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Pittsburg, Kansas | Great reply.
Quote: "2000 calories a day of pasta, bread, etc is not the same as 2000 calories from meat, cheese, nuts etc. All calories are not the same."
That is exactly right. According to the "calories in calories out" mantra, a calorie is a calorie is a calorie. But that is far from true. 2,000 calories of table sugar is not the same as 2,000 calories of ribeye steak. It is not metabolized the same. It does not have the same amount of nutrients. It does not promote the same hormonal response. If burned in a machine to measure calories will they both come out the same? Yes, but our body does not utilize all energy to produce heat or a flame as that calorie machine does. Does it satisfy the law of thermodynamics? Yes, always. But when people are discussing the calories in/calories out way of losing weight, they simply are not counting all the ways the energy is being used. For example, 2,000 calories of ribeye steak will take a considerable amount of its 2,000 calorie energy just to digest it. So some smaller portion actually gets to the blood stream to create fat storage or provide immediate energy to live on. And the ketones that are pee'd out are not counted as part of the energy also. 2,000 calories of table sugar on the other hand (half glucose, half fructose) will hit the bloodstream very quickly with very little loss to digestion calorie consumption, with a small portion going to immediate energy use and most of it going to fat storage for later use as energy. The fructose portion gets ported to the liver (bypassing normal digestion - completely different pathway) to create fat storage in the liver among other things.
So as far as our metabolism goes, a calorie is not a calorie. Vastly different hormones and pathways are involved, depending on the calorie source.
So much of the processed food humans eat, which is cheap to produce and often the contents of the box costs no more than the packaging and labor costs to produce it, are loaded with cheap energy (sugar and carbs) and devoid of much nutrition and very low satiety effect. The perfect recipe to fatten someone up.
Nutrition shortcomings can cause hunger also. For example, if a person is not getting enough of certain essential fatty acids, their hunger may stay up even if their energy needs have been met but their other nutritional needs have not. No amount of empty calories will fill this nutritional need. People can be "fat" with a big belly and still be nutritionally starved.
Edited by John Burns 1/4/2023 16:16
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Weight loss/diet help
