I have been obsessed with fitness and nutrition for the best part of 40 years. Now because of social media, there has never been a better time to learn absolutely anything you want to regarding fitness and health. I myself. use YouTube to see how there are any better ways of doing things, that I may have missed. Or if there’s any new information on questions that stump me. (I also download white papers from Pubmed.gov) Because I am a sad individual. But….
And here’s the but; there’s also a lot of crap out there. Fortunately, there are now other YouTubers or Social Media celebrities, who are calling these ‘let’s say not so correct individuals’ out. I think this is a good thing, for the moment. Although, I can see this going too far. There will most probably come a point whereby everyone, being the so called expert, will call out the other so called expert, on absolutely everything they say.
There are still, as far as I’m concerned, far too many armchair experts. What I mean by armchair expert, is they are the type of person who has listened to a few Podcasts, picked out a few long sounding words, and has run with them. Letting everyone know their expertise. Yet, in reality, they have very little understanding of the fundamental basics of science.
If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from my years of study and practice; it’s that I know nothing. And the more I learn, the more I know, I don’t know. It’s not that I’m not doing the study correctly, it’s just that science literally doesn’t know. Most of what we knew 10 years or even 5 years ago, is almost irrelevant or plain wrong today. Let’s take for example what we know about heart disease. For many years it was thought that ‘fat’ causes heart disease (now I’m not going to go into the whole Ancil Keyes and Pepsi Cola conspiracy theories) just suffice to say that we now have a better understanding of the main cause of heart disease. And it’s not necessarily fat build up… as such.
If you ask your GP or family Doctor, he/she (I nearly left out ‘she’ there, because I have found that most women Doctors are more up to date than their male counterparts). They will however, probably still tell you that butter causes heart disease. And they will explain that it does this, because it hardens in your arteries! This is emphatically wrong! I am going to massively over simplify this, but the melting point of butter is officially 32 celsius. Yet butter can almost become a liquid at a room temperature of 21 celsius if given enough time (don’t believe me? Then perform the experiment yourself).
This means that the chemical bonds, mainly from saturated fats, single bond structure, keeping the butter rigid, are released through heat energy (atoms start moving about). Therefore, due to this heat energy, butter changes from a solid state to a liquid state. What may I ask is your internal body temperature? It is about 37.0 celsius. So if the melting point of butter, changing from solid state into a liquid state, is 32 celsius, in what Universe does butter suddenly go rigid again inside your body? And yes, I know this is a stupidly simplified example, but it makes my point!
We now know that heart disease is mainly caused by stress inside the arterial wall (usually the endothelium) in the form of inflammation. Inflammation is the bodies natural response to any form of stress. The immune system response is massively complicated. And if I’m being honest, way above my pay grade. But, once again I shall try to explain by massively over simplifying.
The bodies process of inflammation, is like having your own emergency services arrive at the scene of an accident. The body wants to send in molecules that can, clean up the site, clear out any waste products, and send in the repair team. One of these responses, is to send in organisms called macrophages. The job of the macrophage is to repair the damage caused by stress from either sugar, smoking or even an imbalance of omega fatty acids, etc.
Macrophages are white blood cells, and look like globules of a fatty like substance. They carry various smaller molecules, that can be used to repair the damage. They can also suck up damaged molecules such as oxidised LDL particles.
An LDL particle, which stands for Low Density Lipoprotein, is a particle that acts very much like a bus. And these lipoproteins, whether they are LDL or HDL (High Density Lipoprotein) or VLDL, (Very Low Density Lipoprotein), etc. Carry other molecules such as Triglycerides and a steroid known as Cholesterol. This steroid is used in nearly every cell in your entire body, usually in the structure of the cell wall. These macrophages can build up over time creating a fatty like substance within the arterial walls. Imagine having a wound on your skin and it scabbing up.
This build up can lead to thickening of the cell wall, which thins the aperture of the artery. Over time this can build up so much, that it causes a blockage. This is what we call Atherosclerosis, and is the biggest cause of heart disease. This as we all know can lead to death, and often does.So in summary eating fat does not cause heart disease. It is a build up of a number of factors. The main one, is poor lifestyle choices. Lack of exercise to pump blood through the heart. Eating natural foods with a balanced diet, giving your body the right source of vitamins, minerals and macro nutrients it needs to stay healthy. And actually, a big one, reducing stress.
What did I do to solve the mysteries and questions regarding nutrition and health, when there is, firstly so much information out there, but also a lot of misinformation?
I went back to basics. Nearly all of us were taught very basic chemistry and bio-chemistry when we were at school. Now either this bored the tits off you or you have simply forgotten. And one of the reasons was the fact that you could not see how this information would affect your life, right? Well your wrong.
Everyone of us has some mild or serious interest in our health (whether it be just to simply try and ignore it) we all someway or another have an interest. How you ask? Well we are bombarded with information either from the News, Social media, advertising and even when you go shopping there is information everywhere. And then you’ll probably know of some ‘expert’ that will tell you what you shouldn’t be eating and even spout off the latest reasons why according to the latest blog they have read. And yet most of you and probably nearly all of the ‘experts’ do not even know or remember what a covalent bond is, or understand what a Calorie is and how thermodynamic law influences this.
If you have no understanding what I’m talking about believe me I’m not trying to show off. My knowledge of science is rudimentary at best, it’s what children of 12 years old learn at school (or should be). But how does this affect my health you may ask?
Well it’s simple; let’s take understanding a calorie for example. Many of you haven’t even noticed that the first time `I wrote Calorie it had a capital C and the second time I wrote it it didn’t. Are they the same? Not quite. The one with the capital C is the one we’re concerned with when we are talking about nutrition and food, the one without is for scientific purposes. Now please stay with me, here it is important.
So what is a Calorie? A Calorie is a unit of measure, used to measure a form of energy. Like a centimetre is used to measure distance and a Kilogram is a unit of measure, used to measure weight (not mass). So the correct term for a Calorie is; The amount of energy needed to heat up 1 cubic Kg of water by 1 celsius in an atmospheric temperature (usually around 17 celsius).
So what you say? Well then if we correlate this with thermodynamic law which the first law of thermodynamics, also known as Law of Conservation of Energy, states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; energy can only be transferred or changed from one form to another.
So we if you think about it, you are taking in energy, which is stored in the form of your food. You then digest this energy, which is then broken down into it’s raw chemical form. This will be used to make ATP (A source of energy used in all of your bodily functions just to stay alive and to move about) Energy can also stored in adipose tissue. In the form of chemical bonds which we call fat.
Your body will use energy just to stay alive and move about. Energy is also needed to digest the food. There is a conversion of stored energy to another and some is released from the body in the form of heat and mostly from….. Carbon dioxide CO2. Which is what you breath out.
(When experts tell you are burning fat – your in fact not ‘burning’ fat at all, you are breathing out more Carbon dioxide CO2.
And this energy you are releasing may be sourced directly from the carbohydrate energy you have ingested and not from the stored fat which is ideally what you want. This saying most likely comes from the experience of sweating and body heat, which is mostly heat from water as your body tries to maintain an equilibrium of core body heat). So when you gain weight or lose weight there are a few ways for this process to happen. All of your energy in, comes from your food or drink. Remember for every gram of protein and Carbohydrates you will get 4 Calories. For any type of fat whether it be Saturated or unsaturated, for every gram you will get 9 Calories. And lastly for any alcohol 1 gram will give you about 8 Calories.
Depending on your weight your body will utilise anywhere from 2,000 to 2,500 Calories just to stay alive. We call this Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR. So a quick note on this if you have more muscle mass; because muscle cannot really be stored, it can only be in either of 2 states; making more muscle or losing muscle. Therefore, because of this constant flux, muscle has a far greater metabolic rate than fat does. Fat is a storage mechanism and so usually has a lower metabolic rate*. As an example, a competitive bodybuilder that weighs 130kg (20.5stone or 280lbs) will have a far greater metabolic rate than an obese individual at the same weight.
*This is most likely why, when I change my diet to a ketogenic diet, (high fat- low carb) I can eat a much higher amount of Calories and still lose weight, in my opinion.
There is a very important point to remember about this, and that is as your body composition changes, so will your BMR. Therefore, this has to be calculated into your diet whenever your body composition changes, and, or your weight changes. So in summary, the more muscle mass you have, the more food (energy in) you need to maintain or increase that muscle mass. The less muscle mass you have, the less food (energy in) you will need to lose weight. So when people argue about the Calories in vs Calories out via a debate. It is a pointless argument. They are confusing the entire issue.
Firstly there is Thermodynamic law and unless you’re in another Universe this applies to YOU and everything else for that matter.
Secondly, yes the amount of Calories you intake will vary simply on the fact that;
1. Either your body composition is changing
2. Your amount of exercises oh perform is changing
3. Or the source within your body is utilised differently. I.e you exercise in such a way as to use energy from your fat deposits rather than carbohydrates (Glycogen stores).
So you see, by simply understanding some scientific basics, we can understand our health in much greater detail.
By knowing what ionic and covalent bonds are, and how different fats are therefore made up. What is a saturated fat? What are unsaturated fats? What are omega fats? And and what is meant by fatty acids? You will now understand why some experts are talking out of their arse. (And even some doctors). By understanding what a Calorie is and thermodynamic law we can see the futileness of arguing about Calories in vs Calories out.
Everything becomes clearer, black and white with fewer grey areas. Unfortunately, as you get deeper into understanding the really complicated science of Glucose metabolism, Fatty acid metabolism and the electronic transport chain, which are all highly complicated subjects in their own right. For any normal sane person to bother to study, it opens the door for ‘experts’ to try and over complicate the simplest science behind nutrition.
It’s a case of the old car mechanic “Ooh love, that looks like your top end, it’s gonna cost you! And it may take some time, leave it with us for a month or so and we’ll sort it for ya.”
So learn the basics! Everything I’ve spoken about here is what 12 year old students in Asia study everyday. And next time an expert tells you about “No, you shouldn’t worry about counting calories”, or “you don’t need to worry about calories” etc. Simply ask them the following;
- Could you tell me what is the difference between saturated fat and unsaturated fat, please?
- Could you tell me what is a Calorie exactly, and how does thermodynamic law affect it?
Then watch them squirm as these 2 simple questions, that DO affect you and your weight loss, weight gain journey. They should clearly know.
Once again I am NO expert. Although I am a qualified Nutritionist and Strength and Conditioning Coach, there’s plenty of simple science that most people SHOULD know if they are on any type of diet. I myself am still learning everyday, and sometimes having too much knowledge and knowing big long scientific words can obscure what is exactly happening. I am not saying simply learn science for the sake of learning science, so you can show off at boring dinner parties (Unless you like that sort of thing). But learn the basics and learn what will affect your understanding of your own body and health. You will have your body for your entire life, why not take a vested interest?
Lastly, another example of this is; I am known for being very stiff and have trouble with my flexibility. Then one day I decided enough was enough. I will attack this issue and solve it once and for all.
I spent the next 6 months, every morning and evening, performing a full body stretch, for 30 minute sessions at a time. After 6 months, absolutely zero progress!Then by carrying out some simple research, I realised that my salt (sodium) intake was too low. I massively increased this and da daa! My stretching and flexibility greatly improved overnight.
Now I know what you’re saying. “Your blood pressure must be through the roof?” No. It’s not. And the reason for this is by simply understanding about the sodium -potassium pump. The Sodium-potassium pump is how your nervous system works. As long as you have an adequate intake of water, potassium, and calcium, with your sodium intake, you will maintain a balance. Therefore your blood will not ‘thicken’ from the sodium and your blood pressure will not increase.
OK. One success story for science and knowledge. But, there is a need for balance. Sometimes too much knowledge can be a hindrance.
At the same time I was struggling with my stretching and flexibility, I was also struggling with my running. Specifically, my cardiovascular system. I used to be able to run a 3 miler (5km) in 15 minutes and 37 seconds (that was my very best however). Now, I’m struggling to run a mile in under 10 minutes. Ok like most people, you can factor in my age, (which I call making excuses). I still have not improved having run 3 times per week for over 6 months constantly. Off I went on my research mode, in the hope there was something I was missing. And, that by simply changing this one variable, I would miraculously start running faster and easier.
After all my research I found out the secret! I bet your gagging to know aren’t you?
The secret was… Too work harder! WTF!
Yep, that’s all it boiled down to. There was no secret special remedy. Some special 5 steps to success. There never is. Don’t get me wrong, there are more efficient and more effective ways of achieving certain things in life. This wasn’t one of them. The only way to get better was to get out there and work harder you dip shit.
A final word. Yes, there are certain scientific basics we should all learn about when trying to understand your body. Especially for dieting and maintaining optimal health, or just to be healthier.
But, remember there’s always a balance. There is no point studying quantum mechanics for your health! There is no point listening to Dr. Rhonda Patrick without even know what a Calorie is. And then there’s the beauty in simple hard work. As Phil Knight of Nike fame, would say “Just Do it” is 9 times out of 10 better than simply not.
I thought I’d put this out there, just in time for the New Year. Hopefully, to catch all of you before you start your week long mission of getting fit and then thinking about it for the next couple of months!
