If you are like me, a food aficionado then – you are more likely to be eager to learn how to keep your appetite and your weight – working amicably together.
Simple weight gain results (outside other medical conditions) from an imbalance between food intake and daily physical activity. Understanding how your body works on the foods you intake is the first step to losing weight.
Your body works like a bank for the large part. Put in more than you take out and you will have ‘gains’ – only this time the ‘gains’ are quite prominently displayed around your belly, hips , thighs and or arms. Ugh! We all know that we would gladly let go of those gains!
Primary focus on weight loss, scientifically speaking is on the 2 particular lifestyle factors: • Increased levels of physical activity (increased metabolism)
• Reductions in the intakes of fat and sugars... (Decreasing fat stores) or helping increasing metabolism.
Simply put metabolism is the process whereby the
body converts food into energy (or uses it for bodily repairs) or stores it as fat for future use. Or, if we have a faster metabolism we burn calories more efficiently and store less fat. If we have a slower metabolism we burn calories less efficiently and therefore store more calories as fat.
The basic four major classes of bio fuels from food for human and animal life are carbohydrates, along with proteins, fats and nucleic acids.
The
fuel that your body, especially your brain runs on is called glucose, a simple chain sugar. Glucose is what gives the ‘energy ‘of life.
Your brain cells need two times more energy than the other cells in your body. Most of your glucose comes from carbohydrates.
Glucose is the only fuel normally used by brain cells. Because neurons cannot store glucose, they depend on the bloodstream to deliver a constant supply of this precious fuel. This is the reason why – the old recommendation – “sit down and “think about it” for a while “is often used before making serious decisions.
Your brain rapidly burns up glucose during high peaks of mental activity and during periods of short periods of stress (physical and emotional).
Remember too that while the brain is the master organ of the body, it is also the
seat of emotions. Nothing triggers basic emotions as much as food. You hate a food, or you love a food or you crave a food or you need a food. Either way your palate and your brain perform a delicate dance together!
“Tasty” or ‘Palatable” foods, like those dished out by the fast food companies, often contain a perfect combination of fat, sugar and salt – essentially blended to stimulate the brain to release dopamine, the neurotransmitter associated with the pleasure center of the brain. Ever wondered why you cannot beat the 'come ons' by Lay potato chips = "you cannot stop with just one?". You cannot - because it is true. The
sugar-salt- fat combo ensures 'craving' in the brain and plays havoc with your resolutions!
The only animal foods containing a significant amount of carbohydrates are dairy products.
The famous doctor David Kessler, remarked in his book "The End of Overeating," . Foods high in fat, salt and sugar alter the brain's chemistry in ways that compel people to overeat. "Much of the scientific research around overeating has been physiology -- what's going on in our body," he said. "The real question is what's going on in our brain." I could not agree more!
You get most of your glucose from carbohydrates, and other food fuels through a fascinating and complex bio-chemical process called ‘metabolism’ a constant dance of destruction (catabolism) and creation (anabolism), wherein, your body breaks down the large molecules of food to harvest energy and simultaneously builds components for nucleic acids – vitally needed for life.
Ideally, you will only take in enough fuel, to use.
A diet low in fat, but high in carbohydrates, may serve to increase triglyceride levels. So when you starve yourself, or get into a fitness regimen or are highly stressed that you begin to use more carbohydrates than you need to fuel your body, your brain has an alternate pathway (other than the simple metabolism of carbohydrates as explained above) to break down fat which can be converted into glucose. The stored fat is thus converted back into carbohydrate and used as fuel for your body.
The brain is the master organ of life and will derive its energy from whatever source possible. Inclusive of fat cells that may also be broken down for that reason, if the brain's needs ever outweigh the body's… as during excess periods of starvation, the fat is broken down for energy.
Our metabolic rate increases during digestion of food,
a process known as the Thermal Effect of food. In simple terms, if we go too long without food (5 hours for men; 3 hours for women), our body thinks there is a food shortage and our metabolism tends to slow down… this is why starving for short periods does NOT produce significant weight loss and makes for double gains when the eating returns to normal.
To perform this process efficiently, our body needs a constant supply of essential nutrients. Without these nutrients
like vitamins and minerals, esp. vitamins B2, B3, B5, B6 & vitamin metabolism can become inefficient and sluggish… and thereby you burn less fat!
These are often (especially B6, which we humans cannot synthesize) significantly deficient in a vegetarian diet.
Foods that vegetarians should increase for Vitamin B6: Bananas Baked russet potatoes with skin, fortified cereals, spinach, hazel nuts.The best way to ensure good dietary nutrition is to follow a balanced diet. Beans, leafy green vegetables, citrus fruits, beets, wheat germ, natural pro-biotic enzymes, a daily dose of good exercise and a stretch of sound sleep all go a long way to help the body’s amazing science and art of maintaining life.
The body breaks down and builds up …. Put Metabolism to work and you will never be fat again!
