We all know that exercise and a healthy diet are important for a healthy body. But how much exercise, and what is the best diet?
In a two-part series, we learn from UC Davis molecular exercise physiologist Keith Baar how our bodies respond to exercise and how different foods affect our metabolism. Baar is a professor in the Departments of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior and Physiology and Membrane Biology.
In celebration of National Nutrition Month (March), let’s start with how fasting, fasting and the keto diet affect our bodies.
What is more important for weight loss and good health: diet or exercise?
Our bodies will look different depending on the combination of physical activity and diet. It’s no secret that a lot of physical activity changes the body weight. But diet allows us to control our weight more than exercise.
I always tell people if you run a mile it’s 100 calories. If you eat a piece of white bread or 10 pieces of tortilla, that’s 100 calories. Therefore, it is easier to manage your weight with your diet, but adding physical activities will help you to manage your health better.
In what ways do our lifestyles and food choices affect our bodies?
Your body is designed to go through periods of feast and famine. It is designed through evolution to go up and down to food and other problems, such as illness or the need to run.
What has happened in the last 20,000 years is that we have gotten better at it – we produce more food with less work. This has led to what we call hypokinetic disorders, health problems related to limited movement. We have also changed our diet to eating more and more processed foods that are rich in carbohydrates. As a result, it is better to exercise that is not suitable for maintaining our muscles and the rest of our body.
Why do they say food is good medicine?
Our muscles and immune system use very similar signals. They both want to turn on a protein, known as the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR), when they need to respond to a stimulus, store calories, grow, and fight an antigen. With our high intake of processed foods, we enter a normal level of high mTOR protein activation, and this leads to things like insulin resistance and inflammation. always.
Then, when your body needs to respond quickly — like when exposed to a high-carb meal or an infection — the response is delayed because the signal is drowned out in noise.
This is why many health-enhancing foods – such as low-protein and low-carb diets or over-the-counter feeding – target mTOR activity. In these foods, mTOR activity is lower at rest. This is important, for example, if our body needs to respond to an illness. It has a greater dynamic range and can quickly turn on the processes needed to respond to the threat. When we lower the basic mTOR activity, we can improve the body’s energy production by removing the faulty mitochondria (the powerhouses inside the cells), allowing our Muscles and brain work better.
Is a balanced diet good for the body?
A balanced diet that contains a variety of carbohydrates, proteins and fats can be good for the body if we allow the calories to be low. One option is to eat about 10% below your caloric needs. Another option is to limit your eating, having periods of around 17 hours a day when you don’t eat. Both of these strategies lower that baseline, but can be very difficult for many people.
What about the benefits of the ketone (keto) diet?
The keto diet involves eating high-fat, high-protein foods and fewer carbs. The goal is to reach a state of ketosis when your body burns fat for fuel, instead of sugar. This process leads to the production of acids known as ketones.
In our studies on keto diets in mice, we compared a low-carbohydrate group to a ketogenic diet group. The benefits we have seen in muscle and mitochondria, strength and endurance; to the brain and to the study of memory; Throughout life, the ketogenic diet is more effective than a low-fat diet. There is something about those ketones (beta hydroxybutyrate) that are really good for our longevity, muscles and brain. But the keto diet has its own risks, including weak bones and the possibility of increased cholesterol in some people.
It’s easier to manage your weight with your diet, but adding physical activity will help you take better care of your health. —Keith Baar, UC Davis molecular exercise physiologist
Is fasting good for health?
We think of intermittent fasting as intermittent fasting. You have fasting periods and then eating periods.
UCSD Professor Satchin Panda’s work with various individuals and organizations clearly shows that nurturing time can have a positive impact. During the fasting phase, your body resets the core of many things, including mTOR activity.
One of the things that happens as a result of fasting is that the body produces ketones, similar to the keto diet. However, eating a normal diet but restricting when you eat will not give you all the benefits of a keto diet. When the body is subjected to periods of prolonged fasting, it will begin to produce ketones, but not at the levels you need for therapeutic ketosis.
How do you see the future of food?
For our long-term health, it’s best if we can go on a balanced diet, eating as many things as we want, while still getting the mental and muscular benefits of the keto diet. . Another important question: is it possible to eat normal food and get ketones from supplements, such as keto esters or keto acid drinks? In other words, can we get the benefits of the keto diet without the problems, like weak bones and higher cholesterol? Unfortunately, such a diet will not reduce weight and whether it will improve muscle and brain function is something we do not know.
Note: People with special dietary needs or a medical condition should consult their doctor or a registered dietitian for advice.