There have been many different studies that have been done on how your metabolism is going to benefit when you do intermittent fasting. It is studies like this that have fueled the media’s tendency to overexaggerate what these particular benefits actually are when someone does decide to start an intermittent fasting style of eating. For example, if you are to eat for 25 days out of a total of 30 days, it is essentially going to be unavoidable to eat less food than if you were to actually eat for all 30 of those days. With that being said, it is also no big secret that if you eat less food, you are more than likely going to experience some type of weight loss. This is exactly what happens in all of these studies that have been done.
Metabolic Abnormalities and Excess Body Fat
If you have any excess body fat, even at the most minor levels, it is going to be associated with some type of metabolic abnormalities, some of which can include an elevated level of blood lipids, an increased blood pressure rate, a higher amount of blood glucose and/or insulin, and even an elevated amount of inflammatory markers that you are not necessarily going to be tested for on a routine basis. In fact, there was actually a study that was done revealed that the entire idea that has become known as ‘healthy obesity’, is actually very misleading. You see, when you compare those who are ‘healthy obese’ with those who are healthy and lean, the people who are claiming to be overweight but still healthy are going to have many more subtle metabolic abnormalities, and they will have them much more often. The one good thing though, is that when these people lose weight, it is going to help improve all of these abnormalities, and this has been proven through several different studies on fasting.
For instance, serum lipids will tend to plummet among those who are acutely ill and have been admitted into the hospital for a stroke, trauma, or even a serious infection. What this means is that even short-term improvements are going to be seen in both metabolic and cardiovascular risk whenever there is even a short-term period of weight loss, even if those means of weight loss are not actually a good idea.
Supplements such as cholera will help you to ‘improve’ your metabolic markers of diabetes and cardiac risk, but just because it has some minor health benefits doesn’t mean that it is going to be good for you.
Because of this, many of the studies that are being done don’t really prove anything too specific, as all they actually do is confirm that fact that when you eat less food, it will eventually lead to some type of weight loss. And on top of that, weight loss also has a very predictable effect on all of your standard cardiometabolic markers and the risks that are associated with them. What all of this ultimately means, is that in order to stay healthy for the long-term, it is going to depend completely on what is actually causing you to lose that excess weight, its sustainability, and advisability. While this is definitely a topic for another day, when it comes to losing weight in general, there is a certain message that is continuously overlooked. That message being one of the simplest ones when it comes to weight loss, calories really do count.
The Importance of Calories: Quantity and Quality Do Matter
While this may seem like something that is extremely obvious, it is actually one of the most forgotten factors when it comes to your weight loss. In fact, many of the high-profile diets and diet ‘gurus’ have seemed to forget this fact, while some will even make an argument for the opposite, claiming that not all calories count and that not every calorie is actually a real calorie. There are some out there who are even claiming that calories are not eve ‘real’ and that ‘all calories are actually nothing.’
While these are all interesting claims that are being made, before you can completely disregard them, you must first consider what the original basis for them actually is. While the entire argument that a calorie is not in fact a real thing, is going to be a very esoteric, as well as invoke the whole energy versus matter debate. While this is not really worth even spending any more time on, the fact that heat is real and cold is real, make calories real as well. If calories are not actually a real thing because they are only energy, then heat can’t be a real thing either, as it too is just energy. And if you are still doubting that heat is not real, try sticking your hand into a pot with boiling water (but it is highly advised that you do not put your hand into a pot of boiling water).
Consider this for just one second, having a fire that is in a fireplace. What do you think is going to have the biggest influence on the amount of light, heat, and size of the flames the fire produces, they type of fuel that you are using or the quantity of the fuel that you are using? You may be thinking to yourself that they are both going to have an effect on the fire, and you are absolutely correct. If you are to use a denser wood type, your fire is going to burn hotter and for longer; while a greater amount of wood on the fire will help to generate much more light, heat, and a larger flame size than if you were to use a smaller amount of wood. With that contention of the quality of the fuel mattering and the quantity of fuel not mattering, implies that a single matchstick that is made out of oak is going to give you the exact same result as an entire pallet of it, as they are going to produce the same result. Realistically though, they are not going to give you the same results. Similarly, taking a log that is solid oak is not going to be anywhere near similar to a log that is the same size and made out of paper mâché.
Coming back to calories, a very famous was actually done using nothing but Twinkies. This study showed that subjects who were able to eat nothing but Twinkies were able to lose weight provided that the amount that they were allowed to eat was limited. Another study that is not as well-known, then showed that a diet consisting of nothing except for excessively high amount of protein would lead to weight gain. These are both studies that have been done, as well as many other studies, that clearly show that it is not only the quality of the food you eat, but the quantity of the food you consume also matters when it comes to your health and your weight.
What all of this means is that everything that has been being peddled to you is essentially since your body is going to process different types of fuels differently, some without insulin and some with insulin, the quality of the calories you consume are not going to possibly matter. But this logic is just plain wrong, if it is even logic at all. You will probably agree with the statement that gallon is a gallon, but at the same time, it is a gallon of what actually matters as well. There is going to be a huge difference between Coca-Cola and water, gasoline and milk. You will probably agree with the statement that a mile is a mile, but when you are walking along a beach in the tropics, it is going to be nothing near waking up the final mile of Mt. Everest. The fact that calories warrant a convoluted reasoning that nobody would ever impose onto any other type of measurement is just plain weird.
While it has never been proven, you can guarantee that everyone working in the food industry knows full well that it is actually the quantity and the quality of the food that matters. However, they are also very aware of all the ways they can undermine the food quality in order to increase the quantities that you are going to consume. There have actually been reports that food manipulation is happening in most of the processed foods that you eat in order to maximize the number of calories that you consume for over a decade.
When it comes to the quality and quantity of the calories that you consume, they are both going to be very important and play a pivotal role in your ability to stay and maintain a healthy lifestyle and diet. If you can remember this when you are choosing the foods that you are going to eat, you will be able to maintain your health without any problems.
