Some foods make you fat. Almost as soon as your body gets the food into the stomach it begins to convert that food into fat. It doesn’t matter whether you plan on exercise or even are exercising, there are some foods your body simply processes and turns to fat.
On the other hand, some foods that you eat become fuel for your body to use – their calories are burned. The difference can be striking. Two foods—same number of calories, and the same amount of carbohydrates will have different results – one will be quickly stored by the body as fat and the other will be slowly used by the body as fuel.
We all know how hard fat is to get rid of—so when thinking about a meal, or a snack, it is a good idea is to avoid those foods that the body turns into fat.
Let me give you a few examples:
In the video we show you the apple and the donut – both have the same amount of carbohydrates—but almost all of the donut is stored as fat – leaving a person hungry later for real food. And almost all of the apple is used as fuel – so if you eat an apple, you stay satisfied longer.
Foods that make you fat tend to be highly processed foods- like white bread, cookies, breakfast cereals (including granola), cakes, crackers, potatoes, and rice. Those candy bars that are advertised to be a good energy boost while working out—they aren’t- your body turns them quickly into fat and they just weigh you down.
Good foods that tend to burn as fuel are beans, vegetables, most fruits.
We even rank foods into those that tend to be made into fat versus those that are burned—that is called the glycemic index. It assigns a numerical value to the food – the higher the value, the more likely it is that the food will turn into fat.
Glucose (the most elemental sugar) is assigned a value of 100. If you drink 100 grams of sugar (which tastes horrible) – almost as soon as it hits your stomach the sugar is absorbed into the bloodstream. This causes a rise in your blood sugar, and your body responds quickly to this by making insulin. This forces the blood sugar into cells and ultimately turns that glucose into fat. That quick response by the body brings down your own blood sugar quickly – so you find yourself hungry, and needing another quick fix of sugar (one thin mint is never enough – and why thin mints don’t make you thin).
Foods that cause a smaller rise in the blood glucose level, and thus less likely to be turned into fat – include beans, apples, lentils, long-grained rice. When these foods are eaten, in reasonable portions – the body has a smaller rise in blood sugar, and can easily accommodate that rise – and that rise is sustained as the food slowly makes its way down the digestive system.
You can find out more about this information by clicking on the chart below:
