What would be best... In diet terms?

[Rubyrose]

Hello all,

A guy at my work has asked me to try and find out the answer to this question.. I have no idea why!

If he was to eat the same food everyday. Say cereal for breakfast, salad for lunch and then something for dinner and it was the same meals everyday and he didn't change his diet at all... But.. he had a big box of mini flapjacks... Would he be better off eating 1 or two little flapjacks a day and spreading them out, or eating the box in one go on the Monday say? Now just because he eats them in one go, it doesn't imply that he is going to buy more... it's the same amount of food all week, just the flapjacks eaten in one go or spreadout!
What would be best for his body? Would his cope better with it in small doses?

[Shadow Man]

My Beautiful rubes, people will say I am wrong here but I can assure you I am right.

The claorie intake makes no difference when it is consumed.

If I wanted to eat my 4000 calories a day in one big fry up for breakfast or a midnight supper, it makes no difference.

People will argue that the body can not cope with more than 500 calories or so at a time. HOGWASH!!!!

The stomach and guts are metres long and can hold loads of food. The liver is the greatest engineering feat known to the body and the kidneys will sort out the waste.

Tell your friend it makes no odds!!

The only time it will make a difference is if he is training. Flapjacks (moreover oats) are an excellent fuel with their slow releasing carbs.

[annie0000]

Better for your teeth to eat them all in one go - as for your body, probably better spread out as you are giving your self a sugar rush which the body then has to balance out, however, in the grand scheme of things, I dont think that either option is that bad considering people go binge drinking etc and put their bodies under real strain. I don't know whether having a higher amount of calories in one go rather than having it spaced out affects weight gain etc if that is what he was wanting to know. Was he wondering whether eating the same thing everyday was bad for you? I think that as long as it was a balanced healthy diet, it doesn't matter if it is limited in range.

[Rubyrose]

Thank you very much both of you. I will let him know. I did say that it would be best to spread them out otherwise your body deals with it all at one but then at the same time you live of less calories and sugar for the rest of the week so..... I don't know!

[Octavius]

a calorie is a calorie whenever you eat it

[fiest82]

Just my opinion here, but sticking to his diet would be healthier for him in the long run, as changing his diet abruptly to mini flapjacks could mean he'd suffer from severe bowel problems ... leading to you Know what, too many carbs can do this to people I've been told, lol

[Rubyrose]

I don't think he is actually planning on doing it but just pondering the outcome of such a diet. :o)

[johnlambert]

What would be best for your friend would be a well balanced nutritious diet where he can get his RDA protien, fats, carbos etc
Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are the most important source of energy. They contain the elements Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen. The first part of the name "carbo-" means that they contain Carbon. The second part of the name "-hydr-" means that they contain Hydrogen. The third part of the name "-ate-" means that they contain Oxygen. In all carbohydrates the ratio of Hydrogen atoms to Oxygen atoms is 2:1 just like water.

We obtain most of our carbohydrate in the form of starch. This is found in potato, rice, spaghetti, yams, bread and cereals. Our digestive system turns all this starch into another carbohydrate called glucose. Glucose is carried around the body in the blood and is used by our tissues as a source of energy. Any glucose in our food is absorbed without the need for digestion. We also get some of our carbohydrate in the form of sucrose; this is the sugar which we put in our tea and coffee (three heaped spoonfuls for me!). Both sucrose and glucose are sugars, but sucrose molecules are too big to get into the blood, so the digestive system turns it into glucose.

When we use glucose in tissue respiration we need Oxygen. This process produces Carbon Dioxide and water and releases energy for other processes.

[johnlambert]

Proteins

Proteins are required for growth and repair. Proteins contain Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen and sometimes Sulphur. Proteins are very large molecules, so they cannot get directly into our blood; they must be turned into amino-acids by the digestive system. There are over 20 different amino-acids. Our bodies can turn the amino-acids back into protein. When our cells do this they have to put the amino-acids together in the correct order. There are many millions of possible combinations or sequences of amino-acids; it is our DNA which contains the information about how to make proteins. Our cells get their amino-acids from the blood.

Proteins can also be used as a source of energy. When excess amino-acids are removed from the body the Nitrogen is excreted as a chemical called urea. The liver makes urea and the kidney puts the urea into our urine.
Cont.....






Fats
Like carbohydrates, fats contain the elements Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen. Fats are used as a source of energy: they are also stored beneath the skin helping to insulate us against the cold. Do not think that by avoiding fat in your diet you will stay thin and elegant! If you eat too much carbohydrate and protein, you will convert some of it into fat, so you will put on weight. You must balance the amount of energy containing foods with the amount of energy that you use when you take exercise.
You must have some fat in your diet because it contains fat soluble vitamins.

[johnlambert]

You must have some fat in your diet because it contains fat soluble vitamins.
Vitamins
Vitamins are only required in very small quantities. There is no chemical similarity between these chemicals; the similarity between them is entirely biological.
Vitamin A: good for your eyes.
Vitamin B: about 12 different chemicals.
Vitamin C: needed for your body to repair itself.
Vitamin D: can be made in your skin, needed for absorption of Calcium.
Vitamin E: the nice one - reproduction?

Mineral Salts
These are also needed in small quantities, but we need more of these than we need of vitamins.
Iron: required to make haemoglobin.
Calcium: required for healthy teeth, bones and muscles.
Sodium: all cells need this, especially nerve cells.
Iodine: used to make a hormone called thyroxin.
Fibre
We do not // can not digest cellulose. This is a carbohydrate used by plants to make their cell walls. It is also called roughage. If you do not eat foods materials which contain fibre you might end up with problems of the colon and rectum. The muscles of you digestive system mix food with the digestive juices and push food along the intestines by peristalsis; if there is no fibre in your diet these movements cannot work properly.
A Balanced Diet
You must have carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals salts and fibre in the correct proportions. If there is not enough protein, you will not be able to grow properly and you will not be able to repair yourself i.e. wounds will not heal properly. If you do not have enough energy containing foods you will feel very tired, you will not have enough energy. If you have too much energy containing foods you will become overweight. If you think that you are overweight you might try taking more exercise to "burn off" some of the excess food which you ate at you last meal.

[Rubyrose]

A message from my colleague:
(He hasn't read the replies yet... only my theory on not having more than 500 cals in one hit)

"Yes - but what I was thinking is whether you body is efficient enough to absorb all calories on mass. For instance if you take in 10,000 calories in one hit - how many will you body absorb. But if you take those 10,000 in 20 X 500, my thinking is that overall you would absorb a whole lot more."

[Octavius]

It doesn't really work like that. On the Tour de France a cyclist will consuiem around 6,000 calories per day, but will use them up.

It depends on his metabolic rate and his activity levels. Starving yourself will slow this down, and overloading will speed it up. Metabolism is the way your body uses up calories from the food you eat and turns them into energy. Metabolic rate is the speed at which you use up those calories.

Dropping your calorie intake below 1,000 calories a day on a CONSISTENT basis will signal your body that you are in starvation mode, and will slow down your metabolism. Ditto, visa versa. When the metabolism slows, we store food as fat and gain weight. Calories do count, but it's also about how efficiently your body burns those calories.

For a broad outline, multiply body weight in pounds (lb) by 11 to establish the amount of calories you would need to consume per day to lose weight. If you're very active, you can multiply your weight by 12. (e..g. 10 stone person needs 1,540 per day)

Calories aren't bad for you. Your body needs calories for energy. But eating too many calories - and not burning enough of them off through activity - can lead to weight gain.

If this person was doing this consistently, then it would have an adverse effect over time. However, as it would be a one off, the same calories would probably be burnt but over a period of time. Hence, a calorie is a calorie, whenever you take it.

[Octavius]

To simplify the above, compare it to binge drinking. It has long term health effects if you do it over a regular prolonged period. As a one off, you will have a bad hangover which will wear off in a day or two and your body will repair itself.

Would you prefer to have one massive bottle of wine in one go, or several glasses that eventually equate to the massive bottle of wine? It all depends on your own bodies ability to consume, process and repair itself and what you get up to in between the glasses or after the massive bottle. Sleep probably!