Flip your Diet Schedule

Gone should be the days of no breakfast and enormous dinners.  But, that's just what our American lifestyle has led us to.  We're usually so rushed in the morning that it's just easier to grab a cup of coffee and breakfast bar.  Then when we get home from a long day at work, it's just nice to sit down and have a filling, large meal right?  These habits might seem correct for your schedule and and your personal apetite, but they are not good for your overall health. 

So here's the deal, since most Americans have their diet schedule all backwards, I may as well give some tips on how to turn that around.  The easiest way to remember what meal should be the biggest is as follows:

Breakfast - Eat like a King
Lunch - Eat like a Prince
Supper - Eat Like a Pauper

Now, of course this doesn't mean that you can only eat bread and butter for supper and have a 7 course meal for breakfast.  It simply means that you should get the majority of your calories for breakfast.  And it also means that you should get good calories for breakfast.  That means more protein, fruits, and vegetables.  Protein in the morning has been shown to increase energy, not only in the morning but throughout the day.  That means less of a crash at 11 am.  Some good sources of morning protein are eggs, nuts, quinoa, and lean/unprocessed meats (NOT sausage links). 

The same standards go for lunch.  More calories than supper but not as many as breakfast.  You need a pick-me-up in the midday to get you through the strenuous afternoon hours.  Sandwich rolls (meats and veggies) are a perfect way to get protein and vegetables in at lunch.  Also, a trail mix can be a perfect side dish for lunch or an afternoon snack.

Now comes the biggest difference, no more huge suppers.  The reason is that you don't need all of those calories at the end of the day.  The more calories you eat at night, the more calories will be going toward storage.  And, calories are stored as fat in our bodies.  So, one quick way to help you start to lose weight is by sticking to the Pauper Supper method.  Of course this doesn't mean that you can only eat nuts and berries for dinner, you can still have the same meal, just scale the portion sizes way down.  Try eating about 1/3 of what you would typically eat at night.  Now, if you're thinking, "I'll be way to hungry to only eat that much", you shouldn't be if you eat a large breakfast and medium sized lunch.  Plus, you'll have homemade leftovers to bring for lunch the next day.

So remember, a Breakfast fit for a King, a Prince's Lunch, and Pauper Supper.

October is Weight Loss Month at Cascade Chiropractic & Massage so all of the posts this month will focus on some type of strategy to aid you in your weight loss.