define your energy demand
Energy Balance is essential for a healthy human body. It is a precondition for good performance in all aspects of our life. It determines how we feel and how we act towards others. My grandfather (today 93 years old) once told me "nur in einem gesunden Körper wohnt ein gesunder Geist - only in a healthy body lives a healthy mind". His age shows that he found his energy balance and he still beats me in some of the classic board games.
To find and define our energy balance we have to understand how much energy (e.g. per day) we actually need and which parts of our organism transform this energy for which purpose. The chart below shows both sides of this energy transformation process. The green part describes how we calculate our daily energy demand based on our own parameters, such as weight, height, age and activity level. This calculation method was developed by Harris & Benedict in year 1919 and is still used today.
energy Storage
The main energy source for the transformation process in our body is food. The heat energy in food is measured in Kilocalories (kcal) or Kilojoule (kJ). The main energy supplier in food are: Carbohydrate: 4,06 kcal/g; Protein: 4,08 kcal/g; Fat and Oil: 8,84 kcal/g
If we supply our organism with too much energy with the food we eat, our body transforms this excess energy into an energy storage. There is no way around it, our DNA has been programmed like this more than 200,000 years ago. Means, we gain weight or we get fat. This fat storage is not necessarily a problem as long as it doesn't become too much. Unfortunately many of us have somehow lost control over their own energy storage. This blog shows a way out.
basic body functions and brain
Our body transforms this heat energy from the food we eat and drink into other energy forms to keep our "engine" running. About 50% of the heat energy from food is transformed to maintain our basic body functions and to keep our body temperature constant. About 15% of the energy input we transform to let our brain function properly. That means on about 65% of this energy transformation process we have not much influence. It simply works from alone. On the remaining 35% we have influence and this is where we can control our energy balance.
digestion of food
It is remarkable that a daily average of 10% of the energy transformation process in our body is needed for the mechanical and chemical process of digesting the food that supplies the energy. The effort our body spends on digesting the food can be optimised and significantly reduced. My upcoming posts will describe how this works.
physical energy
About 25% of the heat energy provided with the food we transfer into energy forms that are needed to deal with stress, illness, medication, our addictions or to perform physical activities, such as exercise and sport. If we are relaxed and healthy we have more energy potential available for sport and exercise. If we are sick, drink too much alcohol or do smoke too much, we need this energy potential to recover from sickness, deal with hangovers or clean our lungs. In addition our body has to fight against all side effects of the medication we take. The solution for most of us, is to live more healthy; physically and mentally. This blog is all about that.