Sumo wrestling is an ancient Japanese sport; where the heavier you are the better! They stare each other in the eyes and slap their feet and enormous thighs, trying to break their opponent’s courage. One of the heaviest sumo wrestlers, or rikishi in Japanese, was Hawaiian born Konisiki. He weighed 630 at his peak. So, how do sumo wrestlers get so big?

Sumo Wrestlers’ Tricks for Getting Big

• Don’t eat breakfast. Sumo wrestlers never eat breakfast. This is a great way to slow your metabolism way down and will definitely ensure over eating later in the day.
• Exercise on an empty stomach. When you exercise without proper fueling, your metabolism will conserve every ounce of energy you have left to get you through the activity. So you end up burning far less calories then you would have had you eaten prior to exercising.
• Eat only 1 to 2 meals each day. Sumo wrestlers get up early, work out and then don’t eat until late in the day. This way they will be starving and will eat anything they can grab and in enormous amounts. This ensures a great calorie surplus and maximum weight gain. When you eat a large amount of calories in one sitting, the body will use up what it can and then fill your extra energy reserves for later. When your storage gets full, everything left over is stored directly as fat.
• Drink alcohol. Sumo wrestlers drink large amounts of alcohol with their meals (their favorite is beer). For a sumo wrestler, the bigger the belly the better!
• Eat out. Many studies have found that people eating in a restaurant will eat 40% more food and 30% more fat then they would if they were at home. Sumo wrestlers like to distract each other while eating to make sure they don’t notice those “getting full” signals. They also always have someone else cook for them so they don’t pay attention to fat or ingredients.
• Sleep after eating. When they finish their large meals, the wrestlers will get up and take a long nap. Going to sleep on a full stomach forces the body to store most of the calories as fat because it doesn’t have the ability to metabolize large amounts of food while sleeping.

Yikes, I bet a lot of these behaviors sound really familiar! I know they do to me. Getting up early, skipping breakfast, running to the gym, eating a late (large) lunch and an even later (larger) dinner and then heading to bed. This is the busy American life that many people live. When working as many hours as most do, it is easy to eat like a sumo wrestler!

What if you don’t want to look like a sumo wrestler?

• Eat breakfast like a King (or Queen!). Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day! Breakfast gives your metabolism a daily kick-start plus it helps control your appetite throughout the rest of the day. We recommend a high fiber breakfast that has at least 15g of fiber. This can be attained by eating a high fiber cereal (at east 5g of fiber per serving), topped with 2 tbsp ground flaxseed meal and blueberries. Fiber helps keep you satiated and also regulates blood glucose – so no energy crashes!
• Fuel prior to exercising and post exercising. For a pre-workout snack eat 1/2 a banana, a few whole-wheat crackers and 1/2 c of fruit juice (focus on carbohydrates). This will ensure you have a stronger workout and you will actually burn more calories! Then make sure to have a protein and carbohydrate based snack post-workout to refill your energy stores and maintain muscle mass.
• Eat throughout the day. Take time to eat a healthy lunch and don’t forget those late morning and afternoon snacks! We recommend eating every 3 hours (plus or minus 30 minutes). This will keep the hunger-inducing hormone, Ghrelin, at bay, ensuring you will not over eat and will make good choices.
• Limit alcohol. For weight loss, we recommend drinking no more than about 4 servings of alcohol per week. (Reminder: 1 serving of wine is 4 oz or 1/2 c, 1 serving of beer is 12 oz or a pint, and hard alcohol is 1.5 oz.) Alcohol is metabolized like a fat in the body, so think of each drink as eating 2 Fats (plus a Grain and Starch for beers!)
• Limit eating in restaurants. When eating at a restaurant it is much easier to make bad choices and eat too much, plus you cannot control the ingredients. Restaurants use a shocking amount of fatty products to ensure a yummy tasting meal. Don’t trust anything labeled “low fat” or “healthy choice” without doing a little investigating!
• Don’t eat a huge dinner and then head to bed. About 70% of your calories should be consumed during the day and only 30% should be eaten in the evening. For example, if you are following 1700 calories per day, then before your dinner you should consume about 1190 calories evenly spread out throughout the day, and then have about 510 calories for dinner and dessert.

It is easy to fall into bad sumo habits that stay with us for years. If you have difficulty with the above listed tips, then chose 1 or 2 and work on them. When you feel confident, then chose another 1 to 2, and work on those. You don’t have to be perfect all at once, or perfect every moment. It takes time to break habits, but you can definitely do it! Be nice to yourself and take baby steps. Many bad habits that people have were acquired over many years and they will not disappear over night. Just make small attainable adjustments and before you know it, those bad habits (and the weight) will be in the past!

Resources:
http://www.ada.com
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11138566

Before we talk about nutrition, we need to talk about sleep. Just cutting down your sleep by one hour will have a huge negative effect on your energy for the rest of day. Nutrition For You doesn’t recommend a particular number of sleeping hours per night.  We all have our own individual sleep needs but it is very important to realize that if we don’t meet them for a few days, no matter how good we eat, we will feel exhausted because of not getting adequate amount of rest.

Aside from lack of sleep, there are chronic health conditions that can leave you constantly fatigued such as fibromyalgia and diabetes. Low-level depression and anxiety can also cause fatigue. These health issues may negatively affect your energy and focus throughout the day and it is important to discuss these issues with your doctor as soon as possible.

Assuming that you are sleeping enough and that you are addressing any health issues that can cause fatigue, proper nutrition can help you maintain a consistently high level of energy throughout the day.  Here are some key points.

A clear mind can boost your energy

Recent research shows that improving your cognition boosts your energy.  In other words, a clearer mind can make you feel more energetic.  Consuming foods that are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids can improve cognition.  In addition, the anti-oxidants in these foods can help your brain function and boost your memory.  Flax seeds, walnuts, and soybeans are particularly good sources of Omega-3 fatty acids.  Nutrition for You suggests consuming six to eight ounces of salmon per week.  However, if you cannot get salmon regularly, you can supplement your diet with fish oil.  Nutrition for You also recommends eating extra servings of fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains.  All of these will help keep your mind clear and engaged and boost your energy.

Eat before and after working out

Skipping meals before and after exercising can deplete your sugar significantly and make you feel tired for the rest of the day.  This underscores the importance of having both pre- and post-exercise meals.  The difference between the two may be crucial for a bodybuilder doing resistance training or a marathoner doing endurance workouts but for the average person, a general pre- and post-workout meal plan is relatively simple to put together.  Nutrition for You recommends consuming 20 to 30 grams of carbohydrates and 15 to 20 grams of protein an hour before working out.   For example, you can have a banana with yogurt or a slice of whole wheat bread with low-fat cheese before exercising.

It is equally important to eat after completing a physical activity.  Nutrition for You recommends consuming 30 grams of carbohydrates and 25 to 35 grams of protein within 15 to 30 minutes after working out.  For example, plan to bring a turkey sandwich or a banana and cheese to the gym with you. If you are really pressed for time, a shake or smoothie can be good as long as it contains both carbohydrates and protein.  It is important to stress that the post-exercise meal should be consumed within 15 to 30 minutes after working out.

Eat enough of the right stuff

To keep your energy up throughout the day, you need enough of the right calories from a combination of carbohydrates, proteins and healthy fats, ideally in every meal.  Avoiding carbohydrates and fats or skipping meals entirely can adversely affect your energy level.

Nutrition for You strongly recommends that you have breakfast within an hour of waking up.  You fast all night while you sleep and so it is important to break that fast as soon as you can after waking up and to do so with a balance of carbohydrates, fiber, and protein. For example, if you have yogurt, add a fruit; if you have bread, add egg whites or cheese.

As for the rest of the day, always remember to eat and avoid fasting for too long. Eating sensibly every three hours levels out blood sugar spikes.  In general, an average person should consume roughly 600 to 700 calories for lunch and 500 to 700 calories for dinner.  It is important to note that eating too much in a single meal may slow you down.   Dumping too many calories all at once takes a toll on your body and may make you feel tired.

Finally, eating refined carbohydrates such as white bread, noodles and white rice may give you a sudden spike in energy because they raise your blood glucose.  However, a surge of insulin will knock down the sugar and will linger after the sugar is absorbed. This will give you low blood sugar and, consequently will make you feel fatigued and prematurely hungry again.

Drink the right fluids

Sometimes fatigue is actually caused by dehydration even if you don’t feel thirsty.  If you consume enough fruits and vegetables as well as healthy soups then drinking five to six cups of water per day will keep you well hydrated.

In addition, you should try to avoid alcohol. Since alcohol is a depressant, consuming alcohol can contribute to your low energy.  Excessive drinking can definitely wear you down and excessive alcohol greatly dehydrates your body.

Adequate amount of sleep and rest combined with proper nutrition is the key to maintaining your energy up throughout the day.  Nutrition For You can help you develop a customized meal plan to help you achieve your specific nutrition and weight management goals.

If you missed the webinar on Tuesday, February 24th, we now have the video online.  Click the image to watch. The video is nearly 38 minutes, but if you only spend 38 minutes learning about why you can’t stay on a meal plan then this video is where you should start.

Webinar:  I’ve blown my diet! Now what? How to get back on track with your nutrition goals.

If you have ever started and stopped a “diet” or feel like your daily life is keeping you from eating right then this seminar is for you.  You can now learn how to handle those inevitable times when you completely miss your food and exercise goals. Don’t let those bad days get in the way of a successful relationship with food.

If you enjoyed this webinar sign up for one of our other webinars at the Nutrition for You Webinar page.

If you have ever started and stopped a “diet” or feel like your daily life is keeping you from eating right then this seminar is for you.  Nutrition for You members and guests will learn how to handle those inevitable times when you completely miss your food and exercise goals. Don’t let those bad days get in the way of a successful relationship with food.

Thursday March, 19, 2009 3:15 PM US Pacific

You can register for this free online webinar at the Nutrition for You Webinars page.

The sad news is most doctors know nothing about nutrition.  I don’t blame them.  While in their long and tedious 8 to 15 years of training some of them only get one class in basic nutrition.  As a registered dietitian with a master of science in nutrition I have studied and completed 9 years of schooling in nutrition.

On many occasions I have heard my patients telling me that their doctors don’t have any faith in them about lowering their cholesterol or blood pressure through diet and exercise.  My opinion is that doctors don’t know what to tell their patients about nutrition so the fast solution is to write a prescription to lower cholesterol and blood pressure.

Now you are taking statin drugs to lower cholesterol but continue eating whatever you like. With time your cholesterol continues increasing and so does the amount of statin drugs required to keep your cholesterol low.   As you probably know statin drugs have their share side effects and the more you take the higher the risk for side effects.  So  you may end up with normal cholesterol levels and eating all the bacon you want but in ten year with liver failure.

I am not implying that diet and exercise will do the trick completely.  I understand genetics and that you may need help by taking a drug but you still need to watch your diet so the dosage does not increase.  Or you may try to lower your cholesterol and blood pressure with diet and exercise first and if all fails then supplement your good and healthy diet and exercise with a statin drug.

If this sounds familiar then ask your doctor for a referral to see a registered dietitian.