking, then have the Shake whenever you wish before or after exercise. However, if your exercise is higher intensity running, you should save the Shake until after your work out. Contrary to advice of some trainers, there is no advantage to having protein before exercise, but there is a lot of benefit to having protein after exercise. If you need something before exercise, I recommend a light combination of carbohydrates and protein such as toast and an egg or maybe a whole grain cereal with milk. Keep the calories low and use whatever makes you feel comfortable. The purpose of food before exercise is to maintain your energy during the exercise. If your goal is to lose weight and reduce body fat, then eating nothing is best. You may feel tired for a couple of weeks while you adjust to burning just fat during your exercise but you will adapt and ultimately burn a lot more body fat. If you want the Shake before exercise, you should finish it at least 2 hours before beginning your work out. Drink the Shake during the first hour after exercise to accelerate recovery and maximize the benefits of the training.

Getting breakfast right will energize your metabolism for the day and make you feel great.

 

For your health,

Dr. Donald K. Layman

Qivana, CSO

Dr. Donald K. Layman, Ph.D is Professor Emeritus of Nutrition in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois. With more than 33 years of teaching and research experience, Dr. Layman has numerous awards and recognitions, including awards from the American Society for Nutritional Sciences, the National Institutes of Health and the Nutrition and Metabolism Society.

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Reference:  This post was copied in it's entirety from the Qivana Website & Blog.

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