Live to Eat or Eat to Live

I would like to give you something to sink your teeth into; Late night eating. Late night eating can make a difference of 5 to 10 lbs in a year. Add that 5 to 10 lbs. a year for a few years and it could be the reason that you weigh what you weigh.

There are a lot of people that have a habit of eating late night meals and thinking nothing of it. There are some that are trying to lose weight, who get a good workout in and then feel justified in eating a late night meal because they think that they’ve earned it by working out – or just because they haven’t eaten dinner – whether they’re hungry or not.

Our food needs at least 2 hours of digestion time before we go to sleep (3 or 4 would be ideal – especially if we’ve eaten meat). Digestion takes a lot of work for our bodies – which is why, after we eat an especially large meal, all that we want to do is nap.

If we cut back on late night eating and start eating breakfast, we would be more energetic in the morning. (Most late night eaters have a hard time getting up in the mornings because their bodies had to work so hard while they were sleeping.). This one simple change could make the difference of 5-10 lbs. a year. If you do need a late night snack, have some fruit. Watery fruits like orange & apples are in and out of your stomachs in 20 minutes. Heavier fruits like bananas & raisins in 40 minutes.

Another idea is to eat fruit alone and only on an empty stomach because it is in & out of your stomach in such a short period of time. Other foods could take 2 – 4 hours to digest. Meats take the longest to digest. Sometimes fruits are blamed for gas and indigestion, when you’ve mixed the fruit with some other foods which has caused it to rot in your stomach.

Fruit is the easiest food to digest in your body because of the enzymes & its basic chemical make-up.

Think about slowing down when you eat. We rush to eat meals sometimes, even when we don’t have to because it has become a habit. If we slow down to eat, it will be easier on our bodies as far as digestion, because the more we chew & break down our food into tiny pieces, the less work our body has to do in the form of digestion. Just imagine – all digestion takes place with digestive juices, therefore everything that we eat has to be broken down with these juices. If we want to lose weight, we need to definitely chew our foods better, because we will require less food to be satisfied & over time it will translate into lbs. off in the long run.

Last but not least; Realize that you are body, soul, & spirit. A lot of our bodies are overweight, but our spirits are not nourished – even anorexic because we make sure that our bodies 3 square meals, but we virtually starve our spirits. We might give our spirits a snack on Sunday by going to church.

Think about it – is God first in your life? Are you giving Him His just desserts? Jesus is The Way, The Truth, and The Life, Your quality of life will be so much better when you make Him Lord of your life.

Karen Minnis
http://www.thewtlclub.com
The Way, The Truth & The Life Club

As an aerobics instructor, wife and mother of four (2 boys, 2 girls), Karen practices what she advocates regarding Health, Nutrition and Fitness. Teaching primarily in christian/church environments, she helps people understand how to meet and achieve their Health/Fitness objectives.

Karen’s Aerobics Music CD
http://www.thewtlclub.com/page5.htm

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