Is it bad to eat late at night? Martin Berkhan recently covered and disproved the myth that late night eating is bad for you here. I wanted to cover and highlight the research that I found most important. One of the most common myths that populates health and fitness philosophy has to be that late night eating leads to more fat and higher numbers on the scale. The idea that eating the majority of calories in a day later in the day leads to weight gain comes from the idea that because there is little to no physical activity being done at the end of the day, the food eaten at the end of the day will end up as fat. On more subjective scale, this doesn’t necessarily make sense because regardless of when you eat your calories, your body has to process and deliver them to the necessary areas of the body. Now, if late night eating isn’t inherently bad, then why does this myth exist and flourish? Why does the late night eating myth continue to live on? Why does the question, is it bad to eat late at night, live on? The common error that is present [...]
June, 2011:
Milkshakes and the Ghrelin Hormone
What is ghrelin hormone? That will be the central question of this post. Ever wonder if how you think affects your weight, your food, and your health? A recent paper by the American Psychological Association may help researchers make a deeper connection between our psychology and the food we eat. This paper established that what we think of a food, in terms of whether it is healthy or not, can have an effect on our ghrelin hormone response and appetite. First, I have to thank Lyle McDonald over at Body Recomposition for being the first I saw to publish an article on the recent paper in question. You can visit Lyle’s explanation of this research HERE. [Our understanding of whether a food is healthy or not could affect how hungry we are after eating that food, as shown by the hormonal response] The paper in question was created to test whether satiation of a meal could be affected by a person’s mindset when entering a meal. In this case, the food in question was a 380 calorie milkshake. The participants in the study were not aware that the shakes were only 380 calories, but instead, were aware of only a 620 [...]
Intermittent Fasting and Testosterone
What is the relationship between intermittent fasting and testosterone? Additionally, does fasting play a negative role in bodybuilding? Testosterone is the primary male hormone that works with male libido and muscle accumulation. Additionally, it has necessary roles all around the body that do not have to be listed at this time. Intermittent fasting is a method of eating that alternates periods of eating with periods of not eating or fasting. Typical intermittent fasting programs mentioned here include EAT stop EAT and Leangains. The relationship between testosterone and intermittent fasting is interesting because it is assumed that fasting and caloric restriction would lead to a significant negative effect on testosterone levels. And that is important in the health and fitness realm because the amount of muscle one possesses holds a high rank within health conscious people. It is well known that severe caloric restriction can result in the down regulation of many hormones, including testosterone and leptin. This is one of many reasons severe caloric restriction is not advertised in abundance here. Intermittent fasting takes advantage of both related issues and negotiates to end up somewhere in the middle. It results in caloric restriction, in many cases, enough for weight loss, [...]
