Weight loss schemes have nearly always been based on calorie-oriented
brute force dieting. In other words, starvation. Restrict how much you
eat, and your body will shrink, just as if you stuff your face, you will
get fat... right? It turns out that this is generally NOT right.
Calorie restricted diets just don't work for the vast majority of
people, because:
- they leave you hungry all the time
- no one can tolerate hunger for a long period of time
- they ignore the effect that certain foods have on the processes
taking place in the body that cause weight gain and loss
- nobody has unlimited willpower
- the foods involved are usually carbohydrates that actually increase
your sense of hunger
- the quantities of food generally leave you hungry and unsatisfied all
the time
Calorie restriction is based on the assumption that all foods have the
exact same impact on the body, and that quantity is responsible for weight
gain. It is also based on the assumption that everyone's body reacts to
those foods in exactly the same way. Neither of these assumptions is
valid.
The body is not a simple machine. It is an extremely complex system.
Everything that is ingested into the body causes very complex results.
Certain foods actually promote hunger, while others satisfy it.
Certain foods raise the body's metabolic rate, while others suppress it.
Certain foods promote the storage of energy as fat, while others promote
the conversion of fat to energy. To make this situation even more
complex, we cannot assume that each food has the exact same effect on you
as it has on me, or any one else. This effect may be generally similar
from person to person, but in specifics it can vary widely. For those of
us who are diagnosed Diabetic, the effects of certain foods - the
carbohydrates - are exceptionally profound.
In general, carbohydrates cause Insulin secretion, and insulin is the
engine behind hunger, high blood pressure, and weight gain, plus many
other largely bad things. At the same time if you did not secrete
insulin you would die relatively quickly without intervention... so the
trick is to get the body to only produce the minimum amount required. We
do that by restricting carbohydrate consumption.
In general, protein consumption stimulates the release of the opposite
hormone to Insulin, called glucagon. It literally does the opposite to
what Insulin does, stimulating the burning of excess energy rather than
its storage, and promoting the consumption of body fat stores rather than
their creation.
In general, fat consumption does not stimulate either of these hormones of
weight management at all.
By now you are probably thinking 'What the heck is this?'. Calories have
always been the measuring stick of energy consumption and weight gain.
Do you actually know what a 'calorie' in a food context is????
The nutritional Calorie is actually a kilocalorie, and it represents the
amount of energy that is released when a certain quantity of a food is
burned in a crucible by a flame. Fats in this context are calorie-dense
and produce a lot of energy when burned. Flour based products would
produce comparatively little energy. Proteins, because they are
fat-laden, would be in between.
Does this sound like the way YOUR stomach works? Not hardly. Not even
close.
When we eat, the food we consume is ground up by the teeth and tongue, and
mixed with saliva, and when swallowed is then torn apart by the digestive
juices of the stomach. The food is separated into its biological
constituents and absorbed in the digestive tract into the bloodstream.
Proteins are used as raw materials for the repair and growth of tissues.
Fats are used in part as solvents for fat-soluble nutrients, and provide
transportation for these into the body. Fats are also used to build and
maintain many cells (including the cells of the brain). Carbohydrates
are converted into glucose, for the express purpose of being burned as
fuel. Fuel can also come from proteins and fats if required, but glucose
is burned preferentially.
In evaluating the role of a food in the body, how does this compare with
burning a food in a crucible with a flame, and measuring its energy
output? It doesn't!
The concept of food energy measured by Calories is severely flawed. It
takes none of the true purpose of a food in the body into account.
Eating provides energy, but it provides a great deal more. To sort out
how particular foods affect weight gain and loss we have to have a much
more profound understanding of the mechanics of the body and how things
work in order to properly assess what role the food has. Burning it in a
crucible assumes that the only purpose of food in the body is as fuel -
which is just plain wrong.
So, since I promote severely reducing carbohydrates in the diet, where
does the person get their energy from? AREN'T YOU TRYING TO LOSE FAT
WEIGHT? Stored body fat is consumed when the Insulin level falls low,
and the body understands that it must consume its fat stores. Stored
fats are broken down into Ketone bodies. Ketone bodies, in this
circumstance, become the fuel that the body uses to keep the muscles
functioning and the brain working. GLUCOSE IS NOT NECESSARY as a food.
What little glucose the body needs can be manufactured in the body from
proteins and fats, through a process called gluconeogenesis.