what do we mean when we talk about energy?

ENERGY

What is energy? there are 2 types of energy in relation to food.

1. energy is Calories / kilojoules which allows us to function.

2. energy is the vitality or lift we feel after eating certain foods or changing our diet.

Top Tip 1:

The more colours of unprocessed foods we include in our diet the more of the vitality nutrients (vitamins and minerals) we will get and the more energy (lift!) we will feel.

Top Tip 2:

Be careful of the labelling trap advertising "high energy" or "energy boost". This usually means "High in calories".

Lets get scientific about this for a moment - it is the capacity to do work (work could be moving, heating, lighting, growing etc). In the diet we measure this energy in kilojoules (standard international units) or Calories (the amount of energy needed to raise 1kg water by 1 degree Celsius). 

So in food we know this energy is the number of kilojoules or Calories a food gives us - how much work it allows us to do. We use the energy we eat to move, digest, breathe, think, heal scars and disease and grow. If we eat more energy than we need we must store it - as fat!

Protein, carbohydrates, fats and alcohol all contain energy (fat and alcohol contain the most while carbohydrate and protein are lower energy nutrients). We need these nutrients for different functions (well not alcohol - that's just purely energy).

Carbohydrate - breaks into glucose which our brain needs and it is the rest of the body's preferred source of energy.

Protein - what our muscle structures are made of and also important for carrying messages around the body.

Fat - fat is used for energy before protein, saving the protein for its important role in keeping our muscles going. Fat also makes up part of our cell walls and is important for carrying vitamins around the body.

If we eat more than we need we can't save much carbohydrate or protein for later, but we are great at storing fat. So our bodies convert excess carbohydrate and protein to fat and we have enough energy for between meals, and for times when we don't eat, for if we exercise a lot or any other reason we can't get enough energy from food.

There is another kind of energy associated with food - vitality! This is the boost we get from our foods to give us motivation, a sense of being energised and a lift if we have been sluggish. These two types of energy are definitely not to be confused! (but lots of food labels mislead us on this - when they say "lots of energy" they usually mean "lots of calories".)

This vitality (energy) comes from a boost in vitamins, minerals and to a smaller extent carbohydrate (sugar and starch). The biggest factors giving us this vitality after eating or over a longer time are the B vitamins, vitamin A and E, iron, zinc, caffeine (but we might be sluggish later with too much caffeine). The important thing with carbohydrate is the type we eat. High GI carbohydrates (many sugary foods, white bread and rice, potato corn flakes and Rice Krispies) will give us a lift very quickly by raising our blood sugar levels. We will then have a slump later on. Lower GI carbohydrates will give a lower release of energy (vitality!) and sustain us longer. Examples are whole grain breads and pasta, many fruits, porridge.

We should  follow a diet based fruit and vegetables and low GI foods to keep us going with some high GI options for a boost. 

so to review those tips now that we know the background:

Top Tip 1:

Eat more colours of unprocessed foods for more of the vitality nutrients (vitamins and minerals).

Top Tip 2:

Be careful of the labelling trap advertising "high energy" or "energy boost". This usually means "High in calories".