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Cals are NOT created equal. CICO isn't the whole story.

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  • scarlett_k
    scarlett_k Posts: 812 Member
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    [Citation needed] :D
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited August 2017
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    ninerbuff wrote: »
    A CALORIE is a CALORIE. A unit of measure doesn't change just because what it's made of differs from something else.
    A foot is a foot. A liter is a liter. A pound is a pound. You'll NEVER find any scientific journal stating that those actual measurements differ.

    Now you can have a foot of grass and a foot of dirt, a liter of milk and a liter of water, or a pound of gold or a pound of feathers. Different materials, but MEASUREMENT is still the same for all.

    So tell me, how is 10 calories of protein more in calorie measurement than 10 calories of fat? Or 10 calories of carbs? Again, focusing on the actual 10 calories. How is 10 different than 10?

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png

    If you are a car, it matters enormously whether you have a gallon of fuel, or a gallon of sugar water. Both are gallons. But one will be translated into forward movement and the other will not.

    The body does not use calories the same way a lab measures calories. I got to see this first hand when my diabetes was undiagnosed and I ate thousands of calories of sugary food per day and lost 25 lbs in a single month, due to my liver not responding to insulin. That's a single example of "calories in" being meaningless because of what's happening in the body. There are many.

    As a diabetic I have a defective liver and pancreas, which means that I can easily see the difference between how carbs, protein, and fat are metabolized using a measuring device - but everyone alive has a liver and a pancreas, and metabolizes these foods by completely different processes.

    Eh? This analogy doesn't work on any level. It's like saying what's better for the human body, a gallon of sugar or a gallon fuel? Not cupcakes vs bananas which are both foods safe for human consumption. Pure sugar water in your car and you'll kill it dead and vice versa with the human and fuel.

    And does it matter that my body isn't a controlled lab environment? It is still utilising calories and doesn't distinguish the source purely from a fuel perspective, which is all a calorie is, a unit of measure for a fuel.

    Your car may have been lab tested to do 55 miles to the gallon, doesn't mean that's what I'm going to get but all I need is to drive through a few tanks of fuel to know what the number is for me and how far a full tank will take me.

    As a diabetic source of calories matter for you, it doesn't change how many you can consume.

    All humans metabolize carbs, protein, and fat using completely different chemical processes. I'm just forced to be more aware of it than you are.

    Are you saying that each human ever to exist has a completely individual chemical process to metabolize macronutrients?

    I think she's saying that we all metabolize carbs differently than we do fat and fat differently than we do protein, etc., that the body digests and uses the components of the meal differently depending on what it is.

    For example, someone who is insulin resistent (or no longer has the ability to produce insulin) will have trouble dealing with carbs once they are broken down into sugars if the glycogen stores are full, because insulin is used to shuttle them into cells and to store them (as fat, but that's not that significant). What this means is that severe T2D can actually cause weight loss if undiagnosed (but it's dangerous).

    I don't think this has anything to do with the claim that a calorie is a calorie, but of course macros matter to some extent (and foods are not the same). As I said before, no one is claiming otherwise. You need micronutrients, a certain level of protein (made up of all the essential amino acids) and your essential fatty acids, etc.

    But yes a physical condition can mean that there are difficulties metabolising some foods (just as someone with Crohns or IBS might have issues with fiber or someone with an allergy or celiac with have issues with certain foods, a problem with the liver, gallbladder, or kidneys may affect what good food choices are. I'd say this is a separate subject, as no one says "a calorie is a calorie" means we all would do equally well on identical diets.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    A CALORIE is a CALORIE. A unit of measure doesn't change just because what it's made of differs from something else.
    A foot is a foot. A liter is a liter. A pound is a pound. You'll NEVER find any scientific journal stating that those actual measurements differ.

    Now you can have a foot of grass and a foot of dirt, a liter of milk and a liter of water, or a pound of gold or a pound of feathers. Different materials, but MEASUREMENT is still the same for all.

    So tell me, how is 10 calories of protein more in calorie measurement than 10 calories of fat? Or 10 calories of carbs? Again, focusing on the actual 10 calories. How is 10 different than 10?

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png

    If you are a car, it matters enormously whether you have a gallon of fuel, or a gallon of sugar water. Both are gallons. But one will be translated into forward movement and the other will not.

    The body does not use calories the same way a lab measures calories. I got to see this first hand when my diabetes was undiagnosed and I ate thousands of calories of sugary food per day and lost 25 lbs in a single month, due to my liver not responding to insulin. That's a single example of "calories in" being meaningless because of what's happening in the body. There are many.

    As a diabetic I have a defective liver and pancreas, which means that I can easily see the difference between how carbs, protein, and fat are metabolized using a measuring device - but everyone alive has a liver and a pancreas, and metabolizes these foods by completely different processes.

    Eh? This analogy doesn't work on any level. It's like saying what's better for the human body, a gallon of sugar or a gallon fuel? Not cupcakes vs bananas which are both foods safe for human consumption. Pure sugar water in your car and you'll kill it dead and vice versa with the human and fuel.

    And does it matter that my body isn't a controlled lab environment? It is still utilising calories and doesn't distinguish the source purely from a fuel perspective, which is all a calorie is, a unit of measure for a fuel.

    Your car may have been lab tested to do 55 miles to the gallon, doesn't mean that's what I'm going to get but all I need is to drive through a few tanks of fuel to know what the number is for me and how far a full tank will take me.

    As a diabetic source of calories matter for you, it doesn't change how many you can consume.

    All humans metabolize carbs, protein, and fat using completely different chemical processes. I'm just forced to be more aware of it than you are.

    Are you saying that each human ever to exist has a completely individual chemical process to metabolize macronutrients?

    I think she's saying that we all metabolize carbs differently than we do fat and fat differently than we do protein, etc., that the body digests and uses the components of the meal differently depending on what it is.

    For example, someone who is insulin resistent (or no longer has the ability to produce insulin) will have trouble dealing with carbs once they are broken down into sugars if the glycogen stores are full, because insulin is used to shuttle them into cells and to store them (as fat, but that's not that significant). What this means is that severe T2D can actually cause weight loss if undiagnosed (but it's dangerous).

    I don't think this has anything to do with the claim that a calorie is a calorie, but of course macros matter to some extent (and foods are not the same). As I said before, no one is claiming otherwise. You need micronutrients, a certain level of protein (made up of all the essential amino acids) and your essential fatty acids, etc.

    But yes a physical condition can mean that there are difficulties metabolising some foods (just as someone with Crohns or IBS might have issues with fiber or someone with an allergy or celiac with have issues with certain foods, a problem with the liver, gallbladder, or kidneys may affect what good food choices are. I'd say this is a separate subject, as no one says "a calorie is a calorie" means we all would do equally well on identical diets.

    Oh, that makes much more sense. Thank you.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
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    Another great video on when weight management/fitness information is appropriate:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYlbzuLVr5M
  • AskMorphis
    AskMorphis Posts: 155 Member
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    CSARdiver wrote: »
    Another great video on when weight management/fitness information is appropriate:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYlbzuLVr5M

    I've discovered this guy a few days ago. As far as I've seen so far, he's really great.