Digest №10: The Importance of Energy in Human Health

Bless!

I don't think it's surprising to anyone, that eating too much energy will lead to obesity and is thus unhealthy. Similarly I don't think it's a grand surprise, that eating too little energy will lead to starvation, which is equally unhealthy.

And despite this, there's a tendency in the West nowadays to glorify low-calorie (meaning low-energy) meals. This tendency isn't really a conundrum, when seen in the context of the broader culture, which promotes a highly overfed and malnourished diet.

A lot of people in the West – obvious to anyone who's going outside – are overweight and even obese. Something, that perhaps goes much unnoticed, however, is how many people are excessively lean and thin in the West. Such excessively lean and underfed people are somewhat of a conundrum in a cultural sphere replete with cheap dietary energy.

Unless you remember, that there are oftentimes pathological countercultures that develop in opposition to an equally pathological mainstream culture. And of course, thus countercultures have developed, glorifying the overly lean and factually emaciated human body as an unrealistic beauty standard, which is just as unhealthy as the overfed and obese standard Western body type.

So, how do we actually tow the line between too much energy and too little energy? How can we make sure, that our enormously energy-hungry brains remain well-supplied and we well-fed?¹

One thing is for sure. The current countercultural trend to glorify overly lean body types and the almost cult-like maximisation of dietary protein factions is not towing the line successfully. It is a ritualised starvation in opposition to the overfed state of broader society. And it's just as unhealthy.

I mean, just consider the problem of energy starvation, when eating too many lean meats and fish.² Humans simply can't only eat protein. We need energy. In the West, we've overfed ourselves with cheap energy in the forms of grains and vegetable oils, but that doesn't make energy bad or high-calorie meals unhealthy.

Quite the contrary. An overly lean meal will starve you of energy, leaving you hungry and dissatisfied.

This is – in my experience – the one major problem people transitioning from a standard Western diet to a human-appropriate (and cancer care–supporting) animal-based low-carb diet experience. They are used to eating extremely lean meals, where carbohydrates provide the necessary energy, and when they transition to a low-carb dietary pattern, they tend to cut out the carbs without actually replacing the dietary energy thus lost.

This is an enormous issue.

Not only will it make you dissatisfied and leave you hungry. It will also starve you – as mentioned above.

The solution seems almost too simple to be true. When transitioning to a human-appropriate low-carb diet, we must relearn to trust our hunger. We must regain our innate ability to interpret the signals our bodies give us for just how fatty our meals should be.

You see, satiety seems to arise from consuming the right amounts of energy, fat, and protein.³ In the standard Western diet, which is low in fat and protein, but high in energy-dense grains, to trust you hunger would be fatal and lead you to over-consuming energy, not because you're a fat lazy bloke, but because your body simply isn't getting enough of the good stuff... beside energy.

The aforementioned counterculture of ritualised self-starvation uses a solution to this problem, that is just as pathological as the broader cultural problem. The self-starvers will over-consume protein and starve themselves of both energy and fat. Thus, they won't overeat calories, but now they've just created a novel problem, which still requires solving for the attainment of human health.

In my experience transitioners from a standard Western diet to a low-carb diet will inadvertently eat like such members of the self-starving counterculture and under-consume energy and fat, whilst over-consuming protein.

Here's a secret trick, I've found to help with figuring out, if you're getting enough fat: If you finished your meal and aren't really hungry anymore, but still CRAVE a dessert, chances are, that you're simply missing energy and/or fat.

Why does this trick work? Desserts are often high in fat and carbs and low in protein, which makes them the optimal energy bomb to your brain. When you crave them, your brain is telling you either, that you're addicted to it, because it tastes so good, or that you're simply missing energy and/or fat.

Thus, if you're frequently craving desserts, try simply adding a scoop (or three) of butter more to your meals. And if that doesn't sound appetising, use cream, beef fat, fatty white cheese, fatty yogurt or any number of other fat sources and see, whether the craving won't become far less frequent and far less urgent.

You're brain is trying to feed you right. And when you eat a human-appropriate diet, you may indeed trust the signals it's giving you.

If you're a cancer patient transitioning to such a human-appropriate diet to help in your game against cancer, then pay attention to these signals of the body and to relearning their correct interpretation. I can nigh on guarantee you, that you will under-consume fat and energy at the start. Since your body needs ravenous amounts of energy to heal such an energy-starvation is highly counterproductive to your efforts.

I hope this has been interesting to you. If it has, share it with a friend, whom it may help or concern.

God bless,

Merlin L. Marquard