Legumes are an excellent food source because they are economical, have a low glycemic index, high fiber, high protein, sustainable, gentle on Mother Earth and is a base natural unprocessed food. They are a great alternative to meat, or as an addition. Beans don’t impart much flavour, so you need to be more creative with how you use them.
My family did not really grow up eating a lot of beans. We really only had kidney beans in stews, black eyed beans in rice and navy beans in tomato sauce, from a can. Learning more about beans was eye opening.
There is an ongoing debate as to how to lose weight. The calorie restriction method says to eat less. The Hormone theory says this is too simplistic and advocates fasting, or time restricted eating. Which is correct?
Calorie Theory
Fat = calories in – calories out
This equation is critical to the calorie Theory
The calorie theory says that to reduce fat you need to reduce calories in (what you eat) to less than calories out (what you burn). People are encouraged to eat less in order to lose weight. For example if you eat 100 units and burn 200 units, your body will then use 100 units of fat to make up for the shortfall, and you will lose weight.
Sometimes you need to recognize that a system is broken and not as helpful as our expectations. The Western medical system is one such system. Yes, we are living longer, with viruses and bacteria largely at bay. As we progress to better health, chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, heart failure, diabetes and obesity have become much more prevalent. These chronic diseases show little abatement with current guidelines. “Lose weight, reduce salt intake, exercise more” may be medically valid advice, but the words are much easier to say and harder to implement.
The standard practice is to eat breakfast every day. The saying “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day” has been drilled into my tiny brain since birth. For me it just was not so important. Over the years I have deviated from this breakfast practice on many occasions, mostly without issue. I say mostly because I often inadvertently delay until well past lunch. This is the 16/8 fast, don’t eat for 16 hrs a day, but eat for only 8. It is not as radical as you might think, as most of the time you are asleep.
