Do not read if you are eating!

Today, I wanted to touch on an uncomfortable but critical subject…

When we eat, one of the four things happens…

1. We use the calories and nutrients in the food for our basic metabolic functions like cellular or organ functioning or growth and repair of tissues
2. We use the calories and nutrients in the food for exercise and movement
3. We store the excess as energy – aka Body Fat
4. We excrete the excess as waste – aka ‘Number 2’

As we’ve discussed previously, if your goal is to lose body fat, you want to make sure at the end of the day, your calories in are less than your calories out.  So we either reduce our caloric intake (while increasing the nutrient density of what we eat) and/or we increase our caloric expenditure (exercise) so we experience a deficit and lose weight.

However, what happens when you do have an excess of calories? Well then you either store that excess caloric energy (body fat) or you excrete it (Go #2).  So my question to you is would you rather store the excess calories as fat or get rid of them?!

Clearly, we’d all like to just get rid of those excess calories.  We’re not anticipating a famine anytime soon that would cause you to need to store a whole lot of extra energy!

So then the next question is how efficient are you at getting rid of the excess?  Well let me tell you this.  Fifty percent of North Americans do not have a daily bowel movement!  So if you are not getting rid of it, guess what?! You are storing it.  Average bowel movements are anywhere from multiple times per day to once every few days!  If fat loss is your goal, you’ve got to get your digestive system working for you.

So how do you increase your bowel movements naturally?  I bet you can guess this!  Yep, increase your fiber intake – so eat more fruits, vegetables and beans.  Doesn’t that sound like last week’s instructions?!

Your goal, whether you desire fat loss or optimal health, should be at least one daily bowel movement where you don’t have to strain and groan to eliminate.

Okay, hope that helps.  You can eat now!

Yours in health and fitness,

Sherri McMillan