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What are the more important things than calories when it comes to your intake? What are the other things you need to consider to manage your weight? Leanne shares her insights on energy balance and why we shouldn’t focus on calories alone.
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Topics Discussed in this Episode:
- Why measuring with calories isn’t the most effective way to gauge your intake
- The things you need to balance out along with caloric intake
- Glycemic variability and why it’s more important than caloric intake
- Why you need to consider the nutrients in food
Key Takeaways:
- Fundamentally, energy balance is “energy in, energy out.” In calorie terms, it’s “the number of calories going in needs to match the number of calories going out if you want to maintain your weight, or “it needs to exceed calories going out if you want to gain weight, or be lower than calories out if you want to lose weight.”
- What is more important than calorie intake is glycemic variability or blood sugar management.
- The body likes to maintain homeostasis. In order to do this, what happens when we ingest food that spikes blood sugar is our pancreas will release insulin. Insulin is a fat-binding hormone that binds to that glucose and takes it down to the liver, the muscles, and the fat cells. That way, it regulates our blood sugar.
- Energy is what most of us are seeking more of. If you want good, stable amounts of energy to fuel you through the day, you need to have stability around sugar.
Action Steps:
- When you consider what to eat, think about the calories, but also think about the effect it has on your overall blood sugar level. You can use the glycemic index to measure that.
- Take a bit of time to reflect on how certain foods make you feel when you consume them. If you feel this big surge in energy and a corresponding dip, it’s not a great food for you.
- Be aware of the nutrient content in food and what your nutrient demands are.
- Get tested regularly to see what your micronutrient levels are at.
Leanne said:
“[It’s] not the years in your life but the life in your years. And that’s really what we’re talking about when we talk about longevity and healthspan.”
“Longevity is impacted by glycemic variability, that is how often you take your blood sugar up and down. But in terms of general health, it’s also good practice to maintain fairly stable blood sugar levels.”
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Links to things mentioned in the show:
- Forth With Life – Use the code bodper10 for 10% of any test (except Baseline or Baseline Plus) or code bodyshot10 for 5% off Baseline and Baseline Plus
More from Leanne Spencer:
Bodyshot Performance Limited Facebook page
Remove the Guesswork BOOK by Leanne Spencer
Rise and Shine BOOK by Leanne Spencer
