Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Overeating and watching your weight not enough?

Salmon, asparagus and potatoes, salad
Food Diary (January 18, 2012)
Breakfast: Ham sandwich, berries and muesli with yogurt
Lunch: Salmon, asparagus and potatoes, salad
Dinner: Spinach and spaghetti
Baking/sweets: Apple and cinnamon cake

I ate way too much for breakfast and lunch today and was feeling bloated until dinner. I read earlier in an article that if you feel bloated, dark leafy greens help ‘de-bloat’ since greens fuel the liver.  So I had spinach for dinner and maybe it worked. Well, it was working until I overate pasta and spinach, which does not really solve the “feeling bloated” issue. It is like drinking alcohol to sober up. Lesson learnt, if you feel bloated don’t overeat. It sounds logical but don’t we do illogical things sometimes like eating too many sweets when trying to avoid eating sugar. Or drinking too much when avoiding alcohol?

Today's Favourite Photo
Source: Camemberu
Ceviche of 'Buri-OH' and steamed bamboo shoots with micro greens


Today’s Favourite Blog
Keeping an eye just on your weight may not be enough. A diet which is high in fat, high in carbohydrates, and low in protein can cause people to gain body fat, even if they aren't gaining a lot of weight.

Over a three month period twenty five young adult volunteers were either fed a low-protein diet (5 percent of calories from protein), a high-protein diet (25 percent of calories from protein), or a normal-protein diet (15 percent of calories from protein) to see if the amount of protein consumed had an effect on body composition, weight gain, and energy expenditure. Carbohydrate intake was kept constant at 41 percent of calories during the study, so the higher protein diets resulted in a higher fat intake. The study participants were encouraged to be couch potatoes - no exercise.

All of the volunteers gained weight, regardless of which diet they followed. Those on the normal-protein diet gained about 13 pounds, and those on the high-protein diet increased their weight by about 14 pounds, but these two groups gained muscle mass while those on the low-protein diet did not.

All three groups gained about 7.7 pounds of body fat. Those on the low-protein diet lost an average of 1.5 pounds of lean body mass, and body fat accounted for about 90 percent of the extra calories stored as fat compared to a 50 percent gain in body fat for those eating the normal- or high-protein diet.

At the end of the study the volunteers who had been consuming the normal- or high-protein diets had a higher resting energy expenditure, which means they were burning more calories while their bodies were at rest.


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25 comments:

  1. Eat steak and sleep! YESssssss!!!! I knew I've been doing it right all along! ... and that potato salad to go with ... perfect!

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    1. Hahaha, you are saying you are ahead of the research:)

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  2. I love the salad you had for lunch, that sounds light, yet filling! I am trying to think of fun healthy traveling ideas for my lunches, I need variety, LOL! I enjoy your journal, very helpful information:-) oxox, Terra

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  3. When I see my favorite food, I just can't help but overeat and feel bloated. I know it is very uncomfortable but that won't stop me doing so. I am near sixty, I better eat now than wait till I have all sorts of medical condition that prevents me from eating this and that. Eat first and worry about the weight later. LOL!

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  4. Dear Three-cookies,

    I am a low-carb eater by choice and together with a gym routine, I have found this to be very effective in maintaining consistent weight and fitness. The fact that I don't have a sweet tooth and hardly eat desserts, cakes and other sugary treats might have helped as well.

    I love my alcohol and food too much so I try to compensate with a fairly vigorous gym program and found that if I kept it up, I could eat most of my favourite decadent foods without much issues :)

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    1. No sweet tooth? I have never tried a low carb diet, curious. Maybe one day I will try and see what happens

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  5. I am a moderate eater in all things. I enjoy mostly whole grains, but decided not to put anything off limits. I was, however, not as active as I should be and that has changed! I'm now up and about and the weight is coming off faster and I FEEL better! GREAT article...thanks for sharing!

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  6. I didn't know that leafy greens helped with bloating but I do find that eating too much pasta makes me feel very bloated-sop perhaps the two cancel each other out? :P

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    1. Maybe they do cancel each other out which means you can eat more:)

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  7. When I read things about fat, diet etc. I always wonder how the very slim people I know (some are in their late 30s), who eat absolutely junk food all the time (lots of bread, pasta, pizza, fat cheese, meat and almost no vegetables) keep their weight. They also don't practice any sports.
    All I can say is we are born unequal.
    Otherwise, I totally agree. Overeating will not help the "feeling bloated" issue ;-)

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    1. Yes we are not born equal:) They have high metabolism. Research does not distinguish between persons having different rates of metabolism so I guess thats one shortcoming of such research.

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    2. You are right: there are those who lose one kilo with one hour of stress and those who gain two kilos just looking at a cake ;-)

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    3. I can't decide which option I would choose, I think I will take the cake and 2 kilos

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  8. Yes, I agree.. some people are just lucky to be born with a high metabolism rate.. how i wish i was one of them!! hhahaha

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    1. I have high metabolism though I wouldn't say I am lucky.Some people with high metabolism who don't gain weight may think everything is fine whereas it could be like a ticking timebomb inside.

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  9. seriously i wish i had high metabolism too! i think also muscle weighs more than fat, so you can be leaning out but still gain some lbs on the scale~ this is a really interesting article. thanks for sharing. ps - totally know what u mean about not overeating. i heard that the right time to stop eating is when you feel satisfied, not full! if only in theory that was easier...

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    1. Fat floats and muscle sinks so I guess muscle weight more.
      I heard that too, stop eating when you are 80% full. Great theoretical concept:)

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  10. Your lunch looks great. And the idea of the spinach was good to de-bloat...but how can you stop eating pasta lol. Yay for protein!

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  11. Ahem...sounds like you were talking about me! =) I think my total weight may not be as bad as what people think HOWEVER I am pretty sure I have body fat...and those are hard to get rid of! I need to do more exercise...although I started walking again this year! =D Thanks for the advice on dark green leafy vegetables. I wish I feel bloated so I won't eat, because even though I eat a lot I get hungry and don't feel full... I think my stomach got bigger. Well sorry I kept blabbing today.

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  12. I find that eating too much pasta, potatoes or bread makes me feel bloated - is it carbs from starch and grains maybe? Who knows? Thanks for the tip on leafy greens - I like baby spinach in a salad such as your salmon sans potatoes. YUM! And less bloat.

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