Day 52 - More Calorie Myths

A favorite pastime of mine is demystifying the calorie. It provokes and surprises. A unit of measurement that is about as sensible as caveman technology, the calorie may have you hypnotized like a cult-follower to Kool-Aid. Get over it! Cut the chord between you and this delusion, and use your body wisdom instead as a guide.

Why A Calorie Is Not A Calorie

1. Your Digestive System: Two identical twins can both eat the exact same meal for 30 days but if one of them has taken antibiotics, been exposed to toxins or has somehow damaged his digestive system, do you think that their body composition will turn out the same? You can swallow all the food that you want but do not make the assumption that it will magically be utilized. If your food is not utilized (through stomach acid, proper enzyme excretion, vitamin and mineral co-factor activation, etc.) than it does not count biochemically. In fact, food that is eaten but not used can slow down the rate of metabolism.
2. Your Endocrine System: Three identical triplets can each consume 2000 calories for 30 days with vastly different results. One could eat 2000 calories a day of table sugar, the second of beef and the third of oil. Will their body composition outcome be the same? Of course not. Sugar calories are different than oil calories because our body responds to different ratios of foods with different hormonal responses. Different sources of calories equals entirely different results in the body. 

More Ridiculousness of Calories In and Calories Out:

• The calorie was 'discovered' in the 1800's by chemist Wilbur Atwater. He measured calories by incinerating food. A log has a certain amount of calories that we utilize when we burn it in a fireplace, but that is not the equivalent to what it means in our unique and one-of-a-kind body. Why do we still use the calorie? Because it is a simple and cheap way to measure in science when we do not have anything else straightforward and marketable.
• The 200 calories that you burned weight lifting are not as encouraging as you thought. If you were practically comatose you would have burned a good amount of energy just sitting on the couch watching reality TV, due to your body's utilization of energy, even at rest (this is called your Basal Metabolic Rate). For most people this is about 100 calories per hour. So that weightlifting was actually only worth 100 calories. If you ate a large 110 calories apple before, then you are actually down 10 calories that still need to be burned! Do you see how this does not make sense? Can you begin to understand how odd it is to use a form of measurement that does not take into account the vehicle that is being used, along with its numerous parts and interacting mechanisms? It would be like the automobile industry providing a gauge for fuel mileage across the board, regardless of the vehicle (golf cart or tank), engine size (horse power?), machinery (made by an entirely different company with different technology) or maintenance (how pure is it? how many oils changes and rotations have occurred) is utilized!
• Timothy Ferris, New York Times Bestselling Author or The 4- Hour Workweek, was recorded by Dr. Peggy Plato, the director of the Sports and Fitness Evaluation Program at San Jose State University in an experiment on calories in and calories out. In 28 days he gained 34 pounds of muscle and lost 4 pounds of fat. With the calorie delusion we would have to assume that he ate 7000 calories a day, while also dropping body fat. He did not eat that many calories. They were amazed to find that the human body's reaction to food is not directly associated with calories. What do you say to that?

Infinite factors are inter-playing physiologically that have nothing to do with calories in and out. Click here to read a previous, more comprehensive blog on the True Meaning of the Calorie.

Nat