I've learned a lot about diet and weight loss since my Weight and Health post. It's not so simple as I thought. It still comes down to self discipline but the body's metabolism is not very simple at all. Knowing more about how it uses and stores energy has empowered me to be in better control of my weight.
The revelation for me was learning more about our fat burning energy cycle. We all know that we have to burn ready energy before we can burn fat but the way it works suggests a path to better control of our bodies and a path to weight loss.
I'm going to focus on facts and observations first.
Fact 1 - the cruel fact
It is very difficult to lose weight while eating a carb rich diet.
Carbs are very quickly processed to fat. Insulin triggers your body to store excess sugar away. First to glycogen (short term storage) and then to fat. This process is merciless. You have a very short window of time to burn your meal or you get new fat. It’s hard to achieve net weight loss when your body is so aggressive at making new fat.
Fact 2 - the good fact
Your body has two parallel energy cycles.
Accessing energy from fat is a completely different energy system. It doesn’t just convert fat to sugar, like I used to assume. Every cell in your body is able to run on both types of energy. However, it seems that the fat cycle can atrophy with a constant supply of carb rich food.
Fact 3
The carb and fat energy cycles run in parallel.
The transition between the two energy cycles isn’t a switch - as glucose reserves start to deplete, fat processing increases and vice versa. The transitions overlap and should be seamless.
Theory
I'm not a dietitian or doctor but it seems to me that if those transitions aren't seamless and you are getting that ‘hangry’ feeling or crashing (dizziness, nausea during exercise) that your fat based energy system isn't activating fast enough and it seem logical that if you can activate it that those feelings can be reduced or eliminated.
There is opportunity in these symptoms. If your solution is to feed your body carbs then your body doesn't need to activate its fat based energy system. It can be lazy. This is opportunity!
Challenge
What happens if you challenge your carb dependence?
Logically, it seems that you can force your fat based system to wake up. Can we do this while avoiding the unpleasant symptoms?
Lets say your hangry feeling happens if you miss or delay breakfast, a common scenario. Here's a challenge to try:
- Trade at least half your breakfast carbs up to more complex proteins/fats for a month.
- Go gradually. Allow yourself days off.
- Record what you did for breakfast and how you felt after. This is maybe even harder than swapping foods.
- Otherwise, keep doing what you’re doing. We’re just focusing on the observed time when you’re fat cycle doesn’t seem to be activating.
If your symptoms happen during exercise, you can similarly try replacing some of the carb snacks that you have before/during with more complex proteins/fats.
Food Substitutions
Breakfast alternatives
Traditional bacon/ham/sausage, eggs.
Avocado. Avocado toast is a good, tasty gateway. Later you can drop the toast.
Smoothies. I think healthy, low carb smoothies are pretty gross, but lots of people swear by them.
Another Fact
There is a potential cheat.
Bulletproof coffee. There is lots of hype and ‘bulletproof’ is a trademark but the metabolic underpinning is real - MCT oil has a short circuit in your digestive system so they are fast acting and many people have said that they can prevent/curb that hangry feeling. Don’t like coffee? - I think you can forget the coffee. Just take the oil with breakfast or before/during exercise.
They are also metabolized through your fat based energy system directly so they may also help jumpstart it. Amazingly, a tablespoon has 115 calories! They sell it at Costco in Kanata. Also on Amazon.
An Advantage of More Complex Calories
There is a weight reduction advantage of reduced carb diet. More complex foods make you feel full faster and for longer and can help with both portion control and urge to snack.
The Gain
If you can activate your fat energy cycle, you will have a much easier time losing weight and more options for doing so. Specifically, if you can stop snacking on carbs to prevent these uncomfortable feelings your will be enabling your body to burn fat. That's empowering!
