Nutrition

Mike's post here:

Meow wrote:Yes, it will raise your protein metabolism. Protein can be broken down by your body into glucose which will give you energy, but it's much more efficient for your body to break down carbs into glucose. So in turn, you will be wasting your caloric intake as energy since it will burn calories just to provide your body with glucose from protein. Downing carbs is the obvious choice for energy, protein is best taken after or just before a workout to assist with the post-workout muscle building.

made me think "hey, I can't wait for a nutrition thread because I don't know anything about that stuff." so here it is!

starting off with a question, which might actually be addressed by the above quote:

Newmantopia wrote:meat gives you energy. It is high in calories and results in a faster metabolism.

meat is obviously part of a healthy diet, but I've read that meat intake does significantly slow the body's food-processing (and this is all metabolism is, right?), resulting in 30% more time between bowel movements.

anything to this?

Sounds like you already know the difference between proteins and carbs. Here's what I learned recently talking to a Diabetes doctor and then to my sister:

Simple carbs are sugary, high-energy foods that are digested very quickly and easily, giving you a shot of quick energy (juice, fruits, sugar)

Complex carbs are carbs that take longer to break down and give you more sustained prolonged energy (pasta, rice, potatoes)

What protein does is block carbs -- particularly complex carbs -- from being broken down quickly, making the energy absorbed last longer because the intestinal walls have to absorb the protein while also absorbing the carbs

The doctor drew me two graphs of the body converting food to energy: complex carbs with protein, and complex carbs without. Both graphs showed a hump of energy after eating. The graph with protein showed energy stretching out over a longer and more constant period of time while the graph without protein show a spike in energy more intense and shortlived.

K$tu wrote:The graph with protein showed energy stretching out over a longer and more constant period of time while the graph without protein show a spike in energy more intense and shortlived.

This is what I've gathered as well.