For many, the words “carbs, fats, cholesterol, calories, grams, fiber, VO2 Max, cardio and fast twitch vs. slow twitch might as well be Greek!”  Don’t feel alone. many many very smart individuals are simply not as savvy in the fitness and health language as others.  If you tried to teach me about mechanics, my attention span lasts about 1 minute! 

Let me start with one very “basic” but vital piece of nutrition information for this week. 

What is a calorie?  Here is an article I found which I believe explains the term in its most basic form:

What is a Calorie?

A calorie is a unit of energy. We tend to associate calories with food, but they apply to anything containing energy. For example, a gallon (about 4 liters) of gasoline contains about 31,000,000 calories.

Specifically, a calorie is the amount of energy, or heat, it takes to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit). One calorie is equal to 4.184 joules, a common unit of energy used in the physical sciences.

Now, this still might sound like rocket science, but if you think of a calorie as something which raises the temperature of your body, then consider if you don’t eat for several hours at a time (like not having breakfast), the temperature of your body’s metabolism with slow down because your body is not creating the heat necessary to burn! 

In lament terms…eat your calories (via food…not gas!) every 3 hours (or so) so that your body’s temperature CAN heat so that your body CAN burn energy.  This is efficient and this is one very easy but VITAL way to lose or maintain weight!

Live well, be well and stay well

Tammy Parkinson

This entry was posted by Tammy Parkinson on February 11th, 2008 under Health and Wellness with keywords .

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