A little bit about calories. Lets talk about the thermal effect of food.
It just my opinion, but extremely delicious foods can come from the “ free meals” and “good” side of the spectrum. And if you’ve read some of my previous blogs you know that both sides can cause weight gain or weight loss. Calories in vs calories out is what it comes down to.But there are other factors that contribute to said calorie deficit/ surplus:
- Mindset
- Sleep
- Stress
- Hydration
- Hormones
- Environmental factors
- Alcohol
- Binge factors
Mindset is where it all starts, as the brain controls everything in our body. So if we want a good mindset to start off the day, a good sleep is much needed. Of those aforementioned factors,if mindset and sleep aren’t in place the rest of the factors that contribute to body composition are likely compromised. Improper sleep leads to hormonal imbalance, which results in us reaching for our “comfort foods” when we’re met with life’s stressors. Fatigue makes us think that dehydration is hunger, (and so on and so on). Where I went to school this is all broken down into the body mass equation(Show Up Fitness). Ultimately calories in vs calories out, but theres a lot more to it. So lets talk about the thermal effect of food.
As mentioned in previous blogs, a calorie is a unit of heat energy in the amount needed to raise 1 gram of 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius. The 1st law of thermodynamic says , “ the law of conservation of energy states that the total energy of an isolated system, which cannot exchange energy or matter, is constant. Energy can be transformed from on form to another, but can be neither created or destroyed. “
In other words, we consume and either burn it off or store it. But its not about the food that calories come from.
As this pertains to the thermal effect of food, some foods have more nutrients than others. When foods have more nutrients the human body has to break said nutrients down. That in itself requires energy expenditure. Of course these foods are healthier, and more advised to our diets. The other side of the spectrum, free meals fall into the empty calories. Not much to break down, so our body digests it easier and stores it away.
The free meal foods tend to take the blame for our weight gain/ loss/ composition goals. But lets think about the entire cycle of the body mass equation, instead of letting the cycle continue.
The thermal effect of food generally contributes too about 15% of our total daily energy expenditure. Prioritizing protein and veggies can contribute more. But lets understand food for what it is.
