Me The Machine

This is a pretty lengthy post, so I don't blame you if you decide to skip it or just skim over it. It's pretty informative, but really long. Okay, here's what I've learned so far....

Basically, my body is a machine whose job it is to survive. Period, end of story. No matter what I do to my body, it will find a way to survive and stay alive. This is why it's so tough to diet. You can trick your body into losing weight at first, but it never lasts very long. The reason is that the human body re-evaluates how much fuel it has been receiving every 72 hours and how much fuel it will take to carry out the basic functions, like breathing and thinking. In addition, it re-assesses its fuel reserves every 48 hours and then plans out how much fuel it can put into reserves in case I decide to do something extra and crazy like climb a mountain. When the two assessment times meet, the diet plateau hits and it becomes harder to lose weight because my body has figured out the maximum amount of energy to reserve in accordance to what I have currently been eating. Apparently, my body has become really good at reserving all of the energy that I get from the foods I eat.

Foods are divided into three *macronutrient* groups: Proteins, Fats, and Carbs. Foods categorized based on the amounts of macronutrients that they contain. The example in the book says that an egg contains 6 grams of protein, 3 grams of fat, and less than 1 gram of carbs. Therefore, and egg falls into the protein group.

Proteins work in your body the way gas works in a car. It makes things go. It helps the body break down and rebuild. And, it supports lean mass. The best types of protein to eat are eggs, beef, poultry, and fish. Protein from pork is not used efficiently and ends up being mostly converted to fat (the exact thing I'd like to avoid!). Protein is responsible for making glucogen in the body, which is a hormone that tells the body to use extra fat stores for extra energy. But, eating excessive amounts of protein is not good because once the body is done using the protein it just converts the rest of it to fat. A good amount of protein to eat is 3-4 ounces per meal for women and 6-8 for men. And it should be spaced like that throughout the day. You wouldn't want to eat 12 ounces in one sitting.

Fats work in the body the same way oil works in a car. It lubricates our systems and keeps things running smoothly. It provides extra fuel, protects the immune system, insulation, essential acids, is a key component in all our cell membranes, and helps absorb vitamins. The fats are divided into four groups: Polyunsaturated (nuts and seeds) Monounsaturated (liquids) Saturated (solids) Trans-fatty acids (hydrogenated). The more natural the fat is, the healthier it is for you. So, the healthiest fats come from the Poly and Mono groups. Nuts and oils. The better oils are olive, fish, and flaxseed. Saturated fats are okay in moderation unless you have a high body-fat percentage or high cholesterol. Trans-fats are bad news. They are hydrogenated because extra hydrogen atoms are added to them to help preserve the food. (Duh, that's why the call them hydrogenated, but I had to read that to make sense of it.) Trans-fats do not occur in nature so the body just doesn't know what to do with them. They don't digest well and end up just sitting there. They're found mostly in the junk foods and margarine. Plus, they're made similar to how plastics are made... totally gross! If that's not motivating.... then, there's a problem.

Carbs are like coolant in your car. The book says that they hydrate your body in the absence of water. They're also get broken down and used for energy. We're talking about foods like bread, pasta, potatoes, veggies, fruits, and alcohol. Whooo, margaritas! I kid, I kid :-) On a side note, carb intake causes the release of serotonin, which is the hormone that makes you feel good. Maybe that's why I'm so addicted to carbs.... they fuel my optimism. I've also read (not in this book, but somewhere else) that sex releases the same hormone. So one of two things will happen here when I start monitoring the carbs. I'll either turn into a grouch or I'll want to be getting it on all week. But, I digress.... Getting back to carbs and serotonin, the release of the hormone is why most comfort foods tend to be carb heavy.

Basically, we treat our bodies like we treat an old clunker car. We give it the the cheapest and most convenient forms of fuel (processed foods, fried foods, and drive-thru dinners) and then drive it around as hard and as fast as we can. When it breaks down, we get sick, stressed, fatigued, or, heaven forbid, fat. What the author of this book aims to do is to re-train our bodies on how to process what we eat and the order in which to use the different types of fuel by training the human about what to eat and when to eat it. The scientifics of it sound like a lot to know, but I'm still pretty optimistic about it (must be all those carbs I love to eat still working in me). My goal is to get started tomorrow, so I'll need to read some more tonight about how to get started. The first week is supposed to be like a boot camp, but then the following weeks just work like an eating pattern.

If you've read this far, then you are awesome! I'll keep the next post shorter, I promise!