The secret to regaining a healthy weight? There clock diet. Which consists in bringing the right foods to the table, but above all eat at regular times, according to the principles of cronobiologia. Often, in fact, the extra pounds depend precisely on the fact that we don't respect our internal rhythms.
«In the organism, the secretion of hormones, internal temperature, digestion and assimilation of nutrients, cell renewal, fertility follow precise trends. All these rhythms are synchronized with each other and are continuously re-calibrated, according to the environment in which we live (hours of light and dark during the day, foods we bring to the table, work we do) ", he explains. Marie borrel, health and wellness expert journalist and author of the book The secrets of chronobiology (Sperling & Kupfer).
For example: the energy hormone cortisol peaks in the morning between six and eight; adrenaline, which regulates attention span, reaches its maximum levels in the afternoon, around five o'clock; melatonin, the sleep hormone, begins to be produced around ten in the evening, well into the night. These rhythms, however, can also change, because we eat, wake up or go to sleep at different times, we do not take the various nutrients at the right time of the day, we are always indoors ... welfare and ours too line.
That's why to lose weight and ensure a state of well-being it is essential to eat the right foods at the right time. Below you will find the menu of a typical day, taken from the book of our expert, where another 11 days are reported, designed to achieve different goals (sleep well, do not feel jet-lag, improve mood), always keeping in mind the hands of the clock.
Continue to browse our gallery e find out what to eat for breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner to follow the clock diet.
READ ALSO: The clock diet, what it is and how it works
Breakfast
1 hot drink (tea or coffee) unsweetened + 2 slices of toasted and buttered wholemeal bread + 1 slice of cooked ham or smoked salmon
The extra tip: after breakfast take advantage of it for tone up. This is the time of day when the body is able to locally burn fat to nourish the working muscles. Do some ab exercises, use the dumbbells to strengthen the arms and shoulders and the anklets to firm up the legs (especially the thighs) and buttocks.
Lunch
200 g of meat or fish cooked in foil + 1 plate of mixed raw vegetables dressed with walnut oil + 1 fennel in salad + 2 slices of wholemeal bread
The extra tip: the fats you ate at 7.30am should allow you to safely make it through lunchtime. Take the opportunity to not think about food or kilos to dispose of. Dedicate yourself to your usual occupations.
And when you feel like putting something in your teeth, focus on your breath. If that's not enough, take off your shoes and massage the bottom of your big toes. This massage it is useful for sending messages to the brain that block the stimulus of hunger. 200 g of meat or fish cooked in foil
Remember: taking a break after lunch is very important. By respecting your biological rhythms more, you help the body get rid of excess fats. Allow for half an hour of relaxation. If you get 10-15 minutes of sleep during this break, so much the better.
Snack
Don't skip the snack for no reason: it will allow you to have a light dinner without feeling hungry for the next few hours. Here is an example of what to eat:
1 handful of almonds or walnuts + 2 squares of 70% dark chocolate + fresh fruit (pineapple, cherries, raspberries, apple, pear, peach, grapefruit, plum) + 1 unsweetened green tea
The extra tip: if you are at work, resume with determination what you were doing before the lunch break. This is the best part of the day to indulge in intellectual pursuits. If you are at homeinstead, read, write or play cards. Remember to drink water regularly or, better still, green tea, which has diuretic effects and promotes the elimination of liquids and toxins.
Price
Lettuce salad dressed with walnut oil + steamed white fish fillet with basmati rice + 1 portion of spinach dressed with lemon juice + 1 natural yogurt without sugar
The extra advice: the ability to concentrate progressively decreases, while the physical condition improves. Muscles still contain a small reserve of sugar (glycogen), which is made available at this very part of the day.
A stream of testosterone, produced by the adrenal glands, further stimulates muscle energy. It is the ideal time to take a few laps in the pool, a run or a bike ride. At the end you will feel tired, but calm.
Remember that it takes about twenty minutes for the brain to receive the message of satiety. So, if you eat slowly, you not only improve digestion, but you also consume smaller amounts of food, which benefits the figure. Furthermore, the lighter the dinner, the more the body burns fat during the night.
Before going to bed, around 22pm: think about relaxing and cuddling yourself. Relax, read, watch a movie, take a (not too hot) seaweed bath, with both a draining and metabolic-stimulating effect.
Once in bed, try this visualization exercise. Close your eyes and take a few wide, deep breaths; when you feel relaxed, display images that can promote weight loss. For example, imagine yourself in an elevator that goes down very slowly from top to bottom: every floor that passes is a kilo that goes away.
