Biochemistry of the human body made easy....

The biochemistry of the human body is an amazing thing. Not many people take the time to understand how it works and as a result, they have problems in achieving their goals. Basically, it all comes down to getting rid of the preconceived notions concerning diet and exercise that have been passed down from generation to generation from the time of the cave man. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard an overweight person complain that they can’t seem to lose any weight even though they barely eat. From a realistic point of view, all diets are bad. What one needs is a positive relationship with food. Now I realize that this may sound funny, but it is the attitude that you need to have in order to be successful in attaining your goals. Food should not be looked upon in a negative manner. In other words, food should not be connected with weight gain. Regardless of the type of food eaten, the body ultimately converts it into fuel for energy. The important thing is not necessarily what you eat, but rather that you eat, period. This is where biochemistry comes into play. Let’s say you are a person who is trying to lose weight. In an effort to do so, you skip breakfast and lunch and only eat a small dinner. O.K., so what does your body have to say about this? Well, this person will burn fat, but only for a very short time. For a mere one hundred and twenty minutes following the emptying of the stomach, the body will begin a lipolysis (fat burning) cycle. The problem is that as the body burns fat, byproducts are formed which are toxic. It is important to remember that everything burned for fuel in the body (fats, sugars, and protein) is ultimately turned into glucose, a simple carbohydrate, in order to make ATP and thus energy. When fat is broken down, a glycerol molecule is formed which can be converted to glucose, but the remainder of the fat molecule consists of a fatty acid chain that cannot be made into glucose. As fat is broken down during these two hours, these fatty acids build up, creating a toxic environment. So after this relatively short period of time, the body is unable to burn any more fat because if it did a coma would result. Since nothing has been eaten, the body must then turn to its glycogen stores (these are pockets of stored glucose in the liver and kidneys). Unfortunately, these stores only last an average of fifteen minutes. Once again you are out of luck. The body still needs to get glucose from somewhere in order to make fuel for energy, so where in the world is it going to get it? The answer, unfortunately, is lean muscle. Muscle is catabolized (broken down) in order to make the needed glucose. So let’s go back and add up those times. I get two hours and fifteen minutes. This means that after only one hundred thirty-five minutes, including just one hundred twenty minutes of fat burning, the body has no choice but to break down its nice powerful, pretty muscle. So this person who thinks they will lose weight by eating less or not eating at all will lose weight, but it will be lean muscle weight and they will retain all of their fat stores. What’s worse is that by not eating in the morning, the most important meal of the day because it conditions the body’s metabolism for the rest of the day, this person will ultimately slow down their metabolism and increase their tendency to store fat. It’s that simple. Now that we realize that diets just don’t work, the next logical question is what does work. EXERCISE. Exercise alone will work, but exercise along with a positive relationship with food will work wonders.