In the continuation of the previous post, I am going to try to explain how energy is obtained from foods, and how it is measured. As stated, in part I, energy is stored in foods that we eat in the bonds between atoms (mainly between carbon atoms). When these...
I've gotten many questions in the ATD mailbag about protein, carbohydrates and fat. Many people seem to be confused about what these molecules actually are and what they do. This is not surprising, as there is so much differing information out there. Therefore, I've decided to write an explanation,...
I'm 38, 5'6" and 138 lbs. I'm doing P90X regularly and running/training for a marathon in May. My diet consists mostly of vegetables, fruit, nuts and the occasional lean meat. For the most part I avoid processed foods, fried foods, sugar, saturated fats, etc., basically "bad" foods. Since I've been...
I get many versions of this type of question. Gaining or losing weight is largely about calorie control. As explained in an earlier post, body weight is determined by the balance of energy in (food eaten) and energy out (energy expenditure). Therefore, you would alter your energy intake/expenditure depending on what...
Excellent question. Many people wonder what they should eat first thing in the morning, or even if they should eat breakfast at all (yes, you should). Before thinking about eating, comes the sleep. The research is clear that you should be getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep each night,...
As I was doing my morning news overload, I came upon this article about hummus. Firstly, this got me a bit hungry, since I am a big fan of hummus. This also got me to thinking about chick peas in general, and how they are very close to a...
Have you ever tried to get a loved one to change a habit that was unhealthy? Maybe someone else has tried to get you to change? It seems like no matter how hard you try, and how obvious the problem may be, they are just not willing to improve. If...
In parts I and II of this series, we spoke about the background structure of the macronutrients, and the way in which energy is derived from foods. In part III of the series, I will attempt to explain how energy can be stored in the body. As previously
The bodyweight set point theory states that we each have a certain weight, or ‘set point’, which is difficult to deviate from. It is a bit of a misnomer, as our bodies do not actually keep our bodyweight constant. Instead, our metabolism changes in response to altering weight. At its most...
