Why Do We Eat?
In the most simplistic terms we eat because we need to – at a deeper level, and in a more natural sense, our craving is survival (taste is a craving that has evolved over time). The primary role and purpose of food is the production of energy. The foods we eat are processed by our digestive system to extract the energy which is then distributed to the rest of our body to enable us to function. Obviously, it’s a little more complicated than that but we don’t need to go into the intricacies of biochemistry for the purposes of this. However, it’s a really interesting subject and I would recommend taking the time to read more about it when you advance.
The digestion process can be broken down into five broad stages:
We consume food via the mouth. This is chewed and swallowed to begin its journey through to the stomach and so on.
Glucose is extracted from the consumed food (highlighting the importance of consuming quality food).
Glucose is passed around the body via the bloodstream by demand.
Energy is extracted and used.
Any unused energy is stored as fat (highlighting the importance of regulating the amount consumed).
In brief, you can see how over indulgence, lack of movement and fat retention are linked. This is something we’ll explore in more detail later. For now, the important message to take on board is that the amount you consume, the amount used, and the amount stored all start out as the choice you make to introduce the food into your system.
Notice the language here, ‘you’, ‘your’…
You will notice the language I use indicates that you have to take ownership over your diet. Reading this is a great start but it’s the actions you take as a result of reading it that will create the impact you desire.
What Is Digestion?
Digestion can be described simply as the process of breaking food down to a point at which the body can absorb the nutrients contained within it. The sight and smell of food sets off the digestive enzymes in your mouth and along with chewing natural, whole foods this instigates the breakdown of substrates into absorbable molecules.
Saliva also plays an important role at this stage as it contains enzymes which work to further break down the fats and carbohydrates.
When the food becomes broken down enough to be swallowed, it passes through the throat into the stomach. This is where the real magic happens: the food is further broken down by a number of liquids produced by the stomach, each one with its own role to play. The makeup of the food determines the speed at which it will be broken down but as a basic guide, carbohydrates are processed faster than protein and protein faster than fat.
As the food leaves the stomach, it’s pretty much in a refined liquid form. It passes into the gastrointestinal tract where most of the absorption happens. There are many different levels of absorption but for the moment we’re going to focus only on the absorption of glucose.
Glucose is absorbed through the cell walls and used to make energy. In the same way that you refuel your car according to the distance you’ve travelled and the distance you’ve yet to travel, your body needs to be refuelled according to its energy needs. If you don’t refuel it often enough, you’re going to break down, but if you overfill it in one refuelling, it’s going to spill over. Of course, this is an overly simplistic breakdown of the whole process but providing in depth information on the role of mitochondria and membranes at this stage would only lead to you feeling overwhelmed and more likely to switch off. I’m choosing to keep it simple because I want you to stay switched on to the idea of following through with the recommendations I make.
Insulin Explained
When I mention insulin, most people think about diabetes. Insulin is a complex subject covering a wide variety of factors but, in a nutshell, insulin is needed to enable glucose (sugar) to enter the body’s cells to make energy. However, in modern western cultures there is now an issue arising over having too much glucose (sugar) in the body as the excess is stored as fat. Insulin can also cause an increase in appetite, and this can of course be a major issue for those looking to control or lose weight – especially if they don’t manage the production of insulin consciously.
So why is insulin important? Well, insulin grabs excess glucose (sugar) in the blood and stores it in the liver and as glycogen in the muscles, all of the excess glucose is stored as FAT. This naturally leads to a drop in the insulin levels in the blood, which in turn causes a signal to be sent to the brain to trigger an increase in appetite and the need to eat. Consuming a daily diet of sugary fast foods can create an imbalance known as insulin resistance, which is now a major cause of obesity and cardiovascular illnesses in the modern world.
Eating a quality diet free of highly processed and refined foods can massively change the way insulin is produced and used by the body. Insulin can be thought of as a tin miner in the body, breaking down the sugars and passing them on to be used immediately as fuel or storing them away for later use. The more sugar there is for the tin miner to deal with, the more there is to be stored away when it’s not needed, and all of this leads to an untidy workplace on a cellular level.
Quality in and quality out; rubbish in and rubbish out.
So what’s the solution? When you think about it, removing ALL processed foods and foods that are high in sugar from your diet is the simplest and most straightforward way to help the tin miner get his workplace in order. Replacing those foods with fresh, non-processed foods containing only natural sugars and minerals gives the body the energy supplies it needs without the clutter of excess making the tin miner’s job harder than it needs to be.
Important note: when removing processed and ‘fake’ foods from your diet, you’re going to experience a number of shifts within the body. Just as a drug addict goes through a withdrawal, you’ll experience a similar effect with the impact generally leading to symptoms such as headaches, mood swings and emotional ups and downs. This isn’t anything to be concerned about and the symptoms usually ease after only a couple of days. Keep in mind that any negative effects you experience are only temporary and they are simply the by-product of your body craving and detoxing at the same time.
What Is Glycogen?
As glucose levels build up within the blood, insulin takes on a second role. The glucose that can’t be absorbed through the cell walls is converted into glycogen which is essentially the short-term fuel source used by the body in everyday activities. Only limited amounts of glycogen are stored by the body as it’s in constant use which means that stored sugars (fat) are called upon when fuel supplies are low. The more active we are and the more we deplete glycogen supplies, the more we use stored sugar (glucose) supplies, thus controlling the build-up of fat held within the body.
It’s the additional fitness activities we take part in that are usually most relevant here. As we increase the energy requirement of the body, the more likely it is that we’ll begin dipping into the body’s fat reserves to fuel the additional activity. However, it can take newcomers to exercise a little while to begin reaping the rewards of ‘fat burning’ in this way as it takes repeated additional energy demands to effectively shock the body into letting go of reserves.
Increasing our activity levels or simply moving more changes the dynamics of energy production and this, along with a change in diet from fake sugars to natural sugars, brings with it MASSIVE results.
In Summary
The process is as follows:
Food is consumed → glucose is produced → circulates within the blood → enters the cells → used as fuel (energy).
Keeping optimum levels of glucose in your blood is essential in your weight loss journey. The more aware you become and the more knowledgeable you are in terms of how your body functions, the more likely it is that you will be able to consciously control your food choices and ultimately reduce your sugar intake.
It’s quite possible that the above information is all stuff you already knew but there’s a big difference between knowing about something and doing something about it, right? The only thing that’s important now is that you make a conscious decision to change; you must choose to make changes for the better and you must commit to following through with your choice. The more leverage you create in this choice, the less likely you are to relapse into old habits along the way.
