Guess what? All calories are not made equal!
Our body recognizes calories from high fiber whole foods are handled very differently from the ultraprocessed junk we occasionally (frequently?) eat. That’s because the ultraprocessed foods are quickly absorbed in our upper GI (gastrointestinal) tract. So, the calories go to the body and not our microbiome (which is located at the end of the GI tract). And, it’s when we feed our gut microbiome that the calories we consume have more effect.
Research by Dr. Karen D Corbin, AdventHealth Translational Research Institute of Metabolims and Diabetes (Orlando FL) (along with EA Carnero, B Dirks, D Igudesman, F Yi, A Marcus, TL David RE Pratley, BE Rittman, R Kraimalnik- Brown, and SR Smith) involved 17 healthy men and women. The parameters? Fiber rich diet v. one of highly processed foods. This program ran 22 days. The subjects were confined to a metabolic ward for 11 days, where every calorie was tracked and physical activity monitored. An additional six days had the subjects confined to a metabolic chamber (to discern how many calories were actually consumed).
The two diets, the Western Diet, was repleted with highly processed foods (typical of what we eat) and the microbiome enhancer diet with nourishing food for the gut microbiome. (These foods often contained “resistant starch”, a special type of fiber, found in oats, beans, lentils, quinoa, and other whole grains. Not to mention the nuts, fruits, and vegetables in the diet.) Each of the diets had the identical caloric values.
The subjects absorbed significantly fewer calories on the fiber-rich diet when compared to the Western diet. (The average loss was 217 calories a day- but some actually lost 400. The lost calories were found in the subject’s stool- along with bacterial biomass and short-chain fatty acids [indications of good gut microbiome health.)
This study was effected using healthy, young subjects. Now, we need to know if the concept extends to older adults and those with metabolic diseases.
While I am aware about “good” and “bad” carbs or fats, I wouldn’t be able to scientifically explain way – thank you for enlightening me!
Glad I could do so!
Interesting.
This could be a game changer in conditions like diabetes. I look forward to seeing where this goes!
Good observation, Dominique. Thanks for adding to the conversation.
very interesting
Thanks for the comment, Kate
Very interesting Roy! Since I started my healthy eating plan in 2018 I hardly ever eat greasy or fast food. I have starting getting my Jersey Mike subs in a tub instead of on the roll and that saves me 220 calories! As I get older I want my body to continue to be healthy.
That sounds simply super, Martha! Keep it up!
And think of all the low income people who live in food deserts where most all of what they can buy with their incomes are highly processed foods.This group includes quite a number of people who are seniors on fixed incomes. Here in what we call the greatest country in the world. Why????
Profits are the all-too-often prime consideration, Alana.