Honey at Bedtime Helps Burn Fat, Increase Stamina

Sweet Dreams of a New Slimline Start to the Year
By Ruth Armstrong, Edinburgh Evening News, 1/10/06

It advocates the two things that most dieters avoid - eating at bedtime and ducking the gym. But the hibernation diet promises to help people lose weight while they sleep.

The strategy, developed by an Edinburgh pharmacist and sports nutritionist, is said to be used by champion boxer Alex Arthur and endorsed by Olympic gold-winning cyclist Chris Hoy.

The diet, hailed as the new Atkins, advises eating a couple of teaspoons of honey before bedtime and training with weights instead of gruelling aerobic workouts.

While Mike McInnes and his son Stuart were helping athletes with nutrition, they discovered that eating fructose-rich food such as honey, helped burn fat and increase stamina.

They also found that the best time to burn fat is while you are asleep - you burn more fat sleeping than doing anything else, including exercising.

When you eat fructose, it is converted to glucose in the liver. This stabilises blood sugar levels and allows the body to activate recovery hormones which rebuild muscle and skin cells.

These hormones are fuelled by fat, so rather than working to regulate blood sugar, when you eat honey before going to bed the body burns more fat. . .