I hope that everyone feels a little more enlightened on macronutrients and I’ll try to refrain from using the “protein, carbohydrate, and fat” dietary jabberwocky unless there is a biological/technical reason for pointing it out. If you SEE those words, please note that I am not describing food groups (like meat or potatoes).
I really believe everyone’s health would be greatly improved if you simply didn’t use these three words in any way in making food choices. It may seem trivial, but it’s not. Our image of these words and the cascading, general inadequate explanations of what happens when these
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After 4 months we are finally nearing the end of our dietary journey. We discussed the basic context of Macronutrients (protein, carbohydrate, and fat) as “fuel.” We learned that there is a group of Micronutrients – vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals that all constitute “service” or biological maintenance. We understand that fat has more energy density (2x) than protein or carbohydrate.
Our body uses primary fuel glucose/glycogen through the TCA or krebs cycle to obtain energy (brain biggest single user, followed closely by liver and muscle) and the body stores a glycogen (a special muscle protein with a carbohydrate shell) and
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Can you pass the protein? I’ll have a little protein with that. I’m dragging a little, I think I need some protein. I’m really trying to bulk up, what are you eating for your protein?
Okay, I admit I was of the same mindset. I once recommended “one serving of protein and one serving of carbohydrate with every meal.” I lost 50 lbs on that advice and yet when challenged by a 11 year old girl with a simple question my “belief system” was stopped in it’s tracks. I took biochemistry in undergraduate and graduate school. I worked in the
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We take a quick break from our macronutrient discussion to talk about some really exciting news in the hypothermics world that showed up in the last two weeks. It’s great when new data shows that old thoughts might be wrong. This one comes from researchers at Harvard Medical School (and a host of other institutions).(1) These scientist discovered a new hormone, irisin, named after the greek goddess iris – the personification of the rainbow and messenger of the gods.
What is most exciting is that this hormone could be another piece of the “calorie” controversy – the irritating paradox of calorie
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In Fat – Part 1 I explained some details about our body’s use of lipids (fat) and the role it plays in both survival and diet. The most important concept to take away is that you MUST go on a naturally “high-fat diet,” digesting your OWN adipose tissue, to lose weight. This may seem so incredibly obvious, but if you take a few minutes each day to think about it, I believe it will have profound impact on your results.
Why? because every calorie you put into your mouth will fuel your body and that will result in the part
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What an incredible month and I can’t believe November came and is gone. ”Fat bottom girls, you make the rockin world go round…” It’s time to dive into Fat. It’s sort of the original sin of food. Unlike proteins and carbohydrate, most of us know when we have too much of it around. We covered some material in the BATgirl posts – predominately the “brown” flavor, so now let’s talk about the “white version.” After we discuss a little bit about how we get it and how to lose it, we will pick up with the dietary forms of fat.
We’ve covered a lot of ground. What we’ve discussed is that carbohydrates come in the form of simple sugars (monosaccharides) and more complex carbohydrates (polysaccharides). We know that the sugar names all end in “ose” (glucose, fructose, lactose, etc…). Polysaccharides are many of these monosaccharides linked together in a chain and are a common way plants store energy (similar to our fat) for later use.
I’m suggesting you stop thinking about “Carbs” as a food group; instead categorize meat, vegetables, grains, dairy, etc… Starch (potato) and Cellulose (wood) are made from IDENTICAL glucose molecules. They have a different saccharide bonds
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In Part 1, we began the process of distinguishing the difference between a food group and a macronutrient. Carbohydrates (Carbs) are probably the most vilified of the macronutrients. This is probably due to the ubiquitous availability of starch foods throughout human history. For the most part, oils, fats, and meats were the food of the rich. Everyone else ate beans, rice and potatoes.
If we listed the many staple foods: grains, rice, beans, squash, quinoa, potatoes and corn we see a high amount of starch. Remember, starch is simply a long chain of glucose. We all need glucose to live
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As we have been discussing, macronutrients are the basic energy, or fuel, our bodies need for all biological processes. This can be used for exercising, thinking or synthesizing the many biological molecules that keep the system smoothly operating.
Micronutrients are the building blocks – the stuff our body uses to create the many cells, tissues, and hormones. Like we discussed in our car analogy, macronutrients are the gas and micronutrients are the routine maintenance service for the car .
Today we are going to begin the discussion of Carbohydrates. What I hope to do, is change your reaction to that
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The picture says it all. We are going to talk about chains, not of steel, but of the basic energy units that keeps your body going and make you fat. I hope it is a new beginning, a bridge to a new way of thinking. Once you understand how the body processes food, it’ll take away mystery and magic.
The reality is actually far more simple than all of the crazy schemes you’ve followed in the past; the beauty is every one of them can be easily explained – with no contradictions.
The beginning of the story actually starts at
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