grant said:
"Eating a piece of fruit before each meal may help to melt pounds away. In a recent study, people who ate a small apple or pear before each meal lost more weight than people who skipped the fruit but followed the same reduced calorie diet. Researchers speculate the fiber filled fruits help to satiate hunger which probably results in lower calorie intake from the meal."
Provided by: www.RealAge.com
*******************************************************
Thoughts on...
Pectin??
Validity for a bodybuilder?
It has been shown to be effective and it certainly works for the average person.... As it was said, it is partially to do with liver glycogen (the liver signals that the body has been 'fed' to the hypothalamus). Fruit before a meal will also fill you up (fibre) and also has a role in blunting of the insulin response - which will decrease hunger.
In terms of BB - Well, for those who have 'structured' calorie intakes their cals are at a certain level for the day regardless. So the effect on 'satiety' is going to be nothing more than a "comfort" issue (prevent the hunger pains).
And fruit for every meal may prove problematic - if you eat 6 to 8 meals a day then your intake might be getting a little excessive!
Also - many 'regular' people do not have well balanced meals. They may eat a meal of just carbohydrates and they may eat very irregularly - and, as such, the fruit is going to have much more of an effect... But if you are correctly spacing your meals and if each meal has adequate fibre, protein and some healthy fats, then you will probably find the effects are not as marked.
I think that including 2 servings of fruit would be fine and, if you wanted, you could split it into 4 servings (then have 0.5 serves before 4 of your meals) to see if it had a positive effect.