|
 By
Aicia Tamayo
The latest technique for weight loss, supported by several
health and weight-loss experts, is a rule you never want to
follow in the fitness realm, but may work wonders with your
diet: MONOTONY.
Diet and exercise go hand-in-hand when it comes to managing
your weight and living a healthy lifestyle, but they clearly
have their differences. One of the most well known facts about
exercise is that you have to constantly switch it up. You
never want to do the same thing day after day, or you will
stop seeing results. However, a recent study published in
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that
it may be the opposite when it comes to nutrition.
In the recent study by the University of Buffalo, nutritionist
Leonard Epstein and his colleagues found that eating the same
foods at mealtime might lower calorie consumption. It was
a simple study - they took 32 women and divided them into
two groups with equal obese and normal weight women. The women
were instructed to perform a task for 28 minutes, and were
then given a 125-calorie portion of macaroni and cheese, and
allowed as many extra helpings as they wanted. Both groups
went through five sessions, but half of them did the sessions
five days in a row, and the other did it once a week for five
weeks.
By the end of all of the sessions, the once-a-day group had
decreased its calorie intake of macaroni by about 30 cal.
per session, while the once-a-weekers had increased theirs
by 100 calories. They concluded that reducing variety in food
choices may help weight loss, and that remembering that you
just ate a certain food may help to reduce consumption.
This results are termed "habituation," meaning
that repeated use (in this case, exposure to a food) is sometimes
accompanied by a lack of response (in this case, disinterest
in the food). "We've known for years that foods - even
eating itself - can trigger release of various brain chemicals,
some of which are also involved in what happens with drug
addiction and withdrawal," commented a spokesperson for
the American Society of Nutrition, Dr Shelley McGuire. "The
trick will be balancing this concept with the importance of
variety to good nutrition."
In Tim Ferris' best seller, "The Four Hour Body",
he suggests repeatedly eating the same meals, but certainly
not things like macaroni and cheese. His reasoning is that
you have less room for error - by eating the same healthy
meals day after day you can eat clean and stay on track without
thinking about food all the time. This might be an effective
approach for people who have difficulty with nutrition and
calorie counting, etc.
Then again, restricted diets are harder to stick to. Depriving
yourself of certain foods can lead to binging and a bad cycle
of yo-yo dieting. Some people have success with eating the
same 3-4 meals a day, Monday to Friday, and then giving themselves
a little variety on the weekends. Tim Ferris' plan includes
one cheat day a week, when you can literally eat anything
you want in any quantity - I think that seems a little big
extreme.
Another way to go the monotonous approach without getting
too bored and going completely off track is by changing your
daily meals every few weeks. Eat the same 3-4 meals Monday
through Friday, for 2 weeks. Then plan another 3 meals for
the next couple of weeks. You'll still gain the effects of
eating routine meals, without all the boredom.
If you ask a number of Hollywood's hottest stars what they
their normal diet is like, it tends to be pretty repetitive.
Jennifer Aniston has said that she often has fruit and yogurt
for breakfast, salad for lunch, and broiled fish and steamed
vegetables for dinner. It might sound pretty boring, but she
looks better than ever!
Bottom line: it's just another possible weight-loss technique.
If you're prone to yo-yo dieting and binge-eating when on
a diet, then this definitely isn't for you. Otherwise, head
to the nearest Costco or Sam's Club and give it a try! Even
if you don't lose weight, you'll at least save money and time
buying groceries in bulk!
|
