Over the next few weeks I’m going to cover the concept of supportive eating. If you really want to take control of your body, including how much muscle you have and the amount of fat you have, then understanding the concept of supportive eating is key to your success.

What is supportive eating? By eating supportively I mean that you are eating to support metabolism and not to destroy your metabolic rate.

You may be familiar with the word metabolism but not every one knows what it means. Basically your metabolism or metabolic rate is the speed with which your body burns through fuel (calories).

Every time you eat your metabolism speeds up as it burns calories with carrying out the process of digestion and absorption of the nutrients you have eaten. So if your metabolic rate speeds up every time you eat then it makes sense to eat more often, right?

I’m going to say that again: Eating frequently throughout the day speeds up your metabolic rate therefore burning more calories in the process.

Conversely, if you reduce calories too much by skipping meals and starving your self your metabolic rate will slow down drastically and this is detrimental to your fat loss success. Not only does your metabolism slow but the body starts to store as many calories that it can as fat. The body also starts to break down muscle tissue as muscle is metabolically active and needs calories just to exist.

Understanding the above two points is vital to your success in any fat loss program that you are on.

I advise my clients to eat 4-6 meals per day, even if their goal is weight loss. This might go against what you have been told in the past and may not make sense at the moment, but as you begin to understand metabolism and how to eat supportively you will notice that the results you are achieving will make you a believer.

I will go into more detail in the next few weeks but for now I’d like you to forget about the three square meals per day and begin to eat a supportive meal every 3 to 3 and a half hours. This equates to 4-6 meals per day.

By now you will be asking, what is a supportive meal?

A supportive meal consists of a portion of lean protein, a portion of a starchy carbohydrate (carbs) and a portion of a fibrous carbohydrate. A portion is roughly the size of the palm of your hand.

Below is a short list is lean proteins, starchy carbohydrates and fibrous carbohydrates:

Lean Protein: chicken breast, turkey breast, egg whites, lean cuts of beef, tuna in water and tofu.

Starchy Carbs: potatoes, sweet potatoes, whole grain and oatmeal.

Fibrous Carbs: broccoli, cauliflower, onions, peppers and cucumber.

As you can see the good news is that you are not going to have to go a restrictive calorie diet in order to lose weight. Neither will you have to eliminate carbs or try to eat fat free. This is all bad information and needs to be eliminated from your mind.

Between now and the next issue begin to implement the concept of supportive eating and continue with your exercise program.