Call Now
888-348-7352

THE BOOK

The Power of your Metabolism

ON THE NEED FOR SNACKS

One of the most common recommendations that different experts tell people that want to slim down is to try to eat several small meals or snacks throughout the day.  The logic behind this recommendation is that the body reacts increasing the metabolism in response to eating the food and by having several small snacks, the metabolism is increased.  It sounds logical.

Did you know that just thinking about food increases the insulin levels in your blood and the hormones that cause hunger? This has been scientifically proven with laboratory analysis where they measure the different hormone levels in the blood of a group of volunteers before and after they had been thinking about food.  Remember that your mind controls EVERYTHING.  In thinking about your favorite dessert you will have caused a reaction of insulin in your body.

Insulin is the hormone that makes you gain fat.  It is a hormone that works as a “shopping cart” to take glucose to your cells.  Without glucose and without the help of insulin, you simply can’t get fat.  Therefore, one of the main goals of the 2x1 and 3x1 diet© is to DECREASE the production of insulin in your body.  In order to slim down, you must decrease the production of insulin to stop the accumulation of new fats, while you break the fats that you have already built up in your body.

Well, the reality is that if you really needed to have 5 or 6 meals or snacks during the day, your metabolism would have already passed the point of being able to be repaired or improved.  Eating 5 or 6 small meals or snacks every day can initially cause weight loss but it will be destroying the little metabolism that is left.  Even low-calorie snacks increase the production of insulin and therefore the body never starts to use the hormone that has the opposite effect to insulin that is called glucagon .  When the blood glucose levels drop down, like what happens with the 2x1 or 3x1 diets©, instead of producing insulin, your body produces glucagon.  This hormone, glucagon, turns your body fat into glucose again so that the body has food for its cells.  In other words, it is the glucagon hormone that helps you slim down while insulin makes you fat. Having several small meals and snacks creates a situation where your body produces too little glucagon and thus it never really starts burning fat.

You see, all of the excess fat in your body was at one time, glucose, and the insulin turned it into fat.  The sequence and formula is: “glucose + insulin = fat”.  Glucagon does the exact opposite of what insulin does.  Glucagon breaks the fat down and turns it into glucose again.  This is what makes you slim down and decrease your clothing size or waistline.

It is only by increasing the time between your meals that you will be able to slim down.  The human body isn’t designed to function like cattle that spend the day eating grass, or chickens that never stop eating corn.  Having many meals a day will stop your metabolism.  You need three good meals a day that are high in protein and low in refined carbohydrates, and nothing more.

What always happens when someone does a 2x1 or 3x1 diet© is their hunger disappears! Yes, the 2x1 or 3x1 keeps hunger away for hours, to the point where sometimes you will find it difficult to eat lunch because you had such a good breakfast high in proteins.  Many times your body won’t have the desire for more food even after 4 or more hours have passed since you had breakfast.

The 2x1 diet© reduces your insulin levels (insulin causes hunger) and increases glucagon levels (glucagon gets rid of hunger).  That’s why you won’t have to control your hunger for hours on end because it is impossible to be hungry if your body isn’t producing very much insulin.

The recommendation of “having several snacks” or small meals a day originated from bodybuilders and diabetics. Bodybuilders and diabetics have special needs and are not the case of the common person.  Bodybuilders lift weights and in the process consume a large amount of glucose.  Therefore, they have to replace this glucose with small meals throughout the day.

In the case of diabetics, nutritionists have found that their glucose levels are unstable.  In other words, too high (diabetes) or too low (hypoglycemia).  The nutritionists’ solution was “have several small meals or snacks throughout the day” to maintain their glucose levels.  In my opinion, and based on more than 4,000 diabetics that I have worked with on the Natural Slim™ system, making diabetics eat every 2 to 3 hours was the wrong solution.  In fact, it was the solution that made them the most overweight.  It’s the solution that guarantees you will always have high glucose levels and increased necessities for insulin.

Working with thousands of diabetics, we realized that their problem was with refined carbohydrates. Period.  Nothing else caused more problems for diabetics than refined carbohydrates.  When a person with diabetes does a 2x1 diet© or ideally a 3x1 diet© they will see their blood glucose levels stay stable for at least 4 hours after a meal that is high in proteins and low in refined carbohydrates.  This is something that diabetic people can test with their blood glucose testing device; it isn’t just a theory.

Diabetics are the people that benefit most from the 2x1 or 3x1 diets©. In doing a 2x1 or 3x1 diet, they will feel a considerable increase of energy and their hunger will disappear.  If they inject themselves with insulin, they will have to reduce the insulin dose in coordination with their doctor when doing the 2x1 or 3x1 diet©. This is something that always happens to diabetics that do the 2x1 diet© and especially those that follow the 3x1.  These diets lower their body’s needs for insulin.

Various scientific studies have found a correlation between the number of meals you eat a day and obesity.  One study found that obese women, in general, eat one more meal a day than women who are not obese.  It also found that overweight women tend to eat more snacks in-between their meals than women who are not overweight.

Naturally, the body needs an adaptation or adjustment period.  If you start a 2x1 or 3x1 diet and you still feel the desire or need to have a snack don’t let your body go hungry.  If you let yourself go hungry, your body will become stressed and that will cause the production of the stress hormone cortisol, which will make you gain fat.  Therefore, never let your body go hungry if you want to improve your metabolism and slim down.  If you are still feeling a little hungry in-between your 3 main meals of the day, the solution is to have a snack that is high in proteins and low in refined carbohydrates.

The snacks that are going to make you slim down are foods like almonds, nuts, cheese, ham, or any other food that is low in carbohydrates.  You can even have pork rinds for a snack.  Remember that pork rinds have a lot of fat, but your body can’t use this fat unless insulin is produced.  If you don’t eat refined carbohydrates for your snack, your body won’t produce much insulin and it won’t be able to use the fat from the snack to make you fatter. Your body can create new fat only with the help of insulin.

When people don’t know this, they make the mistake of having a snack of cake, toast, cookies or some other food that is high in refined carbohydrates.  These same things are what cause the increase of glucose and the insulin that causes more hunger.

No, you don’t need to eat all day like a cow or a chicken.  You don’t need “snacks” if you do things right and understand how your body works.  You will live free from the hunger that torments people with a slow metabolism.