I heard this “rule” once–about 6 years ago while on a women’s retreat, and I’ve never been able to get it out of my head.
It went a little something like this:
“Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a beggar.”
It struck me, I think, as a sudden realization or “ah ha” moment, that so many of us have this backwards…so many women I talk to think that starving themselves during the day will help them get thinner, only to purge that evening when they are starving.
I think the idea of deprivation leads some to think they will reach their fitness goals faster. But it is important to realize that it does not work–science shows in numerous studies that starving yourself (even if only for 5 hours) leads to your body storing fat rather than burning it. The simple reason for this is that your body’s wisdom reacts to not knowing when (or if) the next meal is going to come by holding on to the fat stores for survival. Yup. This traces back to caveman days of not knowing when the next meal would be…interesting huh?
So next time you’re tempted to grab coffee, bolt off to work, and eat a huge early dinner to make up for it, stop and remind yourself of the above rule. Not only will you wake up feeling tons better (and not bloated), but you’ll also be healthier and leaner as a result.
xoxoxoxo,
Monica Bencomo
