It occurs to me, and seemingly backed up by research, that most of us are overloading our gastrointestinal systems. Extremely. Think through this for a moment. Our human systems are meant to process food, nutrients, water and break them down into usable components to sustain life. The human body does not need that much to sustain life at all. We are really quite the marvel. The very little amount of fuel required to propel the human body is probably the single most amazing thing in all of nature. The average human requires less than 100 calories per hour to function in non-deficit. Just for reference. 100 calories is basically 1 Apple or 1 Banana or a small handful blueberries or a small bowl of broccoli OR about a thumbnail worth of a chocolate brownie.
So lets put this in perspective a little more carefully. If you ate 1 Apple, 1 Handful of Blueberries, 1 bowl of roasted Broccoli and 1 small chunk of chocolate for lunch that would be enough to sustain you from lunch until dinner. That would be enough to sustain your life for the most part. You would be for the most part, fully functioning. if you had a more balanced meal, perhaps excluding the chocolate for a small handful of chicken breast pieces then you would have a pretty decently nutritious meal and more than enough calories to sustain the average person through an afternoon. You could even perform exercise during this time, because most likely this is MORE than you body actually would need, unless you are 6”6 and 280 lbs of pure muscle. If you are built like that, then you do not need to read my simple advice on this topic, for sure!
Having put that in perspective, I think through what I actually ate this afternoon. Two Steak tacos, loaded with salsa, cheddar cheese, avocados, tomatoes. A few carbonated drinks, a handful of chocolate covered almonds and a protein bar. Way more calories than I actually need for this period of time this afternoon in largely a non-activity state. Now I did run quite a long distance this morning, which is probably the reason that I am not gaining weight rapidly, but my point is not about weight loss or gain, my point is about overloading your GI system. Just think of what the body was meant for versus what it is taking in?
That 6 slices of pizza, with a bowl of chocolate drizzled vanilla ice cream and a six pack of beer last weekend probably was not what your poor little GI system was intended for! Just think of what you pour down your pie hole all day and expect your stomach, intestines and GI tract to handle all day long! It is amazing that it even functions at all! This has led me to the conclusion that a lot of our health problems, physical and mental are associated with our GI system. I have noticed it with running more than anything. When I am eating lean, or I start running with very little in my system, I perform significantly better than if I am under any sort of GI overload situation from a poor diet filled with overconsumption.
This is just a cold reality. If you want to feel better, look better, perform better you just need to eat less and with better quality. You are asking your GI system to do too much. No wonder you are tired all the time, you body is hopelessly trying to process a constant flow of chaos flowing in. Keep it simple. Keep it small. All will improve.
Guy Reams
