“If you want to lose weight, don’t eat after six!” - say friends. When fighting extra pounds, lean on fruits - they write on the Internet. During meals, drink more water so that you can eat less, “knowledgeable” people share from TV screens. Unfortunately, not all advice should be believed, since most of it will not only not help you lose weight, but will also harm you. AiF.ru collected the 7 most common misconceptions about the fight against extra pounds and asked for comments on them nutritionist, author of best-selling books on weight loss Alexey Kovalkov.
Myth No. 2. While eating, you need to drink as much water as possible so that less food fits in.
Some nutritionists believe that the first signal of satiety for our brain is the pressure of the food bolus on the walls of the stomach. And if you wash down your food with water, the food bolus will be larger and will put pressure on the walls of the stomach earlier. In fact, the signal to the brain that you are full is an increase in blood sugar.
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An important point is that for people with reduced secretion of gastric juice, drinking water on an empty stomach or during meals, to put it mildly, is not beneficial. It is better to drink a glass of water 10-15 minutes after.
The bran will really help you feel full. Their properties are somewhat similar to activated carbon. Bran itself has low nutritional value. But, passing through the digestive tract, they are able to accumulate liquid and swell, creating the illusion of saturation. Thus, they help suppress hunger and reduce the amount of food consumed. Bran and pectins have the following binding capacity: 300–400 g of water per 100 g of substance.
In this case, of course, a prerequisite for their use is increased water consumption (1.5–2 liters per day). Without this condition, fiber ceases to perform its absorbent function. When treating patients, especially the elderly, who often have fluid deficiency, it is necessary to pay attention to and control its sufficient intake.
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Kefir with bran
During the period of weight loss, bran is our salvation. They are low in calories, contain a huge amount of fiber and swell in the stomach. Due to this, you can quickly feel full and stop wanting to eat. Bran alone is not worth gnawing on. Throw them into 1% fat kefir. For taste, you can add a pinch of cinnamon or coconut flakes for a sweet and nutritious smoothie.
According to Karina Yarosh, we give preference to light foods that will fill you up but will not interfere with healthy sleep.
Myth No. 3. The last meal should be strictly before 18:00
I have not met a single person who has lost weight by adhering to this rule. Of course, you can eat after six. Just not carbohydrates. You can indulge yourself in the evening and even at night, before going to bed, for example, a beef steak or a piece of fish with broccoli. But if you add rice, potatoes, pasta or a piece of cake to dinner, this will lead to an increase in insulin levels in the blood, which, in turn, opens your fat cells to entry. It also blocks the production of fat-burning growth hormone, which is produced at night. Therefore, you really shouldn’t eat carbohydrates after six, or better yet, after 16 hours. And in general, it is optimal to limit their amount if you are trying to lose weight, 40–60 grams per day. This is 3-4 small tomatoes.
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In principle, you can eat almost everything, with rare restrictions. Legumes and spicy foods should be avoided - they increase intestinal motility, which can cause pain and increased tone of the uterus. It is recommended to limit strong coffee, since it also helps to increase the tone of the uterus, and in principle is undesirable during the entire pregnancy.
As additions to the diet, especially if there are prerequisites for the development of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (more than 10 oocytes were received in the IVF program), it is recommended:
- drink plenty of fluids (at least 2 liters per day, preferably non-carbonated drinks);
- Protein-rich foods (meat, fish, poultry, dairy products). For the rest, eat what you want for your health. More greens (they contain a lot of folic acid), vegetables and fruits, seafood (high Omega-3 content). Keep your diet varied. And you shouldn’t try to “shove” some “useful” product into yourself if your body does not accept it - it itself knows better than any doctor exactly what substances it is currently lacking, and what is useful for it at this particular moment .
Myth No. 4. You can eat as much fruit as you want while on a diet.
The ability to eat an unlimited amount of fruit while dieting is, of course, a misconception. All fruits have one big disadvantage: they have too much sugar. Mainly in the form of fructose. By the way, sometimes grapes and bananas contain as much sugar as candy. Therefore, any fruit can make you gain weight.
Fruit sugar has a sickly sweet taste and a fairly low glycemic index, which is why it has long been considered an alternative to regular sugar and has been actively used in the diet of patients with diabetes. However, recent research by scientists has shown that consuming large amounts of fructose is even more dangerous for the body than the same amount of glucose. This is due to the fact that almost all fructose, unlike glucose, is converted by the liver into fat, which, upon entering the blood, is immediately absorbed by fat cells.
In addition, consuming fructose stimulates the production of ghrelin (a hormone that provokes hunger). Therefore, it is impossible to get enough of fruits, on the contrary: they stimulate the appetite, and the total amount of food consumed increases.
And yet, if you take a closer look at modern fruits from a scientific point of view, having studied their chemical components, it turns out that they do not contain a large supply of vitamins and minerals! Moreover, the absorption of micronutrients from selectively bred and industrially grown plant sources is a highly controversial issue. Another thing is meat and fish. We get most of the vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids and many other micronutrients from protein foods.
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FOODS YOU CAN EAT AFTER 6 PM
Now let's decide what you can eat after 6 pm. It is advisable to eat high-calorie and fatty foods in the first half of the daily cycle. In the second half, be a little more restrained, and reformulate the “don’t eat at night” rule: eat no later than 3 hours before bedtime. Next, you need to clearly understand for yourself: morning is when we wake up, night is when we sleep. And it doesn’t matter at all that for some it may not coincide with the real time of day.
There is a fairly extensive list of products with so-called zero or minus calorie content. Digesting these foods burns more calories than they contain, which is why they make our list of what to eat after 6 p.m. You can see the calorie content of these foods on other pages of the site.
Vegetables
- Artichokes
- Beet
- Cabbage (white, red, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli)
- cucumbers
- Asparagus
- Celery
- Carrot
- Eggplant
- Green pea
- Green beans
- Pumpkin
- Onions (leeks, chives)
- Spinach
- Horseradish
- Garlic
- Radish (radish)
- Horseradish
- Green leaf salad
- Tomatoes
- Any garden herbs (dill, parsley, basil, watercress, oregano, etc.). It can be eaten after 6 pm in any quantity. For example, in a salad with cucumbers.
Fruits
- Melon
- Watermelon
- Cherry
- Cherries
- Raspberries
- Blueberry
- Cranberry
- Blueberry
- Currant
- Apricots
- Peaches
- Apples
- Grapefruit
- Tangerines
- Lemon (lime)
- Orange
- Papaya
- Kiwi
- Strawberry
Fish and seafood
- Cod and all representatives of the cod breed
- Crabs
- Lobster
- Flounder
Recently, scientists have confirmed the fact that dairy products also take an active part in the “fat burning” process. Yogurts, cheeses, cottage cheese and milk contain calcium, under the influence of which, as it turned out, fat cells are actively broken down. The conclusion suggests itself: a late dinner consisting of dairy products also has a right to exist and after 6 pm you can quite afford it.
The most important thing is that if you have no digestive problems, you can eat all of the above foods while losing weight in any quantity. It’s great if you have an evening meal after exercise, which will significantly increase your metabolism. Since the meal will consist of non-calorie foods, energy will begin to be released from “reserves”. This means that the process of losing weight is inevitable.
Myth No. 5. To lose weight, you need to eat one meal a day.
If you don't eat at all, you can lose weight even faster. But anyone who has ever tried to lose weight on a diet knows that the hardest thing is not to lose weight, but to maintain weight. The statistics in this regard are worse than those for those who have recovered from heroin addiction. About 10–15 former drug addicts do not use drugs after treatment. For those losing weight, the numbers are much more modest. Only 5 percent of those who lose weight on a diet are able to achieve their goal. And only 5 percent of those who have completed this journey to the end can maintain weight for a year! Therefore, people need to finally understand: you need to lose weight once and for all. And this can be done only by eliminating the cause of excess weight, under the supervision of experienced specialists.
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Principles of nutrition after six
To ensure that your dietary and delicious dinner brings you maximum benefit, follow several principles of food absorption:
- Keep the portion minimal. It should visually fit in your palm. You are allowed to eat no more than 300 g of food in total.
- Eat slowly. The habit of swallowing food in chunks leads to overeating. The brain simply does not have time to receive the signal that the body is full and transmit it to you. This causes you to eat more than you actually need. Therefore, chew carefully.
- Enjoy the dish. Scientists have proven that food eaten with pleasure creates a feeling of fullness faster than a dish swallowed indiscriminately. When you savor every bite, it’s as if you are thanking your body for having it. And the body reciprocates with you (a slender figure).
- Follow the 80/20 rule. That is, 80% of the plate should be proteins and 20% should be vegetable fiber (vegetables, fruits).
- Never wash down your dinner with drinks - juice, tea, coffee. Drinks at night are generally not beneficial. And on top of food they simply provoke fermentation.
Myth No. 6. If you actively sweat in a sauna, then the kilograms will melt away along with your sweat.
Sweat is water. And fat cannot flow out of us like liquid from a faucet. Excess fat can only be burned in the muscles as a result of physical activity. Moreover, training should be aerobic, that is, performed with an excess amount of oxygen. If you are out of breath while doing exercises, the excess weight will not go away. Therefore, the most optimal exercise for those losing weight is regular daily walking for 40–60 minutes.
I think many people have noticed that when fighting extra pounds, it’s not the problem areas that lose weight first, but the face and chest. This is directly related to their good blood supply. To reduce fat deposits on the stomach and thighs, it is useful to visit the sauna and bathhouse to improve blood circulation. Regular quality massage will also help. It will make your skin smoother and more beautiful, and help partially get rid of cellulite. Such procedures also improve lymph circulation, strengthen the cardiovascular system, and reduce stress. You can read more about effective weight loss in my book “Minus Size.”
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