How to eat dinner

I woke up around 2am today because of hunger, because I only ate a box of cherry tomatoes for dinner.  Then I impulsively finished one bag of pistachios again. This is really bad for losing weight. I realized that sometimes self control is really hard. So why work against the will? If I eat a healthier dinner, I won't have the urge to eat later.

1. Eat dinner 3 hours before going to bed. I'm planning to sleep around 11pm, so I should eat dinner before 8pm.

2. Can do some light exercise before sleeping.

3. If you want to lose some weight, only eat until 50% full for dinner. This means you don't feel hungry anymore, but still want to eat something. You may feel a bit hungry before sleeping. Normally can eat until 70% full. This means your stomach is not bulging and your appetite is reduced. Maybe you can eat a little bit more, but if the food is taken away, you won't regret.

4. If I do exercise at night (like karate), I don't need to ration on food for dinner. But I should eat dinner around 5pm if I do karate at 7pm.

5. Some dinner recipes:

减肥晚餐1.燕麦枣肉豆浆+黑芝麻腰果菠菜+蒸藕丁

燕麦枣肉豆浆：黄豆15克，燕麦、红枣各10克，豆浆机制作。

黑芝麻腰果菠菜：菠菜200克焯熟切段，烤腰果、熟黑芝麻各1勺。

蒸藕丁：鲜莲藕150切块蒸熟，枸杞少量点缀。

减肥晚餐2.牛奶蛋羹+酸奶（100克，全脂、原味）+什锦水果（300克，自己按照喜好组合）

牛奶蛋羹：脱脂牛奶100克，鸡蛋1个。加盐、香油、葱花各少量，混合蒸熟。

营养小提醒

    1 蛋羹操作简单，味道、口感丰富，各种维生素和钙的供应较为充足。吃略有咸味的低能量牛奶蛋羹可以带来正餐的感觉。完全没有咸味时，很多人会觉得食欲不满足。

    2 可以把酸奶先从冰箱中拿出来暖着；先吃一碗热的蛋羹，过一会儿再吃酸奶和水果，胃里会比较舒服。

减肥晚餐3. 凉拌海芽菜+酱牛肉+大拌菜+燕麦大米粥

拌海芽菜：干海芽菜（或裙带菜、海带等）1勺泡发洗净，水果醋或香醋，滴几滴香油。

 大拌菜：生菜、鸡毛菜、紫甘蓝、甜椒各50克撕碎，白米醋、糖、盐或酱油、核桃油各适量。

燕麦大米粥：燕麦、大米各50克，加水8倍煮粥。

6. Drink a cup of soy milk before sleeping to prevent hunger.

Reference: http://snowheart19.blog.sohu.com/238396760.html

Granola

Recently I've been obsessed with granola. It's so delicious! But it's very high in calories. One cup of granola can have 500-600 calories. Oatmeal is much better than granola. Oatmeal has soluble fiber  that slows down digestion, making you feel full longer (this is a good characteristic in food that I should look for). Oats contain photochemicals, which are antioxidants that help eliminate free radicals.

Granola also has oats as its base, but it has added sugar which increases its calories a lot. So should eat oatmeal instead!

少食多餐有助减肥的理论依据

Saw a very nice article about dieting and weight loss recently. It talks about the importance of self-control and how successful weight-loss reflects strong character. It also mentions the term ego-depletion which is very interesting. Ego is one of the three parts (id, ego and super-ego) of the psychic apparatus defined by Sigmund Freud. The id is the set of uncoordinated instinctual trends; the ego is the organized, realistic part; and the super-ego plays the critical and moralizing role. The id acts according to the "pleasure principle", seeking to avoid pain or displeasure aroused by increases in instinctual tension. The super-ego works in contradiction to the id. It strives to act in a socially appropriate manner, whereas the id just wants instant self-gratification. The ego seeks to please the id's drive in realistic ways. It serves three severe masters...the external world (reality), the super-ego and the id, trying to bring harmony among the three. In doing so,  the ego (self-control or willpower) can be exhausted because the super-ego's demands often oppose the id's, so the ego sometimes has a hard time in reconciling the two. Dieting is an example of this conflict. Our super-ego demands us to refrain from eating to have nice body, while our id wants to quench the hunger. Low blood sugar level can cause ego-depletion and this is why we often find ourselves eating a lot after a period of dieting, i.e. when the sugar level goes down when you are hungry. So maintaining a constant sugar level, not letting it to go dow to low is important to control your appetite and your willpower. 

Here are some of the highlights.

漫漫减肥路，决定成败的关键因素是什么？是意志力，是自我控制的能力。控制自己对食物和美味的本能需求，拒绝香喷喷的高热量食物，减少进食量；控制自己在懒得抽筋儿的时候，翻身而起，滚去健身房一路狂奔。

自我消耗理论对减肥有何指导意义呢？减肥需要毅力，毅力和血糖密切相关。那么，保证血糖水平不处在过低的状态，就可以有效防止意志力崩溃，从而理智的控制进食量。不仅如此，血糖水平稳定，还有利于我们在完成其他工作的时候意志力增强，决策正确率提高哦。

综上，节食的最好方法就是让体内葡萄糖水平始终稳定在较正常的状态，不要过低，也就是说，不能过度饥饿。不挨饿，面对食物时就会做出更明智的选择，不会出现无理智的暴饮暴食现象。

笔者最近每日5餐，除3餐外，在每天上午10点和下午3点各加一顿，内容可以是点心或是坚果，当然，量都不能太大哈。正餐吃到八成饱就可以了，加餐热量控制在100或200卡以内。这样，可以保证全天不饿，血糖水平始终稳定，自控能力较强，从而能够减少正餐、加餐进食量，且学习、工作效率也很ok。

My resolution for the summer:

• Leave the apartment around 7:20am to catch the 7:30am bus. Start work latest at 10am in order to finish 4 pomodoros in the morning.
• Use a small plate for food and only get food from one stall. Only get vegetarian food plus fish and shrimp (with green or orange labels).
• Can have chicken (orange label) at most twice a week and red meat (red label) at most once a week if they look good.
• Only eat until 80% full. Chew more and eat slowly will make you feel more full. Savor the taste of food. (Or full for breakfast, 70% full for lunch, and 50% full for dinner)
• Drink a cup of water before the meal
• Eat some fruit at 10am and a pack of almonds at 4pm. 
• Eat only green or orange label snacks. One green and one orange per day.
• Have balanced meals: starch (whole grain or whole wheat food), protein (tofu, diary, fish, shrimp, crab)