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  • From: Leslie <cayadopi AT yahoo.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Fitness - Nutrition
  • Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2008 09:50:07 -0800 (PST)

Yes, I knew all the below and did oversimplify all that chemistry in the post 
... :-)   
 
At the cellular level, yes glycogen.... and each of the different types of
foods available take varying length of times to be broken down into glycogen,
with the sugars category being converted very quickly.  Eat a candy bar, get
the sugar rush (as you describe the process below) and then 20 mins later you
get the Sugar Blues, resulting I believe from too much insulin and a
depletion of the glycogen.
 
One of the important things that I gathered from the trainer was eating
balanced amounts (small qtys during the day) of each group allows a fairly
steady glycogen level and tides one over from meal to meal.  My guess that
would also be important for diabetics so they don't overtax their pancreas.
 


--- On Sun, 12/14/08, Clansgian AT wmconnect.com <Clansgian AT wmconnect.com> wrote:

From: Clansgian AT wmconnect.com <Clansgian AT wmconnect.com>
Subject: Re: [Homestead] Fitness - Nutrition
To: cayadopi AT yahoo.com
Date: Sunday, December 14, 2008, 9:51 AM


While your trainer's practical advice is very good (except the part about
coffee, it is very good for you in a weightloss routine, me saying this
although I never drink coffee), the chemistry behind it is overly simplified.


>SUGARS - instantly available as an energy source. (Sugar, honey, etc.)
            (For weight loss, I wasn't allowed to eat any.)

Sugars are not an instant energy source.  You do not eat sugars and then have
all this energy available.  When the sugars enter the blood, the body
chemistry detects it and dumps insulin into the blood.  The insulin allows
the sugar to pass into the liver and stimulates the production of glycogen
synthase which coverts the glucose (all sugars are convered to glucose first)
into glycogen, a from of starch,  a polysaccharide.    If you drink a can of
soda, you don't have all the sugar in that soda instantly available as
energy.  You body has been maintaining a certain blood level of sugar
(glucose) for immediate use.  On seeing all that sugar appear in the blood,
it dumps insulin to take care of it and and provoke its conversion to
glycogen.  The result is often a little over production of insulin and a
resulting lowering of the blood sugar levels achieving the opposite effect of
'instant energy'.





>CARBS - If there are no sugar available (i.e. already burned up, or not
>ingested) the body hunts for the carbs next (potatos, rice, veggies, bread,
>etc.).  Carbs are actually important in the diet.  He did have me break them
>down into two type of carbs - Starchy Carbs (potatos, bread, etc), and
>Fibrous Carbs (Carrots, Celery, etc.)


Right, carbs are important.  But carbs only exist in the digestive tract.  No
carbs are ever absorbed into the blood.  They are all broken down into simple
sugars and then any simple sugar that is not glucose (such as fructose) is
modified into glucose.  The only difference between eating a lump of sugar
and a potato is that the sugar from the potato takes time to be broken down
from the very complex starches in the potato and therefore enters the blood
slowly over a period of time while the sugar from the lump is absorbed
directly and right away.  Once it's in the blood though the body has no idea
whether the glucose came from soda, Dixie Crystals, potoates, or carrots.  It
is all treated the same.




>INGESTED FATS:  Once your body has ingested the carbs, if your muscles are
>still working and need more energy - it heads to the ingested fat department
>for calories (oil, butter, nuts, etc).  The conversion process is pretty
>quick, but not as quick as sugars or carbs.

The point here would be that it isn't quick.  You cannot "burn" fats
directly.  The body doesn't directly burn the carbs or sugars you eat.  It
maintians a level of blood sugar.  If you deplete this blood sugar by
exercise, the body replaces it by breaking down the glycogen stored in the
muscles into glucose.  In resonse to to the muscle glycogen being depleted,
the body will form more from injested carbs when it can and also transport
some from the liver where it keeps a reserve of glycogen.  If the body can't
replace this glycogen from ingested carbs, it will break down lipids to get
the glucose to make more glycogen and replenish its store.

This happens mainly while you are sleeping, not while you are exercising.



>PROTEIN:  If you are still working and your body needs more calories, and
>the fats are all gone, you start burning ingested protein.  

Again, you can't 'burn' protein.  Protein has to be converted into glucose
before you can "burn" it as energy.  This is a longer and more difficult
process than covnverting starches or fats.  You don't eat the hamburger and
the meat from it is available for energy.  Any of the protein that the body
doesn't want for something else goes through the same cycle as the lump of
sugar.  It becomes glucose and then is stored as glycogen which is released
again as glucose in response to lowered blood sugar levels.





>STORED BODY FAT:  If the ingested protein is all gone, your body starts
>burning body fat.

>BODY MUSCLE:  If there is no stored body fat, the body starts eating it's
>own muscles for protein.



Alas, not quite that simple and this lack of simplicity makes weight loss all
the more difficult.  First as described above, the fact that food was
ingested or what form it was ingested in makes little difference to the
storage and release of nutrients.  It makes a great deal of diffence in other
aspects of your health, but the body does not burn simple sugars "first" then
carbs and then fats and proteins.  Rather it converts them all into stored
glycogen and draws from that pool without regard to where they came from.

Stored fat is a protection agains famine and starvation.  You might think
that if the body concludes that it is starving, it would go for the stored
fat, but in fact, alas, it is just the opposite!  If the body comes to the
conclusion that it is starving, it holds onto the stored fat above all else.  
It will begin to convert its own muscle and even brain tissue and spare the
body fat thinking that worse comes to worst it will need that before this
famine is over.

How does the body conclude that it is starving?  It measures its glycogen
stores.  If they are wanting and it seems to be having difficulty maintaining
them, it panics and tries its best to store MORE food as fat against the
starvation.  It will even begin digesting muscle to make more glycogen so
that other glucose can be spared to make more fat.

Glycogen is heavy.  Not only that, it can only be stored dissolved in water.  
Under many of the popular diet routines, the glycogen is depleted and the
person loses the weight of the glycogen plus the weight of the water in which
it was suspended.  They say, 'Look, this diet is wonderful, I've lost 15
pounds in a couple of weeks!"  

Oh, but then the body panics and resists losing any more.  It thinks it's
starving and so lowers the metabolism and conserves its fat at all costs.

By eating whole grains and eating six times a day, the body detects good
times!  Why there's plenty of food and apparently it's pretty easy to come by
because we're seeing it several times  a day.  No need to keep all this
stored fat!  And so the long term stored fat is released as needed and a more
natual body weight is achieved.

So, says I, says your body chemistry, the formula for weightloss is to burn
more calories than you eat and to convince your body that it is experiencing
good times as far as food is concerned and not famine.


James



>From erthnsky AT bellsouth.net Sun Dec 14 12:55:35 2008
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Subject: Re: [Homestead] Fitness - Weight Lifting Routine
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Leslie wrote:

>
> THE EXERCISE ROUTINE:
>
> MON-WED-FRI 28 mins minimum of cardio my choice, bike, treadmill,
> stairmaster, eliptical, rowing (I usually did 30 mins to 45 mins -
> although in the beginning I could only do 5 mins)
>
> TUE-THR-SAT Approximately 30-45 mins weight training - divided into
> major muscle groups
>
> TUE - Legs & Abs THR - Back & Triceps & Shoulders Sat - Chest &
> Biceps & Abs
>
> A variety of exercises targeting those muscle groups - 'twas
> different every week - but basically 12 repetitions, then rest for 30
> seconds, repeat 3 times. Do that for each different exercise until
> about 30-45 mins have gone by.


Did your PT design this specifically for you, or is this a generic plan?

>
> Weights were started out fairly light in the beginning, but as I got
> stronger he added weight, not repetion.

I suppose that makes sense. So if he had added reps, what would that
accomplish, add stamina?


>
> Occassionally to "bust up the routine" he would have me do reps until
> I could no longer do a rep (this was only after I was very fit).
>
> Occassionally, he would have me do weird stuff, like push his car
> around the parking lot - i.e. work muscle groups in a manner they
> weren't accustomed to, or punch a punching bag, etc.


Yes, this is what I am trying to prepare for. It seems it is that every
time I injure myself, it is from doing something I am not used to doing.
>
> The weight liftting routines alwasy started with a 5 min warm-up in
> cardio and stretching before, and stretching after.

I would not have thought to do that. I suppose I could ride the
stationary bike for a few minutes.

B

--
“Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to
hate. Hate leads to suffering.” Yoda




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