A continuation from the last blog post
When we eat a meal no matter its contents, for about 4 to 6 hour we are processing that meal. And only then do we go back to our normal fasted state.
Remember breakfast is 'break-fast', that's when we next choose to eat, not necessarily as soon as we get up in the morning, that's habituation through societies norms.
The fasted state is where the body feeds off its fat reserves, (adipose tissue.) Prior to that it is digesting/processing the food we have eaten. Sounds straight -forward right and why we can easily go for a month on only water without any undesired side effects. I have recently read about a man who ate nothing for a year without any issues, simply taking vitamin supplements.
Metabolic priority,
Meaning, the body will give the most priority to digesting those foods it finds most difficult to store, and whilst it is doing this, fat metabolism (that is using fat stores for fuel) drops to next to nothing.
The order is.
1. Alcohol
2. Excess Amino acids (proteins)
3. Carbs (starches and sugars)
4. Fats
Alcohol
Gets priority over everything; the body finds it incredibly difficult to store alcohol - and will shut down fat metabolism to next to nothing be that fats we have just digested or fat stores.
Proteins
Next comes 'excess' amino acids, we eat protein which is broken down to amino acids, we cannot store or bank excess amino acids for later, we have a pool of them in our blood plasma that is continuously being topped up when we eat, they are topped up by aggregation, we do not need the full spectrum of amino acids in every meal (it quite clever) the body ditches those extras, they are burnt off.
Carbohydrates
Then comes the carbs, be that sugars or starches - we store 1500-2000 calories of glycogen in the muscles and liver, once it is depleted we top it up through eating sugars and starches via digestion, any superfluous carbs are metabolised and burnt off.
Fat
If by this point we have satisfied our calorific needs (generally we have as we all over eat calorific non nutritiously dense foods) then the fat is just stored, If on the other hand we have not been 'over feeding' or are not over nourished, if there is any deficit in calories we will burn the fat component of your meal, before dipping back into the fasted state at 4-6 hours, however this is right around when we go for our next meal or snack, starting the whole process again. At best we get just a few hours a day to process our reserves, to burn our excess fat.
Here is the rub, we cannot store alcohol and have a limited ability to store proteins and carbs.
We have unlimited fat storing ability, the body finds it easy to store and is waiting for the next famine.
We live the life of instant gratification, unlimited availability, and unfortunately not enough awareness of either what we are eating, how it is processed, and how addicted we are to it. Or the shit in it.
So,
We are looking for nutritionally dense foods that contain fiber that will fill us up and clean our systems, we are looking for them to be healthy and not contain too many toxins. (I won't on this occasion break any of that down), I'll simply make some suggestions of what to add and we will get round to the other stuff.
Here is an example of a 'typical' person daily routine;
· Lets say you eat your last meal or take your last sip of beer at 8pm, the body is processing until 2 am, then it begins its fast.
· If your an early riser, your first meal of the day (we are told breakfast is the most important meal of the day) at say 7am - this puts you in a fasting state (burning fat adipose tissue) for 5 hours.
· Take a mid morning snack, then lunch at 1pm, y
· Your about to break into a fasted stat and then dinner at 7, possibly a beer in front of the TV.
· You have been processing food all day with no fasting. Overnight you get 5 hours until the day starts again. Not ideal.
We can influence this in 2 ways,
· when we choose to eat
· what we choose to eat at those times.
I'll get into this later on, or in a follow up email
I'm fairly sure, as you have done juice fasts and detoxes, diets and the latest hacks, you will appreciate how crappy your body can feel. Your as many of us are or were, habituated to a certain behavior many times a day, for many years.
When we change our diet, even the routine of how we behave or eat and the body will kick off no different than quitting, cocaine, alcohol cigarette or sugar.
These symptoms will pass, you will gain a new norm and discover just what its like to actually wake up in the morning, vibrant and full of energy.
We are all over fed and under nourished.
I was asked about this on Friday Morning, a young man said, "wow your slim, do you train all the time and eat nothing?"
The short answer is that I'm swimming twice a week only and eat more than I ever did before!
It's not about starving the body just looking after it with a little more kindness and being patient.
Three years ago I was 14 stone and in rag order, much of the weight went quickly, without being the driver for change at all, it just fell off with ZERO exercise, wrecked shoulder so no training.
Everything got better from there
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