Q: I know practically nothing about calories.
How many calories a day should a 15 year old
consume? Can you explain what calories are?
~Angelina
A: Great question Angelina! Every day your
body requires a certain amount of energy to
operate effectively, allowing you to participate in
all activities, regenerating muscle and other
tissues, digesting food, and healing the body.
The units of energy are called calories, just like
the units of temperature are called degrees.
There is a basic energy requirement for the
body to operate at rest (couch potato mode).
This can be calculated as follows:
For women = 655 + (9.6 x weight(kg)) + (1.8 x
height(cm)) - (4.7 x age(years))
For men = 66 + (13.7 x weight(kg)) + (5 x
height(cm)) - (6.8 x age(years))
In addition, you must add the energy
requirements based on your activity level, the
more active you are the more energy you would
need. This can range from 400 cal/day (for light
work) to 2000 cal/day for prolonged heavy work
or exercise.
If you munch more than you burn, you store fat.
If you burn more than you eat, your body gets
the difference in calories needed from stored
calories. You have stored carbohydrates
(sugars) and stored fats (blubber- just kidding),
but you don’t store protein. It’s all being used in
the body as muscles or other proteins needed
for body business (like enzymes and
antibodies). So when we try to lose weight
without exercise, our body burns up proteins and
we actually lose muscle tissue. This causes a
lower basic energy requirement in the body and
that means if we take in the same amount of
calories as before we would be storing fat more
easily. Bad move!! It’s important to provide the
body with a balance of proteins - carbohydrates
- fats to meet its daily needs. It is also
important to provide the body with the nutrients
(minerals and vitamins) necessary for it to run
efficiently and allow you to achieve and
maintain good health. It all keeps you Lookin’
Good!
THOSE BIG FAT LIES!!
For the last 25 years Americans have
been pursuing weight loss through the No-fat,
Low-fat diet. However if we look at the results
of this pursuit we see dismal failure. Obesity
increased 34% in adults during the first ten
years of the dietary trend, and a further 38%
during the second decade of the low-fat diet. In
children less than 8, morbid obesity grew 24%,
this is the same rate for adolescent females.
The problem stems from a too simplistic
view of the body’s utilization of calories. The
low-fat diet assumes that if you decrease
calories you’ll lose weight, and since fats have a
higher number of calories per ounce (twice as
many calories as either proteins or sugars) the
simplest way to achieve this goal is to reduce fat
intake. The result is people avoiding fat at all
cost and significantly increasing the amount of
sugar laden foods in the diet. Snackwell has
made billions of dollars based on this idea.
Candy aisles in stores advertise “NO FAT” when
in reality they represent pure sugar ‘bombs’
ready to destroy your diet and potentially your
health.
If we examine the way the body uses
the calories we can see the deadly flaw in the
low-fat diet. The principle stimulation for fat
storage in the body comes from a hormone
called insulin. This hormone is released from
the pancreas in response to sugars
(carbohydrates) entering the blood stream.
Simple sugars can be absorbed directly through
the stomach lining. Insulin released in response
to the surge of sugar is the strongest signal the
body’s fat cell have to store the excess sugar. It
is put together as long chains called “FAT”.
Fats and proteins in the diet do not stimulate
insulin production and therefore don’t stimulate
fat storage.
Another problem that arises from diets
high in carbohydrates is hypoglycemia. This is
a fancy name for low blood sugar. It occurs
when the body see a load of sugar in the blood
stream and produces a sharp rise in insulin to
remove it. Since the body doesn’t know how
much sugar there will be it typically overshoots
the need and the blood sugars fall rapidly often
times going below normal levels needed to
function clearly. The result will be fatigue,
weakness, and inability to concentrate. To
combat this the body needs a supply of more
complexed calories(proteins and fats) to
maintain energy and reduce insulin spikes.
After the Holiday sweets comes the New Year's resolution, "I'm really going to lose those extra pounds!" The most important question is: How??? There is no limit to the dietary advice available today, but there are some serious consequences to listening to incorrect advice.
All diets are not created equal! The latest research has supported a low carbohydrate diet. There are numerous reasons for this. All calories are not equal. Carbohydrates (sugars, breads, pasta, rice, potatoes, corn, etc) entering the blood stream trigger the production of a hormone called insulin. Insulin is the strongest signal your body has to store sugars. Fat cells have insulin receptors and once triggered grab sugars from the blood stream and make fat. The fat you have in your body isn't from fat in your diet, its from sugars (carbs). You could eat butter, cream, steak or any other fat or protein and there would be no insulin surge and therefore no triggering of your fat cells to store anything.
The danger of the low fat diet is in its strong shift to high carbohydrate foods. The calorie reduction of this type of diet results in weight loss, but the end result is loss of weight with a strong hormonal drive to store fat. You may be lighter but you lost lean body mass (muscle) and gained a higher percentage of body fat. Bad move! This means to maintain your weight loss you'll need continued calorie restriction. Forever!!
This season consider a low carb diet and exercise program that will cut the fat, build the muscle and free you from the endless yo-yo diet cycle! Happy eating!
Want to send in a question for Lookin' Good? We welcome your questions. Remember the
only silly question is the one left unasked!!
