Slim for Life (28 page)
Authors: Jillian Michaels
Research suggests that you may unknowingly run more slowly on a
treadmill than you would run outside. When people were asked to pick a pace on the treadmill equivalent to their typical outdoor pace, they selected a speed that was 27 percent lower than their actual outdoor pace. This is because the treadmill lacks “backward optic flow”—the perception of movement as you pass objects or people. So instead of gauging your intensity arbitrarily, gauge it by
heart rate. Check your heart rate when you run outdoors and make sure when you run on the treadmill that it matches.
The next time you have one of those “I’m gonna be sore for days” workouts, consider getting a quick
massage right after the workout. Researchers put 11 young, healthy men through a strenuous workout, then immediately gave them 10 minutes of Swedish-style massage. To see the effects of the massage on muscles, they took muscle biopsies of their legs before and after the workout and after the massage. The brief massage affected two specific genes in the muscle cells: one that decreases inflammation caused by exercise, and one that turns up production of
mitochondria in the muscles. Mitochondria are the powerhouse cells that use oxygen and the broken-down products of food to generate energy needed by the cells. Now, if you don’t have the money for a massage after every
exercise session, grab a foam roller. They usually have them at the gym, but you can buy one for $6 to $15 online. Then roll out your muscles and effectively massage them to speed your recovery and enhance your workout results.
SLIM MYTH:
NSAIDs aid in recovery from tough workouts and muscle soreness.
FAST FACT:
For many years nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like Advil, Motrin, ibuprofen, and acetaminophen, prescribed for all kinds of sports injuries, have been a staple of sports medicine. Current research, however, suggests that using NSAIDs to reduce the inflammation actually impairs healing in all different types of tissue, from muscles to tendons to bone and cartilage.
GINGER • 1 POINT
Here’s another tip to help you manage postworkout soreness. Let’s say you’re planning to check out that BODYSHRED class and would like to be able to sit on the toilet or raise your hands above your head the next day. Pop some ginger before getting your sweat on, and chew some afterward, too. Research indicates that 2 grams of gingerroot can effectively decrease exercise-induced muscle soreness if taken before and several days after a heavy workout. You can use fresh gingerroot or try Chimes Ginger Chews (available in many supermarkets as well as at
Amazon.com
).
MIRROR • 1 POINT
One study found that when people ate in front of mirrors, the amount of food they consumed was reduced by one-third. It seems that looking yourself in the eye reflects back some of your inner goals and slimming aspirations, reminding you that you’re trying to lose weight and get healthy.
A study out of Cornell University revealed that people eat up to 35 percent less when they fill their plate from the stovetop rather than
from a serving dish placed out on the table. Hide the fine china and belly up to the burners.
What I mean here is, ditch your fork and switch to chopsticks. Eating
with chopsticks will slow you down and can help you eat up to 25 percent fewer calories per meal. Not only will you look more cultured and worldly, you’ll trim your waistline at the same time.
COLD ONE • 1 POINT
No, not a beer—nice try. Cold
water. It seems there’s some truth to the age-old advice about drinking cold water to burn more calories. Apparently it’s not just a diet tale. It actually does take calories to heat cold water up to body temperature. According to a recent German study, the effect is small but enough to burn an additional 17,400 calories per year, which translates into a weight loss of 5 pounds. While drinking cold water won’t compensate for eating poorly, it’s an easy, free way to burn a few more calories every day.
Many studies have shown that when our food is cut into smaller
portions, we eat less of it. By actually seeing more pieces of food on your plate, you can trick your brain into believing you’re taking in more than you actually are. Research at Arizona State University found that people who were given a bagel with cream cheese that had been sliced into four pieces ate less of it than those who received a whole one.
Instead of writing down every morsel you eat, after the first couple weeks of food journaling, try keeping a visual account of your daily meals. Studies suggest that snapping photos and then looking back
at them can make people stop and think before indulging. Grab your cell phone and take a quick picture of what you’re about to eat; pause for a second, then look at it. A simple snapshot of your heaping dish may make you think twice about having the cheesy croutons on the salad or the heaping serving of mashed potatoes. This great visual reminder may give you pause before you wreck your diet. When you get on the scale at the end of the week and you think it doesn’t represent your efforts to eat less or control calories, you can go back over the photos you logged of your meals and assess where you went wrong.
BLUE
-COLORED GLASSES • 1 POINT
I mentioned in “
Keep it cool
” that
colors affect our appetite. Warm colors make us hungry, while cool colors inhibit overeating. If you’re out at a restaurant during the day (or night, if you don’t care about looking a little odd), wear sunglasses with blue lenses. You may not feel the most attractive in blue tints, but when you’re rocking your skinny jeans, you’ll thank me.
This is my all-time favorite tip. It has saved me from literally thousands of unwanted calories. The minute you have any inkling that you’re finished with your food, wreck it so that whatever is left over is inedible. Seriously. Pour salt all over the remains on your plate. Wad up your napkin and toss it onto your food. Do whatever you have to do to make the food impossible to eat. In fact, as I write this very tip, I just sprayed dry shampoo on the cookies Heidi brought home from her lunch and left on the kitchen table. Think about how many times you’ve been full but couldn’t stop picking at the meal. Willpower is often a fleeting moment of bravado. The minute you have a burst of it, act immediately, as you now know it can weaken with overuse.
SLIM MYTH:
Colon flushes are great for weight loss and detoxing.
FAST FACT:
No true medical research supports any health benefit whatsoever from colonics. The only weight loss a colonic promotes will be the removal of waste from your bowel. Ironically, in the long run this procedure can actually inhibit the action of your body’s
true
weight-loss helper:
probiotic balance. A colonic can deprive your microflora (good gut bacteria) of vital nutrition, and gut bacteria play a role in weight management and a healthy digestive system. My last thought on colonics: they have also been shown to create electrolyte imbalances, which can result in nausea, vomiting, bloating, muscle cramps, and, in extremely severe cases, seizures. Please avoid this kooky trend at all costs. Who wants someone sticking a hose in their bum anyway? I mean, seriously.
Now, if you’re one of those people who hates wasting food, especially when you’re eating out (I have this issue too), gain some perspective. The food you don’t eat will not be shipped to starving people across the ocean; but if you eat it, it’s going to your gut, thighs, or butt. You choose.
In “
Engage inteatime
”
we talked about teas that help curb cravings and hunger. But the following powerhouse teas actually help burn fat and up your fat metabolism! Try them:
•
King Peony White Tea.
The active ingredient in this tea is EGCG, which inhibits fat storage and promotes lipolysis. Drink 2 cups after a heavy meal. Plus theanine, an amino acid found in white and green tea leaves, can increase energy and help reduce anxiety and stress.
•
Loose Leaf Pu’erh.
Pu’erh tea, known as the “drinkable antique,” comes from the mountains of Yunnan, in southern China, where the ancient tea trees grow. Pu’erh is different from
other teas because, like wine, its taste improves with age, becoming more flavorful and mellow. Scientists claim that there’s an activating enzyme in this tea that will literally shrink fat cells. Drink 1 or 2 cups in the morning for optimal results.
This is a little trick I learned from a French friend, and it works great. When you go out to dinner, tie a ribbon around your waist, under your clothes. As you become full, you’ll feel the ribbon tighten. This will create an awareness of your body and remind you to pay conscious attention to how much you’re consuming. It will keep you from needlessly and heedlessly overindulging.
We already discussed (in “
Spice it up
,”) that you should be using
herbs and spices to flavor your food because they’re healthy for you as well as extremely low-calorie alternatives to sauces, sugars, and salt. But their benefits don’t stop there. A report in the journal
Flavour
showed that strong food aromas can help you eat 5 to 10 percent less of your meal. Apparently, strong food smells make people unconsciously take smaller bites, to regulate the amount of flavor they experience. Try the following suggestions out, and see how they work for you:
• Add ⅔ teaspoon of rosemary to a steak, chicken, or salmon fillet.
• Add ¼ cup diced apples, 1 teaspoon grated ginger, and ½ teaspoon cinnamon to oatmeal or pancakes.
• Marinate a chicken breast in plain Greek yogurt with 1 tablespoon freshly chopped mint.
• Stir ¼ teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder into a cup of bean, turkey, or grass-fed beef chili.
•
Crush a couple cloves of garlic and add them to your pasta sauce.
Leave snack wrappers and containers on your desk to remind you of how much you’ve been eating. I find this keeps me from grazing and mindless munching because I realize there’s no possible way I’m actually hungry.
No plate you eat off of should be platter-sized. Your dinner plate should be no bigger than 10 inches across. A study from Cornell University found that people who ate off smaller plates believed that they were eating an average of 18 percent more calories than they actually were. Those eating off bigger dinner plates didn’t have the same
portion distortion. You really do eat with your eyes, not your stomach. So hit Ikea and scoop up some smaller plates—stat!
I know I always tell you to eat balanced portions of healthy proteins, fats, and carbs throughout your day, but there actually is
one
exception. I want you to cut all carbs (except greens) at least three hours before bed. In fact, if you can cut them out of dinner altogether, that would be even better. The reason is that you release most of your body’s fat-burning, anti-aging, muscle-building hormone, human growth hormone (HGH) during your first cycle of sleep. Starchy and sugary carbs release more insulin, and insulin drives down HGH levels. So carbs before bed can actually rob you of precious HGH production.
This is particularly applicable during
holidays. Every time there’s a frickin’ holiday, the big food companies and fast-food restaurant
chains roll out ridiculously titled meals with obscene calorie counts. At Christmas time, IHOP offers its Eggnog Pancakes, which contain 2,150 calories for a plate of four (nearly double the calories of their regular pancake stack). How about the holiday-themed Reese’s Peanut Butter Snowman, a bar that weighs in at 760 calories (3.5 times the amount of a regular Reese’s two-pack)? Then at Thanksgiving Dunkin’ Donuts offers the Warm Cinnamon Swirl Muffin, which contains 630 calories and a third more sugar than the chain’s average muffin. This kind of celebratory supersizing happens for every holiday, from the Valentine’s Day heart-shaped Heartbreaker Pizza at Papa Murphy’s, to the Fourth of July Declaration Burger at the FUKU Burger chain. And all of them have more sugar, calories, and crap than the regular everyday versions. Do yourself and your ass a favor, and find another way to celebrate.
SLIM MYTH:
Don’t eat before bed.
FAST FACT:
While many diets tell you not to eat after a certain time in the evening, that couldn’t be more irrelevant with regard to your diet. Calories don’t tell time. Researchers have often studied when people consumed their last meal in conjunction with their
bedtime and found zero indication that it made any impact whatsoever on their weight.
In a study at the Dunn Clinical Nutrition Centre in Cambridge, U.K., volunteers were placed in a whole-body calorimeter, which measures calories burned and stored. They were fed a large lunch and a small evening meal for one test period, then a small lunch and a large evening meal during a second test period. The results revealed the large meal eaten late at night did not make the body store more fat.
The only reason late-night eating is associated with obesity is that you’re usually
overeating
by the time you eat that late. You’ve had your three main meals and a snack, and now you’re going back for more. It’s the amount of food that’s making you fat, not the fact that it’s just before bed.
ADAPTABLE • • 2 POINTS
EZ CALORIE CUT
Love a hamburger with the works? Eat half the bun, eat the whole burger, and skimp on the condiments and cheese.
CUT: 150 CALORIES