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Author: joan
Date: 12-14-03 08:54
I thought this was interesting. Anyone care to summarize??
Article in the Sunday paper - Ask Marilyn.
Question:
You wrote that even if you eat a whole pound of butter - beyond what you need to maintain your weight - the most you can gain is a pound. I disagree. I would gain no weight from eating a pound of broccoli and about 3 pounds from a pound of cheesecake.
Answer:
Many readers were shocked by my reply. Maybe we've discovered a common misconception that is contributing to diet problems: overestimating fat and underestimating other foods. Some assume that certain foods are supercharged with calories: say, half a pound of chocolates with enough calories to gain a pound. Such a food does not exist.
Fat supplies about 3500 calories per pound. As it is so well metabolized, the body can use nearly all of it. So, consuming an extra pound of fat will cause us to gain a bit less than a pound of body fat, including the little water involved.
Protein and carbohydrate supply about 1600 calories per pound. That's because the body doesn't metabolize as much of them. For example, fiber just passes through. Consuming an extra pound of protein or carbohydrate - even sugar - will cause us to gain less than half a pound of body fat.
Focusing on fat and neglecting to consider the weights - which determine the calorie counts - of other foods is a recipe for frustration. If you substitute an apple (100 calories) for two pats of butter (70 calories), you WILL gain weight.
Joan
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Author: Doug
Date: 12-14-03 09:15
A calorie is a calorie.
Food companies and the calorie counting websites all take undigestable fiber into account when they calculate calories.
While she mentioned fat I wish she would have also mentioned that a calorie from protein is just as fattening as a calorie from carbohydrates. Thata calorie from carbohydrates is worse than a calorie from protein is the most common misconception I see now.
Doug 272/164/170
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Author: joan
Date: 12-14-03 10:20
That a calorie from a carbohydrate is worse that a calorie from protien is a misconception that I had!!
Maybe the "Atkins Diet" influence over the years has caused us to believe that meat, or protien, is better for us than carbs.
Joan
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Author: Fabulous@50
Date: 12-14-03 22:08
The body uses MORE of the calories taken in from proteins and carbohydrates to metabolize these foods. So, in simple terms, 100 calories of broccoli will only amount to 75 calories available to store as fat when the body is done doing its work. Whereas, 100 calories of butter will end up as about 97 calories available to store as fat.
If you ingest a "meat protein" such as a hotdog, steak or chicken the "protein" portion will be metabolized at a similar rate as carbohydrates and the "fat" portion will processed at the rate of fats. If the protein is in the form of beans, then there is no fat and 100 calories of beans will amount to 75 calories available to store as fat.
So fat and carbohydrate/protein calories metabolize out differently in the body, with fat leaving behind more calories to be stored as body fat.
Fabulous@50
225/156/150
Program Start: May 12, 2003
“Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand - and melting like a snowflake.”
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