Balanced Nutrition for Weight Loss

Now here is a subject few experts will agree upon, what is balanced nutrition for weight loss?
Just losing weight does not imply you are obtaining better health. Optimum health comes when we supply our body's sufficient nutrients to maintain gastrointestinal health, blood chemistry (blood pressure, blood sugar and blood lipids), energy levels, immune system, hormonal responses and numerous more, while losing weight. I believe one of the major mistakes of ineffective weight loss has been lack of essential nutrients forcing the weight loss to a plateau long before the desired goal.

If weight loss was simply a matter of fewer calories ingested than calories expended, the problem of obesity would have been solved long ago. The human body has been magnificently created in design by the Creator to be self-adjusting. If the body temperature rises, it perspires to cool down, this self-regulating is one of a multitude it can perform. So how does this self-regulating effect weight loss? Answer, if continually underfed the calories and nutrients required your body self-adjusts by slowing its metabolism.

In a recent study conducted by David Ludwid MD. at Boston Hospital participants were divided into two groups. One group received a diet well balanced using low-glycemic whole grain food, while the second group less-balanced low-fat foods. Both groups lost about 20 pounds in 10 weeks, and both groups decreased in resting metabolic rates(RMR), which the study reported commonly occurs while dieting. The low-glycemic group dropped 96 calories per day in RMR, while the low-fat group dropped 176 calories per day in RMR. So why did the well-balanced group drop? Answer, because both groups were daily underfed calories which resulted in the loss of muscle, and they became trapped in what I call, "Catabolic Syndrome." You must maintain a balance between anabolic and a catabolic metabolism. In simple terms anabolic means building up or repairing of tissue and catabolic refers to breaking down of tissue. This is the most common reason why most diets fail, and the body becomes trapped in the catabolic phase.

In effective long term weight loss it requires balanced macro-nutrition (30% protein, 50% high fiber, low-glycemic carbohydrates and 20% fat), and provide essential micro-nutrients (vitamins, minerals, enzymes and phytochemicals) found in whole grain fruits and vegetables. A basic nutritional knowledge tells us that proteins repair and rebuild cells, carbohydrates energize cells and fats provide hormonal foundation for cells. Though the macro-nutrition must remain balanced to maintain optimum health, the calories must cycle to keep the metabolism from slowing down. In simple terms, if you reduce your calories daily to lose weight, you'll slow down your metabolism and start to lose muscle.

The secret to effective weight loss is not attempting to lose weight daily. So how do we cycle calories? What works best, is to reduce calories by 250-500 under daily metabolic expenditure for two days, then replenish back to your daily requirement on third day. The reduction in calories on the first two days should come from carbohydrates.

The theory here is when carbohydrates the muscle cell's prime energy source, is depleted this trigger fatty acids stored in adipose tissue (fat cells) to be released into the blood and through a process called gluconegenesis to be converted into energy for the muscle. Unfortunately, this also depletes the glycogen (glucose and water) in the muscle. If the glycogen is not replenished, it would cause a loss of muscle tissue and reduction in the metabolism. This is why you add back the calories in the form of carbohydrates on the third day. The beauty of this is you have two fat burning days, then a recovery day. This will allow you to lose fat without the loss of muscle or reduction in the metabolism, which is essential for long term weight loss.