Getting Fit

Lesson 1: Healthy Nutrition: Eating To Get Fit

Turn Up Your Metabolism

Certain fad diets that are making headlines these days emphasize eating high fat, high protein foods. And, while your body will lose water weight in the first two weeks of these diets, eating high fat foods is not advisable for long run weight loss or even weight maintenance.

Why is this? First of all, fat contains nine calories per gram whereas both carbohydrates and proteins contain only four calories per gram. Furthermore, the fat in foods flows easily into your body's fat-storing cells. In other words, it takes very little energy to convert fat into new body fat. At the same time, when you eat a food that is high in complex carbohydrates, your body needs to work much harder to convert it into body fat. Therefore, foods high in carbohydrates but low in fat will be utilized first as energy for your body while high fat foods will be stored more readily as body fat.

So, when these fad diets claim to be the best for your weight loss plan, look at the facts. You will gain new body fat quite easily the more high fat foods you eat. The more fat you gain, the less your body will burn stored fat for energy. Even more alarming is the fact that your body produces more insulin when you eat more high fat foods. Higher levels of insulin in your body increase not only your appetite but also the rate at which your body stores fat. (more information on this can be found in the recommended "Low Fat Living")

More importantly, when considering the pros and cons of trying a high-fat fad diet, be aware that eating too much fat does raise cholesterol and increases the risk of heart disease, adult-type diabetes, several kinds of cancer including breast, colon, and prostate cancers. Excess dietary fat also raises the risk of obesity, high blood pressure, back pain, and chronic fatigue.

How do we increase the fat-burning ability of our body? The first thing we can do is to jump start our metabolism every morning by getting at least five minutes of some type of physical activity. I prefer running in the morning, but if I'm short on time, I'll do a few yoga poses or sit ups and push ups. Follow your activity with a low-fat breakfast. The old cliché is true. Eating breakfast really is the best way to start your day...and your metabolism. Avoid a high-fat meal, however. A bowl of low-fat cereal with skim milk, a piece of fruit, and a cup of coffee is perfect to start the fat burning.

Another way to increase your metabolism and, thus, your body's ability to burn fat and calories is to eat several small meals throughout the day rather than three big meals. Make sure to incorporate low-fat, high fiber foods into these meals such as fruits, vegetables with nonfat dressing, half a bagel with nonfat cream cheese, or nonfat cottage cheese with peaches. When reading package labels, aim for a food that contains less than three fat grams per serving. Remember, a serving doesn't mean eat the entire package. The label will indicate what a serving consists of.

Drink more water. We hear this all of the time, yet most people are still dehydrated without even knowing it. Furthermore, drinking water will help the physiological process which allows fatty acids to be released and delivered to the muscles as energy. Finally, some studies have shown that drinking ice cold water uses up calories when the body takes heat energy to warm up the water.

Building muscle mass through weightlifting and other anaerobic activities helps your body become a more efficient, fat-burning machine. Sit-ups, push-ups, and squats are exercises which can be done at any time of the day. You can also increase muscle mass by taking the stairs instead of elevators, walking to lunch, and increasing the intensity you put into doing chores. "Low Fat Living" lists in detail many good exercises to build muscles.

Taking these steps to increase your body's fat-burning abilities in combination with cutting fat from your diet and changing your nutritional plan to a healthier, low-fat plan are a great start to getting fit forever. Plus, you'll be healthier as well.

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