Monthly Archives: June 2019

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What is “disordered eating” and how might it be effecting you? – Th HETA guide add on

Category : Cravings , Nutrition , Sugar

Ever heard of disordered eating? Well the concept has been around quiet a while but has only recently got more attention as intermittent fasting grew in popularity. “Disordered eating” is not the same as “eating disorder” in that disordered eating is a term used for unhealthy eating habits and their correlation to body image, that are not as “extreme” as having an eating disorder would be.

I see this in several of my clients and what i see, to help you understand more, is — they will have a lot of irregular timed eating or an erratic eating schedule and this can throw their whole sense of routine and circadian rhythm off. It is this type of disordered eating that we will look at in this post… This irregular eating pattern can decrease metabolism because their bodies expect food at specific times, and the result can be dysregulated appetite and messed up metabolism.

I find that in a lot of my clients, they do very well with structure and routine, especially women, as I feel women have a lot more demands on them (no sexism implied, just stating what I see) and having structure helps reduce stress and keep all our ducks in a row, as they say. And my most successful clients DO have structured eating…they have set times when they eat and stick to those times as much as possible. *They also eat very simply but that’s another post.

Some people can do fine on an irregular eating schedule but many will not.

Research suggests that having a regular eating schedule can improve your metabolic response to meals, particularly in women. So, if you’re struggling to lose body fat… rather than having sporadic meal times like; skipping your first meal some days and eating it on others, having dinner late some nights and early the other nights, or hopping from restaurant to restaurant for your lunch choices, you might benefit more by simply establishing structured meal patterns and stick to them as much as possible.

Women and irregular meal timing — A study done on  healthy normal weight women found that an irregular meal pattern resulted in lower postprandial energy expenditure or thermic effect of food, than a regular meal pattern….so they had a lower metabolic increase after eating and had a higher glucose response.

Lower hunger and higher fullness ratings were seen pre-meal and post-meal during the regular period

 

https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/104/1/21/4633920

 

Another study where lean women who ate meals on a regular schedule had much better insulin sensitivity and improved blood triglycerides.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15220950

 

If your struggling with health and fat loss, this could be something to think about, right?!