Yesterday we looked at the chemistry of fat. Elsewhere, we have looked at the chemistry of carbohydrates http://drchemical.com.au/the-chemistry-of-carbohydrates
So which one does our body use?
Our body is a complex reactor which is capable of converting fuel into energy. rather like our car. If we want our car to run, we have to put the right fuel in. If we have apetrol car and we put diesel in, for example, it won’t run.
In just the same way, how body has a fuel system . Now it’s not quiet as simple as that ,as our body actually has several fuel systems ,but there is one major system that dominates all others that will look at today. Essentially, our body runs on glycogen .
Glycogen is the simplest carbohydrate , and is what any complex carbohydrate must be broken down into in order to act as a fuel . As I have discussed elsewhere, if the glycogen is coming from complex carbohydrates, then this is a simple process, as simple as breaking a Lego structure into individual blocks. This process can happen quickly and it is the fuel that our body uses most of the time, particularly when doing anything at all energetic.
Under sustained periods of exercise ,if how body runs out of complex carbohydrate, it runs out of glycogen ,and this process is called going “to the wall “. This is something experienced by marathon on runners for example. And it’s the kind of thing you experience if you skip breakfast and lead a busy morning. By the time lunch rolls round, you are very lethargic.
So the lesson is, that most of the time we are running on glycogen.
This means that if we run out of complex carbohydrate , our body must manufacture glycogen from somewhere else , and this is where it becomes complex, and also represents ana opportunity for weight loss.
N