Have you ever wondered why most people gain weight? The “traditional answer” is that there is an imbalance in expenditure and intake of energy in the system. Exercise and our metabolic processes consume energy while the food we eat (calories) gives us energy. If we delve deeper into the “food factor” it would be noticed that the various food groups will supply us the energy it contains. We will therefore get our calories from more than one source. Research has pointed out that not all calories are the same. The calories coming from protein is not the same as that coming from fat or carbohydrate. The manner in which each of the above food group is metabolized is different.
Fat is seen to have more than two times the amount of calories than either carbohydrate or protein. A typical gram of protein or carbohydrate has about four calories and yes one gram of fat will contain an average of nine calories. It is only obvious if you eat more fatty foods you will have an abundance of calories to burn (If not burnt it will be stored in the body in various places). By reducing the amount of fat in your diet you may be able to eat more and still loose weight. Here you are doing two main things; firstly you are reducing the quantity of calories and making room for lower calorie content. Secondly, you can now eat more of the lower calorie food and not have that much fat on the body.
While most of the food groups taken in excess will end up as fat in the body (the body stores food in the form of fatty acid and glycerin), the amount of fat will definitely be less (although you would be eating more). The end result is that you will be eating more food and taking in fewer calories.
The great news is that if the body is to convert protein or carbohydrate into fat for storage, it will use up about twenty-three calories for every hundred calories to be stored. The body usually stores one percent of such conversions. In other words the body would rather use up the calories from protein and carbohydrate rather than use so much energy to store it. On the other hand energy expenditure for fat storage is only two and one half calories per hundred grams.
The average individual needs only four to six percent of fat calories. This is enough to synthesize essential fatty acids. The ideal meal plan will therefore contain less than twelve percent fat. Following this principle will make it virtually impossible for one to gain weight, even if you try to do so (while sticking to this principle). When we consume more than ten percent of “fat calories” we are sure to gain weight and develop high cholesterol, heart diseases, high triglycerides and other lifestyle diseases.
The rate at which we burn calories is determined by our lifestyle. A sedentary person will certainly burn fewer calories than a blue color worker. Splitting our meals into smaller ones has been proven to help our body burn more calories than eating three square meals daily. It seems more sensible to eat four to six small meals daily instead of the traditional three meals. This will definitely help us to burn more calories.
Whatever type of work we may do it is always a great thing to exercise as regular as possible. I used the word regular to break this news slowly to you. By regular I mean “daily.” As simple as walking for at least forty-five minutes will change the way in which your metabolism operates. Ayurveda has indicated to us that the ancient Aryans walked two miles after dinner daily. History showed that they lived long and healthily and there were less than 7% of their population suffering from lifestyle diseases. Compare this to 88% of our population being ten pounds or more over weight!
What are you waiting for?? Get on with the most positive aspect of your life. Do you want to be part of that whopping 88%? Are you already in it? Take off all your clothing and look at yourself in the mirror. Do you like what you see? If you do chances are that you are not in the 88% but if you don’t, now is the moment to do something about it. Take up that phone and get some professional assistance. Or send us an e-mail and you will be on your way to the best part of your life—“looking your best at any age.”
We do not promise to add years to your life but we do promise to add life to the amount of years that you have left. Who knows maybe that will just add more happy and blissful years to your life? This will make you love yourself a little more everyday.
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