The Thermic Effect of Food

Most of us really like when our body has a high rate of thermogenesis (burning fat for energy), but did you know that not only can toned muscle burn more calories, the foods we choose to eat can also make a difference as well! Some foods make the body work harder (to break them down into usable fuel and nutrients that our body can absorb), than others do, and in doing so causes us to burn more calories throughout the digestive period~ this is “The Thermic Effect of Food.”

Example: when we intake a good source of protein, up to 30% of the calories in the protein can be burned just for digestion purposes.

The foods that would be on the lower end of the thermic burn chart would be sugary foods, starchy foods and foods with very little fiber. These foods absorb very rapidly into our bloodstream and besides using very little calories to digest them, they can also cause very rapid spikes in blood sugars. These foods can be good fuel when ate in low amounts prior to periods of intense activity. This is because of us needing a fuel that our body doesn’t have to work hard to breakdown and since we need our blood going to our working muscles instead of our digestive track, this can be a good time to eat some fast-absorbing foods. Remember: the key is in eating low quantities of fast burning fuel. These foods are the ones that have a lot of calories in even small amounts of food and it’s easy to over consume since they don’t have much fiber and it’s not till later that we feel the effects of all these extra calories.

When we get to know what amount of energy output we have coming up, it can be a guide as to which foods we should eat more of.

Example: if we know we’re going to be setting at the desk for the rest of the day, with little activity, we should go really light on the starches, simple carbs, sweet foods and drinks. But if we know that we are really going to have a lot of energy output for the next hour, we could eat some of the above in small amounts and it would be great short-term energy. Just remember, this can fuel the body for the short run, but in general it’s much better to eat a balanced meal where the starches, simple carbs, sweet food and drink are very much kept in moderation.

For a learning exercise do an Internet search on: “The thermic effect of food.”

Take away: Rapid absorbing fuel if ate in excess before periods of low or no activity will be stored for later use in our fat cells and this is what makes them balloon in size.