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As most of us know by now; the media is powerful. However, with this power comes great responsibility to supply the public with the facts rather than what will sell \u2013 something that many media sources are not taking seriously.<\/p>\n
Think about it though, what property must a specific type of food have to be considered \u201cfattening\u201d? Foods that are high in sugar, fat or carbohydrates? After asking the public what they felt about \u201cfattening foods\u201d the most common misconceptions were\u2026<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll begin by stating straight off the bat that none of this is true, however I believe that in order to believe me \u2013 you\u2019ll want a more detailed explanation. As usual with my articles, we\u2019re looking at the science (Apparently I\u2019m morphing into some form of lecturer\/weight lifter hybrid) but don\u2019t worry \u2013 no calculations!<\/p>\n
Before we talk about calories and gaining fat, let\u2019s briefly explain what keeps our bodies ticking over every day. Your body requires energy to perform its daily tasks such as breathing, training, talking and even concentrating. The more work you do, the more energy (calories) your body requires. This is referred to as the \u201cenergy balance\u201d and basically means you need to provide your body with the same amount of calories that you burn in order to maintain your weight.<\/p>\n
This energy (aka. Calories) is obtained from the food we eat and is used to provide the energy for all the done work in the body. Calories are to your body as petrol is to a car. If you don\u2019t give it the fuel that it needs \u2013 it just won\u2019t move!<\/p>\n
The first law of thermodynamics (basically, a fancy physics law) states that \u201cEnergy can neither be created nor destroyed\u201d \u2013 and this holds true for your body\u2019s energy, too! If you consume more calories than your body needs, the energy contained within it must go somewhere! Simply put, if we consume more calories than we burn, we store the excess energy as either fat or muscle. The first law of thermodynamics has been obeyed.<\/p>\n
Calories in versus calories out; this is what dictates fat gain. Not by eating fat, sugar or the media\u2019s new favourite enemy: Gluten. Remember, it\u2019s calories that cause fat gain \u2013 not the food itself! Eating protein rich foods won\u2019t put pure protein on to your body (someone please tell the Bro\u2019s at the gym this fact\u2026) and the same rule applies for fat. The human body is far more complex than that.<\/p>\n
Certain foods or food groups are mistakenly labelled as so called \u201cfattening foods\u201d not because they have this magical ability add some more to those love handles but because they are so easy to consume in high quantities. Needless to say, higher quantities of food equals higher calories and we know now that it\u2019s calories that cause fat gain \u2013 not the delicious tub of Ben and Jerrys. It\u2019s just a hell of a lot easier to eat 2000 calories worth of Cookie Dough Ice Cream than it is to eat 2000 calories worth of spinach.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a lot of spinach. Even for Popeye.<\/p>\n
There are studies showing that those that consume high quantities of sugar are more likely to store excess calories as fat as opposed to lean muscle tissue, though this may be due to underlying issues such as diabetes and other metabolic disorders, not the sugar itself. As for \u201cfat burning foods\u201d \u2013 don\u2019t believe the hype; because that\u2019s all it is. No food groups \u201cpromote\u201d fat gain OR prevent it. Trust me, if there actually WAS a fat burning food we would all be runway models by now.<\/p>\n
If a food was fattening based purely on its ability to cause you to gain weight based on how many calories it contains, technically anything can be \u201cfattening\u201d. A tablespoon of oil contains 135 calories and two bananas contains 200 calories\u2026 does this mean that a banana is \u201cfattening\u201d? Think about this. It\u2019s important because once you understand how your body actually gains fat you\u2019ll find that you\u2019ll never have to \u201cdiet\u201d again. Remember, it\u2019s all about those calories; not the food from which they came from.<\/p>\n
So yes, you can have your cake and eat it too.<\/p>\n