Learn How You Can Lose Weight

Considered as incredibly complex is the human body. Every second, millions of physiological and chemical reactions take place in order to maintain good health. The body both creates things (eg. heat, muscle, proteins, RNA, hair, nails, enzymes, fat tissue, bones) and breaks things down (food, stored fat, etc.). These anabolic and catabolic processes need fuel to enable them to function along with all organs and systems. The body uses fuel or energy and they come from the food and drink that we consume in our diet. In other words, food is human gasoline.

There are actually three macronutrients and these would be carbohydrates, protein, and then fat. Carbohydrates provide essential energy for the brain, red blood cells and a growing fetus. Carbohydrate is also the principal fuel source for strenuous muscular activity. In the carb food group, many foods that are packed with vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals (disease-protective plant chemicals) are included. In a healthy diet, carbohydrates must be included.

The brain's favorite fuel is carbohydrate. The brain will utilize fat (in the form of ketones) if absolutely necessary but it performs less efficiently on this type of energy. Current evidence demonstrates a clear association between intellectual performance and the presence of carbs. For instance, after a carbohydrate meal, better performance was observed in all types of age and social groups. It seems that even though research is ongoing on, in order to have optimum intellectual activity we need a regular intake of carbs.

In terms of chemical structure, there are complex carbohydrates or complex sugars such as Oligosaccharides and Polysaccharides while there are two main types of simple carbohydrates or simple sugars such as Monosaccharides and Disaccharides. Carbohydrate comes mainly from plant-food, such as vegetables, fruits, beans, and cereal grains, although the simple sugar lactose is found in milk and milk products.

Simple carbs include glucose, fructose and lactose. Table sugar or sucrose, boiled sweets, syrups, and honey are all common sources.

Complex carbs comprise starches or fiber. Examples of good sources of starch are bread, pasta, rice, beans and some vegetables. Good sources of dietary fiber include: vegetables, fruits, beans, along with the indigestible part of the grain, like wheat bran and oatbran.

Our food fuel comprises the protein, carbohydrate, fat and alcohol we eat. But the exact mixture our body uses typically varies according to circumstances (eg. our physical activity, our last meal etc.). Responsible for dictating which fuels are burned first is an order of priority. First, alcohol calories are burned. The reason for this is because we cannot store alcohol energy. Next, we burn protein, then carbohydrates, then fat. However, we typically burn a "mixture" of carbs and fat, with the ratio being dependent on meals in practice. We mainly burn carbohydrate just after meals while between meals, we tend to burn more fat.

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