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Don't be a Sumo Wrestler

Have you ever thought how astute sumo wrestlers are in maintaining their weight? Bigger is better in the sumo world and since wrestlers average 450 pounds, you know they're doing something right. If we could learn their secrets, then do the opposite, we could lose some serious weight.

You may think sumo wrestlers eat all day long. But the opposite is true. They eat only one meal a day. That's right: one big meal.

When we eat only once or twice a day, the body thinks it's starving, so it lowers its metabolism. When those calories do come in, they are more likely to be retained as fat than calories that come in more frequently. In addition, the body produces appetite-enhancing hormones that remind us to eat - and eat.

So if we eat only one or two meals a day, we will more than compensate for the meals we skipped. In fact, ninety percent of obese Americans eat two or fewer meals a day. If you know anyone who eats fewer than three meals a day, you might want to tell them they're on the Sumo Wrestler Diet. I'll bet they'll really appreciate it.

Breakfast

Breakfast is famous for being the "most important meal of the day". That's because eating breakfast jump-starts your metabolism, keeping it going at a faster rate all day long. How cool is that? You eat more and you lose weight. The word breakfast indicates that we are breaking a fast. While we sleep (assuming we're not sleep-snacking in the middle of the night), we're fasting. While our metabolism doesn't turn off completely when we sleep, it does slow down. After eight to ten hours of fasting, if we skip breakfast, our metabolism will remain in starvation mode, which means a slower metabolism throughout the day.

Are you ready to hear something extremely profound? The world's best appetite suppressant is food. Who would have guessed? When we go hours and hours without eating, we overeat at the next meal, and end up eating something we'd rather avoid. But when we always have a little something in our belly, we don't go crazy at mealtime. That's because our blood sugar isn't too low and we're not producing those appetite-enhancing hormones. Eating regularly keeps us stable, centered, and rational (as possible), and it keeps our metabolism from slowing down. Eating small, frequent meals and snacks throughout the day is key to being naturally thin.    next...

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Bronwyn SchweigerdtBronwyn

I'm a speaker, nutrition instructor and author. My Master's degree in nutrition is from Tufts University.

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