Have you ever stopped to wonder why you need food to survive? It might seem fairly obvious, but the complete explanation is exceedingly complicated. In essence, however, it all boils down to homeostasis, which is really just a fancy word for physiological balance, or equilibrium. The more steadfast and unfaltering our overall homeostasis, the better our state of health.
From the moment we are conceived until the moment we draw our last breath, our life represents a glorious and (temporarily) successful battle against the most lethal force in the universe: entropy, the tendency towards chaos. Our very existence as living organisms relies on a precariously maintained balance between interdependent systems and processes. Should even a tiny component of this bewildering array of life-sustaining functions be thrown off-kilter, it damages our health and jeopardizes our ability to offset future disturbances. You don't need to understand all the intricate details of homeostasis in order to know how to lose weight fast, but knowing the basics will certaily help.
The human body can compensate for a wide variety of assaults to homeostasis. However, each time our body engages to combat an ongoing threat to our health, our physiological equilibrium shifts to a new, less stable set point. The more chronic battles we must fight, the more the balance of life tips toward chaos. Eventually, we run out of ammunition. When our body can no longer defend itself against disequilibrium, we lose the war against entropy and draw our last breath.
Conceptually, you can think of homeostasis like an old-fashioned scale. However, instead of a single beam from which two pans are suspended, there are millions of beams suspended from millions of other beams, like an infinitely complicated child's mobile. Some of the beams are colossal; others are microscopic. And at both ends of every beam, regardless of its size or position, you will find a pair of pans.
Each time you add or subtract a weight from a pan on the scale of homeostasis, every single one of the millions of beams adjusts accordingly. While beams in closest proximity to the disturbance usually display the greatest movements, even the most remote beam will shift incrementally with the addition or removal of weight from any pan. To prevent pans from tipping, the scale requires a steady supply of both counterweights and a processing and distribution system for delivering the appropriate denominations of those counterweights to the areas where they are needed. In other words, to successfully maintain the complicated balancing act of homeostasis, the body requires a steady supply of both matter and energy. This is where food comes in.
To illustrate this point, let's consider your muscles. To be firm and toned, your muscles need the elemental building blocks of tissue growth. Muscle toning also requires energy to deliver the building blocks to the muscles, energy to direct the building blocks to where they are needed within the muscle fibers, and energy to remove damaged tissue and metabolic waste products. Not to mention the huge amounts of energy demanded by the very muscle contractions that made your physique firm in the first place. Small wonder that your muscles represent such a metabolically active region of your body!
Although you are capable of using all three basic macronutrients - protein, carbohydrate, and fat - as caloric energy sources, carbohydrate is your body's preferred fuel for muscle contraction (which is another reason why a low carb diet is not good for long term health and weight loss). However, only protein can provide the building blocks your body needs for muscle growth and repair. In fact, the structural integrity of virtually all human tissue, from muscles, tendons, and ligaments to skin, hair, and organs, relies on a protein framework. In the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, dietary protein is broken down into molecular subunits, known as amino acids, which can then be reassembled to create new proteins according to your body's specific needs.
While it's true that fat can also make a structural contribution, especially toward padding your hips, thighs, and belly, excess fat accumulation usually represents an unneeded and unwelcome contribution. However, eliminating dietary fat from your meal plan is absolutely, positively, one hundred percent counter-productive to eliminating stored fat.
When your diet lacks sufficient amounts of the right kinds of fat, stored fat becomes largely inaccessible as an energy source. I think that bears repeating: If you don't eat fat, you won't burn fat.
One of the keys to fat loss is knowing which fats to eat, and which fats to avoid. Indeed, there are several distinct types of fatty acid, the molecular subunit of fat, and each impacts human physiology and homeostasis differently. Knowing the difference between them can spell the difference between a flabby body and a firm physique, between clogged arteries and clear ones, and between chronic disease and extended longevity.
In addition to the three fundamental macronutrients, your body also requires a staggering array of micronutrients, including vitamins, minerals, and other trace elements. Micronutrient deficiencies can spell the demise of homeostasis, good health, and a firm physique.
Now that you have a basic understanding of why you need to eat in order to build a firm physique, I'd like to provide you with a better understanding of how you need to eat in order to hone your beautiful body. To put it simply, your success in the arena of physique firming is a direct reflection of your success in the battle against entropy (and disease). Like every other component of your physiology, good muscle health is inextricably linked to good health in general. And a diet that promotes a beautiful body and smooth skin is a diet that, by definition, also promotes optimal health. This is an extremely important point: Eating for a firm, youthful physique equals eating for optimal health, and vice versa.
The Lean Essentials:
- Food provides matter and energy for maintaining physiological equilibrium or homeostasis.
- The three basic macronutrients, protein, carbohydrate, and fat, can all be used as caloric energy sources.
- Carbohydrate is your body's preferred fuel for muscle contraction.
- Only protein can provide the building blocks your body needs for muscle growth and repair.
- You need to eat fat in order to burn fat.
- Eating for a firm, youthful physique also means eating for optimal health.
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