What really counts when it comes to calories

If you ever thought a calorie is just a calorie, they’re all created equal…guess again. And yet another new study proves me right.

I am just loving all the recent research supporting my recommendations. But what I don’t understand is why the powers that be aren’t reading what I am and changing their tune. Maybe they just don’t want to. Maybe there is something more sinister behind their motives (you can decide for yourself on that one, but you know where I stand). Either way, you deserve the truth.

Following is a quote from an eminent scientist I would like you to read:

“Efficiency…is dependent on…the nature of the fuel and the processes enlisted by the organism. A simple example is the inefficiency of low-test gasoline…If a ‘calorie is a calorie’…were true, [then gasoline is gasoline and] nobody would pay extra for high test gasoline.” – R.D. Feinman, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center

I couldn’t have said it better myself. That’s why all these diets that focus on calories don’t work in the long term. And the New Hamptons Health Miracle doesn’t address calories for this specific reason.

A calorie is not a calorie when it comes to how efficiently your fat metabolism system converts it into body fat.

Let’s take a quick look at fiber, protein, and starches and how efficient they are at being converted into body fat.

Fiber is simple. I don’t often talk about fiber because I don’t really think it has a necessary role in the health of our bodies. The whole fiber craze drives me bananas (which, by the way are my least favorite fruit with a minimum of 6 teaspoons of sugar per banana).

Anyway…fiber is not digested. Therefore it can never be stored in the body as body fat. The body tries to digest it. But after burning a bunch of calories trying to break it down to absorb it, the body gives up and passes fiber through the digestive system. That’s why fiber keeps us regular. Fiber can easily be obtained from vegetables.

Next, let’s look at protein. A main staple of the New Hamptons Health Miracle. It takes the body five to 10 times more energy to digest protein than starches. That’s why protein is more satisfying. And why you’re more likely to be hungry after eating pancakes for breakfast than eggs. In fact, about 30% of the calories in protein are actually burned digesting it.

The rest of the protein is then sent to the liver to produce glucose. Our bodies run on glucose. This is why I always tell my patients to reach for nuts or turkey breast instead of sugar or simple carbs when their blood sugar is falling.  Protein gets converted to sugar, too.

While the body is busy converting protein into glucose, another 33% of the calories are used up. And, if the body does want to store this protein as body fat, it uses another 25% of the protein calories to do that. That leaves only 12% of the calories you ingest as protein available to be converted into body fat.

Au contraire for starches. By the end of the digestion process, 70% of the calories from starch are left to be stored as body fat. That’s double what’s available from protein!

Starches are unhealthy, protein is not. And the New Hamptons Health Miracle makes all this science simple. Follow it, and you will lose weight and lower your risk for diabetes. And if you already have diabetes, you are going to see dramatic results in your blood-sugar control. All without giving a second thought to calories ever again.


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