Fuel Yourself Well

Most people think that they need to be an athlete or training for a marathon to fuel their bodies well. But, that could not be further from the truth. Every single human being on this planet needs energy. And that energy is food 🙂 Every piece of food that we eat is merely energy or fuel for our bodies. This energy is measured in the unit known as calories. You can easily tell how many calories a food provides by looking at the back of a nutrition facts label, however some of the most nutrient dense foods (ie. fruits, vegetables, fish, or some meats from the butcher) don’t come with nutrition facts labels in stores. But don’t worry, they still provide calories and therefore energy that we need. 

I want you to think of your body as a big machine, like a car. Now, in order for your car to move you from point A to point B, it needs fuel or gasoline. If you don’t fill up your tank, you might not make it to your destination. Similarly, if our bodies are not given the proper amount of energy or fuel, we won’t function as well. You may start to notice you are irritable or fatigued. And unfortunately over-fueling isn’t always a good thing either. Unlike cars, our bodies take in the extra fuel and store it for later in case we need it. This was helpful many years ago when people experienced famines, however a majority of people now have access to food all year round. 

So how much fuel do you really need? The short answer? It depends. Because everyone’s needs are different. That’s why working with a Registered Dietitian is so important because following generic advice or any meal plan you see online might not give you the results that you are looking for. That meal plan might be too much or even not enough for what you actually need daily. You want to fuel your body with the right amount of energy to perform your best, any less or any more (for extended periods of time) could be problematic. 

And if you want the long answer? Well here it is. Everyone’s energy needs are different, because everyone has their own unique metabolism. Your metabolism is a fancy word for the process that turns the food we eat into energy for our bodies to use. How much energy our body uses is referred to as our total daily energy expenditure or TDEE. About 70% of your daily energy expenditure comes from what is known as your basal metabolic rate. Your basal metabolic rate is another fancy word that means the amount of energy that your body needs in order to perform basic life functions like breathing, pumping blood to vital organs, as well as cell regeneration etc. They also call this resting metabolic rate, which you can think of as the amount of energy your body needs if you were to stay in bed all day. Yup. I said that right. If you stay in bed all day, guess what, your body still needs energy. So don’t let diet culture bully you into believing that you need to complete an intense workout in order to deserve food/energy. You are deserving of food by merely existing. And during some parts of one’s life, the body actually needs more energy/fuel (ie. during periods of stress, injuries, regular illness as well as cancer, burns, certain phases of a female’s menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and muscle growth).

The other 30% of energy is known as our non-resting energy expenditure and is further broken down into 3 categories. First, we have NEAT, which is known as non-exercise activity thermogenesis. These are all the active things we do daily with exception of planned or performed exercise. These things would include; walking around the office at work, loading the dishwasher, preparing meals, caring for children, yardwork, dusting, typing, or even fidgeting etc. This accounts for about 15% of our non-resting energy expenditure. Second, we have the thermic effect of food (TEF), which is the energy that is needed in order to break down the food and drinks that we eat as well as the energy needed to transport these molecules to different places in the body. This accounts for about 10% of our energy needs. And finally, we have exercise activity thermogenesis (EAT). This is where our planned exercises come in. Things like running, weight lifting, yoga/pilates, utilizing machines at the gym fall into this category which accounts for about 5% of our non-resting energy expenditure. 

Yup, you heard me right. Exercise only makes up about 5% of your total energy expenditure!

Don’t get me wrong, exercise is so important and I would encourage everyone to find a form of exercise that they enjoy and try to do it a few times per week, BUT the key here is that putting even more time into your current workout routine (if you already have one) is likely not going to get make that much of a difference your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). I feel that the general population would benefit more by increasing their NEAT movements for overall health since that accounts for 15% of the energy expenditure. So walking a little more, running after your grandchild every week or getting outside for some yard work is always a good idea.

I do want to touch on exercise a bit too though. Again, I encourage everyone to find a form of exercise that they enjoy and to get consistent with it. However, one form of exercise in particular that has been shown to greatly improve someone’s basal metabolic rate (the amount of energy required at rest) is strength training. Strength training helps increase muscle mass and is one of the best things you can do to increase your basal metabolic rate aka improve your metabolism. The reason for this is because muscle requires more energy to maintain at rest than fat does. And as we age, we naturally lose about 3-5% of muscle per decade. So if you haven’t given strength training a shot yet, grab some weights, and let’s go. Definitely work up to it, but I recommend you strength train at least 2-3 days per week.

If I lost you with all those technical terms don’t worry, we’re going to sum it all up. 

Basically, we need food in the form of energy or calories …

– regardless of if we moved our bodies today

– to do those overlooked tasks like household chores, preparing meals, picking up your child, yardwork, repairing a sprinkler line (that one was very niche but you get the point)

– to break down the food that we eat (different foods require different amounts of energy, which we will discuss later)

– to get us through an intense or planned workout session

Fueling your body well is so, so important. Most people are either over or under-fueling and it is negatively impacting their health. Properly fueling our bodies with the right amount of energy allows us to thrive physically, emotionally, and cognitively. But I would also argue that just simply getting enough fuel doesn’t equate to optimal health. The type of fuel certainly matters. Therefore the kinds of foods we eat matters. Our bodies individually require the correct amount of certain nutrients every day in order to feel its best. These nutrients can be broken down into 2 categories; macro (big) and micro (small). Part 2 on how to properly nourish the body soon 🙂