Fun Fitness Friday #5

Wow, I've done five of these already? And you guys are still awake? Maybe I'm not a terrible teacher, or you guys are just awesome students. I'm also thinking the fact that we are obsessed with eating food, learning about food, and looking at food helps quite a bit too right? Today is a going to be a fun one today folks... a super fat filled fun day :)

I'm glad everyone liked the protein post so much. I appears many of you are not getting enough protein, which could be very possible. Remember protein serves many functions that are vital in the body (healing, hair, nails, muscle), but if you are increasing your protein consumption, increase how much water you drink. If you have normal functioning kidneys, you shouldn't have any problem as long as you are hydrated, and keep eating the veggies... remember we want to balance our pH.

Alright... here comes super debate #2... FATS. Oh man, there are tons of questions out there. How much fat should I eat? Does fat make me fat? What about high fat diets? Low fat diets? What the heck is an omega 3? The possibilities are endless. I'll start you out slow and give just some basic information. We'll touch a little on fat burning and losing weight too.

Fat, just like protein... does a bunch of different things in your body. It keeps your skin healthy, it keeps cell membranes (think of like a wall or force field around each cell) healthy, and it helps create hormones and steroids (important steroids, not meathead ones). Probably the most important role of fat... and something that is often misunderstood, it 's role in energy production. Fat is a very dense energy source, and a very little bit can provide your body with a lot of fuel.

The "excess" weight we have is exactly that... stored up energy. Think of your body as a car for a minute. So you turn the key, and you're idling right now. While you are sitting there, you are burning both carbs and fat, sort of equally, but only a little bit, because you're sitting. They are both your gasoline source right now. Now press on the gas a bit (start jogging)... to get up to 60mph, you are using mostly carbs now. Carbs are the preferred source to do quick, fast, intense movements... like acceleration. Now, as we enter the highway, and you stay steady at 65... we switch to primarily fats. Nice... we want to use fat.

Fat is used for endurance activities, which includes more steady state running, jogging, walking, anything you can keep doing for at least 20-30 minutes. If you incorporate sprints into your walking or jogging routine, your body will switch into burning carbs for those quick bursts. We call this interval training, but once again, that's another post :)

Without getting too complicated, it's due to how much energy can be produced per unit of fat vs. carb. A unit of carbs can only generate about 4 ATP (a unit of energy) compared to 36 ATP when using fat. That's a huge difference right? Yes, it is... 9 times more. So, the easier your body can switch into a fat burning mode, the happier it will be. It will be getting more bang for it's buck. Our bodies are actually like a sloth... (no the animal sloth not Goonie sloth), and want to use as little energy as possible to do anything.

So in order to burn fat, you need to keep doing an acitivity for at least 20 mintues... and it's probably better to shoot for 30 minutes. The amount of time needed to switch from a carbohydrate burning pathway to a fat burning pathway shortens as you "get more in shape". It's the bodies way of adapting to routine exercise. It learns that Laura runs to the Rent soundtrack everyday, and goes ,"Oh man, here it comes, I better switch up to using fat, I'm waay too lazy to use carbs for this". The great thing about training this pathway is it's effect AFTER exercise. Studies have shown that fat is burned exclusively for ~4 hours after 30 mintues of moderate intensity exercise. Cool right? Sounds like a good deal to me.

Now with that out of the way. Let's answer some common questions:

What's an omega-3 fat?
- Numbers like 3 are based on the fat's chemical make up, and the amount of hydrogen bonds it has to carbons. Omega-3's are better for your body, because while they provide energy, they also decrease LDL (bad cholesterol), and decrease inflammation. American's do not get enough omega-3's, and often eat omega-6. The 6's are found more commonly in food, such as animal fats, peanuts, and processed food. They can cause inflammation, so the more you avoid them, the better. Omega 3's are found in olive oil, flax oil, and fresh fish.

Does eating fat make me fat?
- Not really. The problem with fat is that it is very energy dense. It has 9 calories per gram, as opposed to carbs and protein, which only have 4. So it takes less fat to measure up to the same amount of calories. Fat gain is due to a surplus of total calories, regardless of it's source.

So do I need to eat fat?
-Yes, absolutely. Healthy fats are important to keep your body functionally normally. Always shoot for omega-3's if you can. Good sources include almonds, types of nuts, soy products, flax seed, fresh water fish, certain eggs, and olive oil. If you can, try to avoid trans-fats at all costs. These are fats that have been altered in a lab to have a long shelf life. Because of the alteration, they are not digested by the body easily, and have been linked to disease. If an ingredient list has somthing that says "partially hydrogenated... (some kind of oil)" it has trans fat. It doesn't matter what the labeling says. Anything with 0.5 grams or less can be marketed as zero grams in America.

I think that might be enough info for today, guys and gals. I always get afraid of info overload, especially with the weekend coming. Today is a great weekend for me, because in case you haven't heard, or don't keep up on sports... Brett Favre - the best quarterback of my generation... is now a NEW YORK JET. I can't even explain how this affects me on a sports and personal level. The Jets have always been an underdog... a team often forgotten... so this is huge. If you are an underdog, much like myself, and the Jets... root for them this year. Awesome. Next week I'm going to put all this past info together, and talk about exercise. You're going to have more fun than a winning a lifetime supply of chocolate and bubble solution. Alright I have to lift weights and eat sushi... mmmm omega-3's and protein :)