I think what needs to be understood, and rarely is by most people is what really contributes to weight gain. I know that what follows is a lot of information, but it is not a simple question to answer, if you want it answered properly.

If you want to post this on your "Body for Life" site, go ahead, but PLEASE make sure to give credit to Udo Erasmus.

If I can help further, please contact me Take care and God bless Leda

*****

The following information comes out of Udo's book: "Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill". I would recommend this book to all your members, so the concept that calories are what determine body weight, gets put in the proper perspective.

Without taking into account other nutrient and life-style factors, counting calories is bound to fail. There are some basic facts that need to be understood first:

Calories come from proteins, carbohydrates, fats and alcohol Calories in excess of our body's needs are stored as fat; therefore ALL calories are potential sources of fat. The average adult burns 2500 calories per day - just over 100 calories per hour Men consume between 1500 to 4000 calories, women between 900 and 2500 calories Calorie consumption can go from 0 (water fast) to over 8000 (for a logger) or as high as 12,000 for a professional weight lifter or body builder. Our body's most efficient way of carrying an energy reserve, both by volume and weight, is in fat The average adult carries 10 kg of body fat, giving a reserve of 90,000 calories. Given this reserve and a daily consumption of 2000-2500 calories, it allows for about 40 days without food, but since the metabolism slows down when fasting it could last as long as 85 days BUT because fasting causes vitamin, mineral, and protein depletion, extended fasting should never be undertaken lightly

The typical Western diet supplies calories from the following FOOD GROUP sources (% of total calories consumed)

Meat 20%
Refined cereals and flour 18%
Refined fats 18%
Sugars 17%
Dairy 12%
Whole grains, veggies, fruit 11%
Eggs 2%
Alcohol 2%

According to FOOD CONSTITUENTS sources, the percentages are as follows:

Fats** 42% = 18% visible refined fats: butter, margarine, shortenings, oils 24% hidden in various foods
Carbohydrates 46% = 17% refined sugars, 20% refined cereals (breakfast cereals, refined bakery products), 3% alcohol, 6% ONLY from complex carbohydrates (veggies, fruits, wheat grains)
Proteins 12%
** This may be even higher, because of the increased consumption of fat-rich, deep-fried, processed fast foods and sugars that turn into fats in our bodies

According to the above statistics, at least 58% of total calorie consumption comes from "EMPTY CALORIE" foods:

White fats - margarine, shortening, butter, refined oils
White sugars - this means all refined sugars including brown sugars
White flour products
Alcohol

These are the foods from which most, if not all nutrition, vitamins, minerals and fibers have been removed by processing and refining. It is these "Empty Calorie" foods which are likely to cause us to gain fat.

One of the mechanisms that turns off hunger is a feeling of fullness. By the time we fill up on the above "empty calorie" foods, we have eaten too many calories, and the excess turns to fat. They cause us to over eat. Another mechanism that turns off hunger is the satisfaction of "biological" hunger. If our foods are nutrient deficient, we will overeat to get the nutrients our bodies need. "Empty Calorie" foods also slow down intestinal activity, because they lack fiber and bulk. They take up to 5 times longer to pass through the body than high fiber foods (75 hours instead of 15), and CALORIES ARE ABSORBED ALL THAT TIME "Empty Calorie" foods contain very few vitamins and minerals, so the "energy" in them is inaccessible for our bodies. Therefore it is stored - as fat - until these essential nutrients are available. In the meantime we feel hungry - we eat more - it gets stored - and so the cycle goes until vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, and fiber are also provided.

Just as thinking about exercising is not the same as actually doing the exercising so is - calorie counting not the same as burning calories. When you read lists of foods and their calorie contents, you must understand that these lists assume that the foods are completely burned or oxidized in the metabolic processes of your body. Each of us burns foods at different rates, and our bodies burn some foods better than others.

FAT: (for instance) especially refined "white fats" as mentioned above:

May not be completely burned to carbon dioxide and water, esp. if present in large quantities
Instead it may oxidize partially, and then produce ketones
Until our kidneys get rid of ketones, they suppress the appetite. This is why fats are used in some reducing diets. But long term presence of ketones can damage kidneys and liver, so be careful.

On the other hand - EFA's (Essential Fatty Acids), which are in unrefined, unfiltered, cold-pressed vegetable oils (like Udo's oil), and which contain 9 calories per gram, are used by our bodies for structural, hormonal and electrical functions, rather than energy. Sometimes, at higher amounts, these EFA's can actually INCREASE the body's metabolism, and thereby increase the fat burn-off that results in weight loss. THESE ARE THE FATS THAT CAN HELP YOU BECOME SLIM.

HOWEVER

There are MANY other factors that affect your weight.

Metabolism

This differs from person to person, and even from one time to another in each person, as well as differing with the total nutrient mix a person consumes. The slower the rate, the less calories burned, the easier weight gain happens. Genes, hormones, nutrition, exercise, and health all affect your metabolic rate.

Fasting and dieting lower your metabolic rate, because your body thinks it is going through starvation, so it will conserve calories, and it will need even less food than before. High temperatures slow down our metabolic rates as less energy is needed to keep warm. This is why most tropical peoples seem so lethargic. EFA's, B-complex vitamins, and minerals (potassium, iron, magnesium, calcium, manganese) increase efficiency of oxidation, which raise the metabolic rate, and therefore energy and activity levels. Carnitine (an amino acid) carries fatty acids to the furnaces of the cell (mitochondria), and thereby can help burn fats for weight loss. Carnitine can be made by our bodies from methionine and lysine (also amino acids). Vegetarians are normally low or lacking in these two amino acids. Growth, stress, illness, and convalescence can all increase the fat burning rate of the body. Activity. An hour of exercise keeps our metabolic rate elevated for 12 - 16 hours. Swimming uses more energy than walking, water conducts more heat away from the body. Shivering also increases fat-burning!! During the hours we are awake, we burn more calories than when we are sleeping. Mental activity: our brain uses almost 20% or more of total calories burned in our bodies.

Different foods satisfy hunger for different time periods.

Fats can take 5-8 hours to be digested, Proteins - 3-5 hours, Complex carbohydrates - 2-3 hours, Refined sugars - only 30 minutes. So although fats may contain the highest amount of calories, they keep us satisfied for much longer than carbs or refined foods, therefore you may eat less and gain less weight.

Refined sugars. Absorbed rapidly, so to avoid toxic levels in blood, they are quickly turned into fats. We get hungry rapidly, overeat, deposit more fat and the cycle repeats. Refined foods. No nutrition, but lots of calories, no satisfaction when eating, so we eat more than needed. Take less work and energy to digest, which leaves more calories for fat production.

Why do we eat?

We eat for enjoyment, for our eyes and palate rather than for rational reasons. We prefer the pleasure of eating over the pain of restricting selves. We eat for reasons that have nothing to do with hunger, health or survival. We eat to substitute for love, and acceptance, for hiding, and fear. We eat out of habit, not because we are hungry. Calorie counting may be one aspect of controlling the amount of food taken in, BUT it does not take into consideration the other aspects of nutrition that are ESSENTIAL for health. The presence or absence of the 20 minerals, 13 vitamins, 2 essential fatty acids, and 2 types of fiber needed by our bodies is also vital. These substances are in foods that can be fairly high in calories, but we need them.

When the nutrient content of our foods is altered and out of balance, it follows that our hunger mechanisms and our bodies will also be out of balance. In this case - calorie counting will not help. It would be much smarter to focus on getting the right nutrition in whole foods, including unrefined, unfiltered, cold-pressed vegetable oils, than to worry about calories. You don't just want to have a slender body, you want that body to function at the ultimate level of efficiency, smoothness, and suppleness.

*****