“100 Cola Cans A Day” Keep The Doctor Away
That’s right! If calories are everything, then consuming an Apple that has 100 calories is same as consuming 100 Cola cans that have 1 calorie each. Correct?
Well, if you agree with what I just said, this article is for you and I promise as you continue reading I’ll redefine the word “Health” for you.
However, if you disagree, firstly I’d like to congratulate you and ask you to pat your back because you’ve got yourself a good head start on your journey to enlightenment. I believe you’ll deepen your sense of understanding of the concept of “Health” and how it is directly related to “what” food you eat and not “how much” food you eat on a daily basis.
We live in a world where health of an individual is often directly related to Weight of the individual, ie, less weight is now synonymous to a healthy body. My 81-year old grandmother would probably force herself out of retirement and be back in her work gown if she finds out this is where we have arrived! Do not be afraid, I’ll calm her down but she would still strongly stand against this fact, as she thinks the reality is exact opposite of this. She thinks that less weight is synonymous to a weak and disease-ridden body.
We are now presented with two schools of thought; one says less weight is good and healthy, while the other (my grandmother’s) conveys quite the opposite of that. What to do? Which one is right? What do we really believe in?
Let me clear the doubt and put everything to rest! Well, in all honesty, by all means, logically, medically and scientifically, both schools of thought hold to be not true. In fact, the reality is that “Health” and “Weight” are like two planets revolving around the same Sun and you’re the gravity that decides how close or farther apart they’re going to be from each other. Okay, let’s keep astronomy aside for a while and simplify this even further. “Health” and “Weight” are two completely independent terms and might not have anything to do with each other in most cases. I hope I don’t need to simplify further than this, an individual can belong to any of the below four categories;
1. Good Health and Less Weight
2. Bad Health and Less Weight
3. Good Health and More Weight
4. Bad Health and More Weight
I wish I were wrong, but people are blindly chasing “Weight Loss” in their quests of becoming “Healthy” and completely negating the fact that Weight Loss (when done in a wrong manner) can in fact lead to deterioration of health too. In my experience, I have seen that there are two things that are fundamentally wrong in this approach of blindly chasing Weight Loss. Let’s take a deep dive into both.
1) Weight Loss is not same as Fat Loss:
We keep hearing this term BMI, apparently it’s as famous as the train that SRK is running behind in DDLJ, if not more. At least, that’s how badly people are running behind it. Well, the abbreviation is probably not that famous, which stands for Body Mass Index. It’s a mathematically derived value that equates to your body weight in KGs divided by the square of your height in Metres. (W / H^2)
Well, if Height and Weight are the only two parameters that determine the “Health” of an individual, my question to you is; How do you differentiate between two people who have same height, same weight but different fat composition in their bodies. Most people who weigh more (let’s say 100 KGs) are overweight and have a very high body fat percentage. However, there are some trained athletes, or even body builders and Olympic weight lifters who could be of the same height and still weigh 100 KGs because of their higher muscle composition. My next question is; Are those athletes overweight? Hell no, they’re not!
Well, this proves that BMI is not worth running after and probably an obsolete term in the modern day. Now, you must be wondering, then what is it that we should be more concerned about (if not BMI). Well, the answer lies in the above paragraph itself. If you don’t believe me, go on and read it again and you will see the two terms “fat composition” and “muscle composition” being sneakily mentioned somewhere. Basically, these are values that tell you exact percentage of fat or muscle one has with respect to the total weight of their body. These can easily be monitored accurately with a smart scale, and the below table will help you understand in what range an individual’s Body Fat percentage should be.
Classification Women (% Fat) Men (% Fat)
Essential Fat 10-12% 2-4%
Athletes 14-20% 6-13%
Fitness 21-24% 14-17%
Acceptable 25-31% 18-25%
Obese 32% + 25% +
2) Is counting Calories everything?
Let’s go back to where we started from, “calories” is everybody’s favourite and we probably like counting calories as much as we like having a cheesecake. Let me clear one thing very quickly, counting calories is definitely NOT obsolete. Scientifically, Calories is a unit to measure Energy and 1 Calorie is precisely the amount of energy that is required to raise the temperature of 1 Gram water by 1 degree Celcius.
When we eat food, our body gets energy and whenever there’s a surplus, it gets stored in our bodies as Fat. Whenever there’s a deficit of energy, our body burns this stored fat to acquire energy. For all the numbers fan, it takes 7700 Calories worth of deficit to burn 1 KG mass, and similarly equal amount of Calorie surplus to gain 1 KG mass. As interesting as it sounds, the story does not really end there. There’s a lot more to it!
We get calories from majorly 3 different types of foods; Protein, Fats and Carbohydrates and how your body reacts to these different types of calories depends on your hormones, which are influenced by age, diet and metabolism.
-Protein is also known as the building blocks of the body, it’s primary function is to replace and build body tissues, like muscle, ligaments, hair, joints, nail, cell structure, etc. Therefore, we know Protein is very important for you body. Consuming right amount of Protein on a daily basis does activate the fat burning hormones in our body. However, excessive protein will also trigger insulin, which is the hormone responsible for making fat and hence lead to fat storage. Basically, Protein can help you or hurt you depending on the amount.
-Carbohydrates are chemically same as sugars, the chemical formula for both is same, i.e., C6H12O6. They provide energy to the cells by breaking down into sugar causing your insulin level (fat maker) to go up. There are different types of carbohydrates and the ones (refined carbohydrates) that break down faster into sugar raise higher insulin while the ones (complex carbohydrates) raise lower insulin as they are broken down slowly.
-Fat have the most calories per gram of food, but it is not only important but also present everywhere in your body. The outer layer of each cell and nerves, even skin and brain is made from fat. Surprisingly, consumption of fats does promote the body to burn more fat for energy but it’s not as simple as it sounds.
Let’s understand one more thing before we paint the complete picture. Protein, Carbohydrate and Fat are collectively classified as Macro-nutrients (something our body needs in bigger quantities) but there’s a different class of nutrients altogether that our body needs everyday. Yes, you are right! The micro-nutrients, which are primarily the “Vitamins” and “Minerals”. Don’t confuse yourself because of the word “micro”, they are equally important as the other macro-nutrients. They are like the factory workers doing their job day in and day out, that are required to convert the raw materials (macro-nutrients) to the finish product (good health).
If your body is a car, then Calories is the fuel (macro-nutrient). Well, if I’m not wrong, a car requires lot of other fluids (micro-nutrients) like Engine Oil, Brake Oil, Hydraulic Clutch and Differential Fluid, even the Window Washer needs more fluid.
The fuel (macros) make sure the car keeps running, but the other oils (micros) determine how efficiently that car will run or how long that car will keep runnings without facing any problems.
Let’s read it again. The macros-nutrients make sure your body keeps getting its required supply of energy, but the micro-nutrients determine how “healthily” or how long you live! The secret to overall “health” does not end with calories, but actually starts with it. The secret ends with knowing your body first and then keeping a perfect balance of all macros and micros in your diet.
Well, as promised, I hope I have been able to either enlighten your understanding of the term "Health" or completely re-define it with the above piece.
Vaibhav Saigal
