Last week I was house-sitting for Dr. Gibson.

In the centre of his house is a fireplace. One which I just could not get to stay lit…

…And it made me think of how the body uses the energy contained within different types of food.

Actually, I first heard this concept several years ago from Nora Gegaudas – it’s funny how stuff comes back into conscious thought when you’re absentmindedly trying to start a fire…

Our bodies burn fuel to give us energy, just like a fireplace burns wood to give us heat.

Initially, I could get the fireplace lit, using paper, bark and other quick burning kindling… but I just couldn’t get it to stay lit.

I would get a really bright flame, but it just wouldn’t last.

I was still cold, and I had to keep stoking the fire by putting more and more kindling on it just to try to keep it going.

Worse, it was taking so much time and attention that it was tough to get anything done without being distracted by the need to put more fuel in the fire.

This is exactly what happens in your body when you consume carbohydrates. Carbohydrates (carbs for short) are one of three basic building blocks that make up your food – carbohydrates, protein and fats.

Most foods have a combination of at least two, if not three of these building blocks and some foods are made up entirely of one type, but the vast majority are made up of a majority though, i.e. mostly carbohydrate, mostly protein or mostly fat.

When you consume foods that are high in carbohydrate, for example pasta, cereals, bread, rice, fruits and fruit juices (not to mention candy bars, cakes and candy), this is like the kindling in my fire.

Your body is able to turn these into energy quickly, so on the surface they look like great materials for building a fire. But as most chronic sugar burners can attest to, this burst of energy is short lived forcing us to eat again within a couple of hours.

So after a couple of days of trying and failing with this strategy, you’ll be happy to know I finally figured it out – in order to have a long lasting, more intense (hotter) fire, I needed to use nice, big, thick logs. And when I finally got the fireplace hot enough for these to light, the fire lasted for hours without me having to tend to it or top it up. And, Timber and I enjoyed a nice warm home. 🙂

When it comes to our metabolic furnace, high quality fats are those long burning fuels – they don’t burn as quickly or brightly at first, but they last a lot longer than running off primarily carbohydrates. This is why two of the fundamental concepts of Eat By Design are eating protein with every meal and increasing quality fat intake.

In fact, despite what you may have heard, FAT is the fuel source that humans are best suited to run on.

Secret To Fat Burning

One huge side benefit of becoming a ‘fat burner’ is that when you feed your body primarily fat as fuel, your body will look to utilize stored fat in between meals to sustain your energy levels – that’s right, not only will you be satiated longer, your metabolic rate will stay elevated in between meals and your body will start to burn body fat!

Converting from a ‘sugar burner’ to a ‘fat burner’ can be difficult and take some time. To give yourself the best chance of success, click below to join us at our next Eat By Design Seminar and learn all the short cuts creating the body you want.

Dr. David Hawkes is a wellness expert and martial arts enthusiast. Born and raised in Perth, Western Australia, Dr Hawkes’ passion for health and wellness has led him here to Kanata, literally halfway around the world. After graduating from Murdoch University, Dr. Hawkes ran a successful practice in Perth’s western suburbs before moving to Ottawa. Dr. Hawkes has a special interest in family wellness, as well as Peak Performance. He is passionate about helping individuals and families lead their extraordinary lives.