Good evening! This is Fusubon owner. Today, I would like to write about the difference between carbohydrate restriction and calorie restriction from the perspective of dynamic equilibrium .
Reading Between Living and Non-Living Things to Deepen Your Understanding of the Difference Between Carbohydrate Restriction and Calorie Restriction
I became a big fan of Shinichi Fukuoka ever since I read his bestselling book, "Between Living and Non-Living Things."
Although the descriptions are a bit technical, the writing style is like reading a novel and Fukuoka's unique worldview makes it easy to read, so I highly recommend this book to anyone who hasn't read it before.
Since then, I have read many of Fukuoka's books, and I believe that understanding the concept of dynamic equilibrium is fundamental and helpful in understanding the difference between carbohydrate restriction and calorie restriction.
What is dynamic equilibrium? Difference between living things and machines (non-living things)
A brief explanation of dynamic equilibrium.
Fukuoka defines the boundary between living and non-living things as whether or not there is dynamic equilibrium.
The term dynamic equilibrium is difficult, but the content is not that difficult.
One analogy that Fukuoka often uses is from a famous poem by Kamo no Chomei: "The river never stops flowing, yet the water is never the same."
Even though the shape of a river may look the same, the water in it is always different.
The human body is the same. An adult's body is like a flowing river. If you compare it to three months ago, it looks the same, but the insides have actually been replaced with a lot of food.
In this way, you can think of dynamic equilibrium as a state in which things are constantly being replaced at the molecular and atomic level with things taken in from the outside, yet the appearance is maintained.
Let us consider an example to further understand.
Professor Fukuoka explains the difference between living and non-living things by comparing "cars" and "living things."
Cars run on gasoline, but gasoline itself does not become the steering wheel or body of the car.
It simply burns gasoline to move pistons and produce energy.
Conversely, when an organism eats food, the food is broken down and becomes part of its body through metabolism. This is what separates living things from non-living things.
Something that is made up of parts, like a car, can be called a machine, while something where each part interacts with each other can be called a living thing.
If you are always thinking about the calories you take in and the calories you burn, you will tend to think of food as just something to take in energy and calories, like a car. That is a big mistake.
It can be said that placing emphasis on calories in discussions is a mechanistic view of living organisms.
Don't get hung up on calories
I'm sure there are many people who have been desperately concerned about the calories on the back of food labels (I used to be like that too).
The definition of a calorie is that in a laboratory, burning 1g of carbohydrates or protein produces 4 kcal, and burning 1g of fat produces 9 kcal. Therefore, calories are simply a simplified calculation of the amount of carbohydrates, protein, and fat after determining the amount of calories, and have no relation to the energy exchange that occurs through metabolism and chemical reactions in the body.
So, we have been brainwashed into believing that whether we gain or lose weight is determined by the inequality between "calories from the food we eat" and "calories from basal metabolism + exercise," but in reality we need to understand a much more complex metabolism.
The above inequality is very simple and easy for anyone to understand, so many low-calorie products have been developed based on the idea that low-calorie foods will help you lose weight.
Most of the low-calorie products on the market today reduce fat to make them low in calories, and often contain little protein, making them useless for building muscle and other body parts. On the other hand, they often contain a lot of carbohydrates, which means that the fat in the body is not used and fat accumulates, making it difficult to lose weight.
In addition, when you restrict calories, not only are you unable to eat as much, but you also lack nutrients such as essential fatty acids, essential amino acids, vitamins, and minerals, making you more likely to get tired and unable to continue.
Understand what you eat and what you are lacking, and know the difference between carbohydrate restriction and calorie restriction.
Understanding your metabolism can also help you make decisions about foods and supplements.
For example, many people decide to take collagen supplements as soon as they hear that collagen is the ingredient that keeps skin firm, but is this really a meaningful and correct action?
At first glance, this may seem correct, but collagen is broken down into amino acids in the digestive organs and then partially resynthesized as collagen within the body.
In other words, even if you don't consume collagen, if you properly consume essential amino acids from proteins and amino acids, the necessary collagen will be synthesized.
The same is true for glucosamine and chondroitin, which are found in knee cartilage.
Even if you take glucosamine to synthesize glucosamine, the glucosamine taken orally does not transfer to glucosamine in the knee cartilage.
Next, what about taking calcium to strengthen bones? This is because there are only a limited number of foods that contain calcium, and calcium is the smallest unit of atoms that cannot be broken down any further.
Therefore, taking calcium leads to stronger bones. Incidentally, taking vitamin D together with calcium improves calcium absorption, so many calcium supplements contain vitamin D.
Hearing this, you might think that it's good to take in a lot of calcium, but in fact, taking in too much calcium is not good, as it can cause diseases caused by calcification in the body, such as frozen shoulder, urinary tract stones, etc. It's best to get just the amount you need from food.
So what's the best thing to do?
When we ingest protein, metabolic products such as phosphorus and sulfur are produced, which make bodily fluids acidic. In order to neutralize these products, calcium, which becomes alkaline when dissolved in water, is needed, which has the effect of dissolving calcium from the bones.
To prevent these, you can take magnesium, which is the same alkaline metal as calcium, to prevent calcium from dissolving into body fluids, which also helps prevent osteoporosis.
In this way, the indirect need to take magnesium supplements to prevent calcium from dissolving from the bones (to prevent calcium deficiency in a sense) can be understood by considering metabolism.
Furthermore, what about carbohydrates? Sugars are broken down by enzymes into the smallest unit called glucose.
From there, energy called ATP is produced through a pathway known as glycolysis, and ATP is further produced from that through the citric acid cycle. Any excess is stored in the liver and muscles as glycogen, and if consumed in excess, it will accumulate in the body as triglycerides.
Although sugar and fat look completely different, sugar becomes fat as it is broken down and resynthesized.
Finally, what about fat?
Fats are thought to remain as fat, but they can also be broken down into glycerol and three fatty acids, which are then consumed if there is no excess energy.
If you consume too much, it will be stored as fat, but even then, fat does not become fat as it is; fat is broken down and resynthesized to become fat again.
Cows do not store fat by eating fat, but rather store a lot of fat by eating lots of carbohydrate-rich grains such as corn and not exercising.
Cows that roam and eat only low-carbohydrate grass will have a lot of lean meat.
The fat from cows that eat a lot of grass contains omega-3.
You may already know that the fat in blue fish is rich in omega-3, but this is because blue fish eat a lot of phytoplankton.
summary
As you can see, simply thinking about how the substances you eat are broken down and absorbed can help you decide what to eat.
Of course, it's no fun just thinking about it, so the most important thing is to eat something delicious.
Carbohydrate restriction makes it possible to continue because you still get a proper calorie intake and don't restrict your calories more than necessary, which gives you a sense of satisfaction.
Another benefit is that the sweetness of the sugar can be complemented by the sweetness of the fat.
There are different types of lipids, and by considering what vitamins and minerals are needed to metabolize the lipids stored in the body, as well as which fats you should actively consume and which fats you should avoid, you can completely change your image of fat.
Understanding a little about metabolism can completely change the way you think about what you eat, so instead of thinking of dieting as not eating, eat plenty of delicious food and have fun dieting.
see you!
