By Audrey Muhammad
In the past few months, I have received couple questions in regards to losing weight through body building. One question stated, “According to some health practitioners, it is best to eat every 2 hours to increase your metabolic rate which will help you burn fat quickly. If this is so, do I need to follow this system for a while until my rate increases then go back to eating 1 meal a day once I have my desired weight? By eating 1 meal everyday-will cause me only to maintain the weight, isn't it better to eat smaller meals every 2 hrs than to sit down and eat 1 huge meal that's bound to put you to sleep? Based on your studies of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and your profession, will you give me some advice regarding increasing your metabolic rate to lose weight, maintaining weight and eating small meals vs. one meal to build muscle.”
In regards to increasing your metabolic rate, the main component
that increases your metabolic rate is exercise and building muscle. If eating every couple of hours was the key, then this society would be full of skinny people as opposed to the huge number of obese people that exist today. Eating every couple of hours or "jumpstarting” your metabolism in the morning by eating breakfast is because you are causing your "stomach muscles" to start working. It takes “energy” to digest food. Keep in mind that “metabolism is the energy expended by the body to maintain itself (for example, through breathing, digestion, and excretion). If you want to really increase your metabolic rate, exercise is the key.
The real question is "Do I want to be slender, look younger
and be healthier or do I want to just be slender. Practicing “how to eat
to live” will help us look years younger because we are not practicing a way of eating that robs our body of its vitality. In How to Eat To Live Book II it mentions, “Every meal that we put in our bodies has some poison in it. And, some of our food, as I have said in this book, takes 36 hours to digest. If we do not wait until our previous meal has been digested we add a new meal to the previous meal we have new poison, in its full strength, to aid the dying poison of the previous meal or to help it revive in strength; and we will continue to be sick(39). Eating every two hours will definitely increase the amount of toxins in your body. When does your body have time to digest the food?
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad states that "some of us eat so often and so much at a time that it actually has a tendency to make us small and skinny because we never allow time for the previous meal to digest and distribute the vitamins and proteins into the proper places and throughout our bloodstream. Rest, given to the digestive system of our bodies, is the thing that prolongs our lives. (How to Eat to Live Bk. I 27).
Either a person's body is doesn't get the nourishment it needs or he or she is exercising 1 hour or more a day to compensate for the several small meals. Who says you have to stuff yourself in one meal? If you take your time when you are eating and you are eating a balanced meal of protein, good fat and carbohydrate you should be fine. However if you are eating a meal high in carbohydrates such as Spaghetti with garlic bread, you are more likely feel tired. Can you eat your bean soup, salad and main course in moderate portions that will not make you "sleepy” because your body is using so much energy to digest the food. Sometimes, we just don't know when to stop eating.
One of the BEST foods to incorporate in a meal after a workout is the navy bean. A cup of navy beans provides about 15 grams of protein and are a good source of cholesterol-lowering fiber. The bean pie is a wonderful family dessert or you can give a child bean chips to go with their lunch sandwich. For more information on navy bean products (bean chips, bean flour etc.) visit http://www.trybeanpie.com/.
What else can you have after a workout? Have you tried incorporating a glass of pure milk at the end of a meal,” which is something, I was told, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad often made
available after a meal. Why a glass of pure milk? A glass of milk has a nice combination of calcium, carbohydrates and protein. A typical glass of whole organic milk (which I recommend for brothers) has approximately 150 calories 8 grams of protein.). What you eat accounts for about 80% of your success in a workout plan. God willing, more will be explained on this topic at another point in time. I bring this up because often health practitioners advocate eating 5 or 6 small meals a day to lose weight and to gain weight. Which one is it? Do I study more if I want to pass the class or do I study more if I want to fail the class? The logic isn't there. Until it is, "eat to live"—one good meal a day.
(Audrey Muhammad, a certified fitness instructor, is the author of Get Fit To Live: Be Your Best You! available at http://www.getfit2live.org/. Buy the book and get the Get Fit CD for FREE!. Please consult a physician before beginning any new workout or dietary plan. Send questions and comments to AudreyMuhammad@hotmail.com or call (510) 815-4591. Get Fit To Live: Be Your Best You! available at http://www.getfit2live.org/. Buy the book and get the Get Fit CD for FREE!)
Bean Pie Recipe
3 cups of sugar 3 cups cooked Navy beans
½ pound unsalted butter mashed through food strainer
2 Tbsps. Cinnamon (may substitute carrots or butter-
2 Tbsps. Corn starch nut squash)
5 well-beaten eggs 5 drops of natural yellow food color
2 cups evaporated milk 1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. lemon extract 1 tsp. vanilla flavor
Directions: Heat oven to 450. In medium-size bowl cream together sugar and butter. Add eggs, one at a time: beat to blend. Add beans, beat. Ad milk, food coloring and extracts. Blend well; pour into pie shell and bake until filling has set well. (Want to make an Easy bean pie? Order a bean pie mix at www.trybeanpie.com)
