Newbie question: Mixing fats and carbs

Gwynnether
Gwynnether Posts: 27 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey people :)

I'm looking for your opinion on something. A while back I was looking into the Harcombe Diet (yeah, definitely not for me. There is just no way I can keep up that program) ... and one of the rules in that diet is not to mix your fats with carbs. Simply put it says that your body will use any carbs eaten for energy and store the fat for later.

Is that actually a real thing? Does it really make a difference whether you mix carbs and fats in one meal, or not?

Replies

  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
    No, it's not a thing, and no, it doesn't make a difference.
  • JoeCampbell85
    JoeCampbell85 Posts: 140
    Regardless of if it is true or not. It's of no consequence. I'll tell you why.

    We will play a world of extremes for simplicity sakes.

    So a person eats 100g protein, 100g fat, 100g carbs in a small time period. The body won't use it all and will excrete some and store some as fatty acids. Protein can turn into fat via glucogenic or ketogenic pathways, depending on the amino acid. Carbs can turn into fat via acytel-CoA. Fat can be stores as fat by means that include lipolysis (usually to mono- or diglycerides) for transport and resynthesis of triglycerides.

    So, in this example any excess calories, regardless of source is converted to fat. This is grossly simplified but helps with understanding the principle.

    As the individual continues his day, he doesn't meet the required calorie consumption to fuel his body energy needs. His body turns on B-oxidation to break down triglycerides to fatty acids and fatty acids to sources to enter the Kreb's cycle.

    it didn't matter where or how he ate those calories, if his total calorie requirement for the day is greater than the total calorie consumption for the day he will burn more fat than he stores and it will result in a net weight loss.
  • Gwynnether
    Gwynnether Posts: 27 Member
    Joe, thanks so much for that! That was a great reply :)
  • kidkablam
    kidkablam Posts: 3
    Awesome post, Joe. =)
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    Yeah what Joe said. If your body stores energy as fat only to require that energy later and burn fat for energy the net result is the same as if it hadn't stored the fat in the first place. In other words it doesn't matter the order of events, what matters is calories in calories out.

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