Energy Absorption & Evolution

Thousands of years ago energy was in short supply so our digestive system evolved to absorb the maximum amount of energy from food. It is now so efficient at absorption that we can absorb around ten kilograms of sugar in a day, that’s around 40,000 Calories!

The problem today is that most foods we buy contain added sugars and fats in order to satisfy our tastes, and the result is a weight loss problem. A huge cabbage which would have been a good source of energy long ago contains the same amount of energy as a bag of potato chips (crisps). Yet not many people could actually manage a whole cabbage.

Another problem with today’s society which also encourages weight gain is a lack of exercise. Without exercise we burn very little energy, it could take up to three hours to burn off the energy in that bag of potato chips. However with a little exercise it’s possible to burn off those chips within an hour….. Yes ok, a WHOLE HOUR sounds too much to me too!

It’s not that I don’t like exercising; I already train over four hours each week. The way I see it is why ruin my chances of burning an extra load of stored body fat by eating junk. I would rather avoid the potato chips and eat more vegetables that will fill me quickly!

The thing is that once you realise the ease at which you can offset the delicate balance of calories in – calories expended I think it’s best to gradually omit junk foods from the diet.

Ways to burn more calories when exercising

Here is a small list of ways to increase calorie burning when exercising.

1. Exaggerating each movement in the exercise will help in burning more calories.

2. Exercising the major muscle groups such as legs, back & buttocks can help for burning calories.

3. Exercises such as jogging, walking, dancing require extra energy for balance so can be better for burning calories than cycling or rowing.

4. Burning calories will be increased when movements in an exercise are continuous or non stop.

Whichever exercise you attempt to use in order to lose weight you must remember to make sure your doctor approves before starting.

Ways Of Approaching Dieting

We love all the benefits of living in the twenty first century but one of the drawbacks is that during our every day lives we don't use the number of calories that our grandparents had to consume just to survive. As a result, the overall trend is that we are all much heavier and this has given rise to a whole new industry. Fifty years ago it would have been difficult to find one book on how to diet, now the book shops have thousands of different ideas written by gorgeous looking people who you find it difficult to imagine ever having a weight problem.

Back in the 1970s a Dr Atkins put forward a radical new idea which came across a brick wall in the diet and medical world. Instead of eating a diet that consisted predominantly of carbohydrates he suggested that if we ate a diet consisting almost entirely of proteins and fats we would lose weight. Despite all the negative comments, his diet has been proved to be highly effective and stores are now stocking low carb snacks because there is such a huge change going on in our eating habits.

In addition to our generation experiencing weight problems, we are also seeing a huge increase in the number of diagnoses of diabetes. Very few people are told that if we eat excessive amounts of sugar and refined carbohydrates our bodies will produce too much insulin and with too much insulin we will convert our food to fat.

Your body will also store carbs away because it worries that it may not be fed again and this means that you're left feeling unsatisfied and all these carbs are simply going on the hips. Many of us are encouraged by in your face advertising to consume lots of "low-fat" diet foods. They may be low in fat but they are actually high in sugar and therefore increase insulin levels and your fat. Most refined carbohydrates are actually little more than sugar molecules bonded together and will be treated by your body in the same way as a piece of chocolate.

Where can you start?
You need to start educating your mind and body to know and understand what is right and what is wrong. Discover which foods will convert straight to energy and not be stored as fat. You'll find that vegetables, meats, eggs, nuts, legumes and cheese will be the most effective. There are also many foods on the market that advertise themselves as low carb and are a good way to launch into a new diet.

You'll need to commit to sticking to the diet, come hell or high water for at least two weeks. During this period your carb intake per day cannot exceed twenty grams. It's very important that you are strict because this is the time when your body learns to burn fat rather than carbs and if you play the game at this point you'll find that when you do start to eat a few carbs again your body won't be tempted to hoard them.

For two weeks you'll have to be totally devoted to your diet and never cheat. It's during this time that you will be educating your body! It's going to be a huge shake up for it as your carb intake won't be exceeding twenty grams per day but your determination will pay off! Your body will learn to burn fat rather than carbs and once the weight starts to move you should feel motivated to keep going. After this initial period you can start to eat a few carbs again and your body shouldn't be tempted to hoard them.

Drink lots of water. This will help to flush out some of the carbohydrates and will also stop you feeling hungry. Keep healthy snacks around you so that you can reach out and avoid the cakes and biscuits! There are low carb snacks that you can make or there are many good ones on the market.


Tim Forrester is the editor and webmaster of Change Obesity a premier obesity and diet information site on the Internet. For more information following this article please pay a visit.