Is a CALORIE a calorie?

mikebuss | 10/03/2012 | 0 Comments More

It is obvious from the research presented that what we have been doing is not working… And its not working spectacularly! Congratulations – We are getting fatter! Faster! So what’s going on?

The following research highlights the need for the correct macronutrient balance. Four groups of people were taken aside and all were fed 1000calories per day – no more, no less. Now who wouldn’t lose weight on 1000calories per day? The only difference was in how these calories were made up.

	Make-Up of Calories	Protein
Group 1	90% Fat	Lost 1lbs per day
Group 2	90% Protein	Lost 1.8lbs per day
Group 3	42% Carbs 29% Fats 29% Protein	Lost 1lbs per day
Group 4	90% Carbs	0.1lbs per day

This research was conducted conclusively in 1956 and was available before the high carb/low fat guidelines were decreed, but the USDH (United States Department of Health) ignored it.

Its only in the last 20yrs that we have been looking into the hormonal effects of food consumption on the human body. We now have a better understanding of what happens when carbohydrates enter the body.

Carbohydrates stimulate the secretion of insulin, which is your body’s storage hormone. Incoming carbohydrates have three possible destinations:

Muscle Cells
Liver Cells
Fat Cells

Unfortunately our muscle and liver cells have a very limited storage capacity and once they are full, carbohydrates only have one place to go… The Fat Cells and they have an almost unlimited storage capacity. They can swell to 1000 times their original size and then it needs insulin to survive, as too much glucose in the blood is toxic for the brain.

The other function insulin has is it stops the release of fat from our cells into the bloodstream. It says there is enough fuel already in the system. So during insulin secretion, we don’t utilize any of our storages of fat. So it is like a double whammy! Not good if we want to lose weight.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, if we introduce too much protein during a meal and no carbohydrates, the body goes into a state of ketosis. The response, insulin is released from the body. You can see how important it is to find a balance.

In this stage, utilization of fat from the fat cell gets short circuited, and a result is ketosis bodies that the body can’t handle, so it tries to eliminate them by excess urine. Hence, we lose water. During ketosis, the body has no fuel from fat or carbohydrates so breaks down muscle to use as fuel.

So the balance of macronutrients suggested by Dr Barry Sears and many others is: The 40/30/30 Rule – Endorsed by World Record Breaking Athlete and one of the UKs top Personal Trainers Mike Buss.