HOW OUR BODY USES FOOD FOR ENERGY

In the past weeks we learned what food is, what happens when food enters our body (through our mouth), so now let’s talk about exactly how our body uses this food for energy.

If you have a ‘sciency’ friend he or she may have corrected someone in a conversation you overhead when it was mentioned that energy can be produced or created. They may have gone on about how energy cannot be created nor destroyed according to the Laws of Thermodynamics. And they likely told said person that energy simply moves or gets transformed from one form to another.

So, thanks to our ‘sciency’ friend we now understand that our body actually converts energy that’s already in the food we are eating for use. The breaking of chemical bonds that normally holds the molecules of our food together releases energy. This is called ENERGY TRANSFER.

We Eat -> We Digest -> We Absorb -> We Circulate -> We Store -> We Transfer Energy -> We Use Energy -> Then we repeat this process

This energy transfer fuels the processes we need to for ATP creation which is the bodies ‘energy currency.’

ATP Defined: ATP is the bodies energy currency. It moves our body, it contracts our digestive muscles, it produces enzymes, it carries molecules across cell membranes, it even forms more ATP.

We get ATP from the nutrients in the meal we are eating and from the nutrients that have been stored from past meals in the liver, muscle or fat cells awaiting action. Most of the energy you use today is from the meals you ate yesterday, the day or two before that.

In short, ATP converts (not makes) energy from food by breaking bonds to release the energy to then be used by our body. The molecules that make up carbohydrates, fats and proteins are ‘glued’ together so breaking up these bonds releases their energy.

Here’s a simple check list our body goes through to make and replenish ATP (the energy we need to live!).

* How quick do we need the energy?

* What nutrients are available (carbs, protein and/or fats)?

* How much oxygen is available to contribute to the reaction?

So once again we are back to the same question… why does what we eat matter so much?

We can make our energy systems more efficient and effective with regular exercise and complete nutrition.

As you review the check list our body goes through above, you can see that we need proper nutrients (from food) and oxygen (from exercise) to provide our body with the proper energy it needs.

Have you ever heard that regular exercise and proper nutrition matters to your overall health? I bet you have!

Now, 3, 2, 1 Let’s get to it!