Articles on topics related to body weight, gaining or losing weight and factors that impact hunger and satiety.
Bodyweight exercises are often underestimated as a valuable way to workout but they are very effective for building strength, cardiovascular fitness, balance, coordination, and flexibility. You can do a few bodyweight exercises every day in a very short period of time and gain all the same health benefits as going to a gym! Make it …
In order to build skeletal muscle there needs to be an overall increase in synthesis and a decrease breakdown. Resistance training causes muscles to breakdown and then rebuild if there is enough protein for the rebuilding process to occur. The main nutritional factors that stimulate muscle protein synthesis are: Amino acids from eating protein – …
In healthy people, about 80-90% of our fat is located underneath the skin, called subcutaneous fat, and about 6-20% is found surrounding abdominal organs, called visceral fat. Having excess visceral fat, aka belly fat, is more highly associated with cardiovascular disease than excess subcutaneous fat in other regions of the body. In other words, it …
The following is a list of things we commonly associate with aging, but are these natural processes that are inevitable? No. They are actually caused by not moving enough. If you include at least 30 min of moderate exercise 3-5 times per week, with at least one session being some weight-bearing exercises and 1 session …
A very common argument against intermittent fasting is that you are starving your body and this will lead to a slower metabolism and weight gain in the long run. Intermittent fasting will not cause your body to think it is starving if you are following one of the standard intermittent fasting methods (see below). In …
One thing that has been shown over and over about nutrition research is that people have difficulty accurately estimating how many calories they consume, and how much protein, fat, and carbs they consume. It is one factor that makes retrospective nutrition research studies very difficult to interpret. There are many different types of diets that …
What kind of diet works best? Low fat diet? Low carb diet? Do total calories matter? The most popular theory right now is that carbs increase weight gain because carbs stimulate insulin, which is a hormone that causes our liver to convert carbs into fat, so reducing carbs will help you lose weight. But, there …
Throughout human evolution periods of feasting have been followed by periods of fasting. Our body is physiologically adapted to spending a little time without food. Skip eating for a day or so, 24-36 hours, and just consume water, tea, or bone broth and feel the health benefits. I suggest fasting from about 6pm after you …
One of the main stress hormones is cortisol and it can have a huge impact on your health. 75% of North American adults report that they have physical or emotional symptoms of stress. It is a significant factor in chronic health issues like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, mood disorders, and dementia. Cortisol is a …
I often hear that we should eat first thing in the morning to “kick start” our metabolism, or eat small meals more often to keep our metabolism going all day. Eating actually DOES increase our metabolism, this process is called the thermic effect of food (TEF), and it is because the process of digestion requires …
Does eating in the morning or more frequently actually increase your metabolism? Read More »
It is healthy to postpone eating once in a while or to even skip a meal. There are so many benefits to intermittent fasting that making it a daily routine would be something to consider. You can fast 16 hours per day and still have 3 meals. For example, you could eat at 10am, 2pm, …
Sugar binds to dopamine and serotonin receptors in your brain making you feel temporarily good because these same neurotransmitters are involved in mood regulation. If you consume sugar every day, your dopamine and serotonin receptors will down regulate, and this can lead to cravings, getting ‘hangry’/ irritable, low mental energy, decreased ability to concentrate, and …
