Protein foods, such as meats, fish, poultry, dairy, and select protein powders, contain the amino acid tyrosine. And eating more tyrosine stimulates your brain to produce norepinephrine and dopamine, two very powerful alertness chemicals.
Another reason you'll feel more energetic with protein foods is your blood sugar levels will be steadier (more in a moment why this is important for keeping energy levels high AND helping you burn more fat in the process).
When eaten alone or with low-glycemic carbohydrates like broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, collard greens, green beans, etc., high-protein foods boost mental alertness and energy, and are the perfect compliment to anyone's fast weight loss diet program.
However, have you ever felt just the opposite? Usually in the early afternoons not long after lunch? The cause is usually too much and the wrong types of carbohydrates. You may be surprised at what I'm going to tell you here as a lot of these foods are ''typical'' diet staples.
Rice, rice cakes, baked potatoes (even without butter or sour cream on it), pasta, bread, breakfast cereals (almost every one except for oatmeal and all-bran) are all in the same category of what you may have thought were 'complex' carbohydrates. However, your body processes these carbohydrates as easily as plain sugar.
Since the cooking or manufacturing process has turned their previously ''tough'' fibers into an almost 'pre-digested' form, your digestive system has a very easy time processing it.
Why is this bad?
Because the lack of tough fibers allows your digestive system to process large amounts of these types of foods quickly. This increased 'speed' of digestion causes your body to release a hormone, insulin, in larger quantities than normal in order to ''move'' the nutrients and sugars from this meal in your stomach, to where it is needed in your body.
But, since so much sugar is being released into your bloodstream at once, this causes wildly swinging blood sugar levels in your body. Drowsiness is a result as the body attempts to clear this excess sugar by releasing a massive torrent of insulin. Insulin takes the sugar out of your bloodstream and puts it into your liver, fat, and muscle cells. Most of the time are live and muscle cells are already full of sugar (glycogen) and this excess gets stored as fat.
However, like a rubber band that has been stretched too far, too much insulin causes too much sugar to be cleared from your bloodstream. This lower than normal blood sugar level causes feelings of sluggishness and lethargy.
Not only that, lowered blood sugar levels trigger hunger pangs. So not only will you feel tired after these meals, but you'll be tempted to eat again before you should -- not a good recipe if getting and staying in shape is your goal.
Finally, these types of processed carbohydrates contain high levels of another amino acid called tryptophan which triggers production of serotonin, a calming chemical.
FOODS THAT ENERGIZE YOUR DIET TO ACHIEVE FAST WEIGHT LOSS
The following protein foods produce quick mood-modifying, energy-boosting, and fast weight loss results. For most people, three to four ounces of the following will work well...
Fish, lean red meat, chicken, turkey, shellfish, cottage cheese, egg whites, whole eggs (in moderation), and high quality protein powders that have more time-released proteins (such as casein) in them.
Also, it's important to eat healthy fats with every meal. We've become so fat phobic as a society, trying to make all our meals low-fat. This is a mistake! Instead, try and add nuts, olives, olive oil, flax seeds, or flax seed oil to each of your meals.
Here's what adding these types of fats to your meals will do:
Slows down the digestive process-- keeps blood sugar levels steady and in the fat burning zone, increases energy levels.
Some fats (flax) are potent fat decouplers (help to release fat from the fat cells in your body).
Keeps you full longer.
WHAT TO EAT
Your body's biological clock also plays a big part in how food energizes and helps us lose weight faster. This clock causes us to feel the most energetic and the least stressed during the first six hours after awakening.
From then on, our energy level slowly deceases until the end of the day -- usually within one hour of normal bedtime -- when we shut down mentally.
The key to maintaining high performance levels is to eat foods that are energizing when your biological rhythms are beginning to slow down.
MEAL GUIDELINES:
Breakfast - BEST: High protein, moderate fat, high vitamins and minerals.
example: 2-4 ounces eye of round (beef), 5 egg whites along with 1 whole egg, 1/2 grapefruit.
Lunch -- same profile as breakfast.
example: 4 ounces chicken breast, salad consisting of 1/2 cup raw collard greens, 1/2 cup red cabbage, 1/2 cup kale, 1/2 tomato, 1/2 green or red pepper, 1/4 cucumber - sliced, 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, 1/2 tablespoon olive or flax oil, lots of lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Dinner --
example: 4-5 ounces of fish, lean beef, or chicken, 2 cups of broccoli, cauliflower, green beans or similar vegetable, 1 orange or plum for dessert.
For snacks throughout the day you could have:
3/4 cup cottage cheese (full-fat not low-fat version), 1 scoop of protein powder, 1/2 cup blueberries.
1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1/2 cup red kidney beans, 5-6 almonds.
2-3 scoops protein drink along with 3-5 fish oil capsules.
Finally, protein gives you the greatest 'thermogenic' effect compared to fats and carbohydrates. This means your burn more energy processing protein than the others. And when you eat 5-6 times per day this can significantly increase the amount of calories you burn all day JUST by eating more frequently. Some studies show over a 20% greater calorie burn effect from higher-protein diets.
Author Resource:-
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