It’s summer – and with that comes summer vacation time. And, bet you might be thinking that when you’re on that vacation, you can also take a vacation from your diet and eat what ever you want – something high fat – with no repercussions for your body.
Think again.
A new study by Virginia Tech is showing that after just five days of high-fat eating, the way in which the body’s muscle processes nutrients changes, which could lead to long-term problems such as weight gain, obesity, and other health issues.
According to Matt Hulver, and associate professor of human nutrition, foods and exercise, “Most people think they can indulge in high-fat foods for a few days and get away with it, but all it takes is five days for your body’s muscle to start to protest.”
In an article published recently in the online version of the journal Obesity, Hulver and other Virginia Tech researchers found that the way muscle metabolizes nutrients is changed in just five days, if you have dived into a high-fat diet.
“This shows that our bodies are can respond dramatically to changes in diet in a shorter time frame than we have previously thought,” said Hulver. “If you think about it, five days is a very short time. There are plenty of times when we all eat fatty foods for a few days, be it the holidays, vacations, or other celebrations. But this research shows that those high-fat diets can change a person’s normal metabolism in a very short timeframe.”
What happens is this. When you eat, your blood glucose level increases, and your muscles either use this glucose for energy, or they store it as fat for use later. But, your body weight is about 30% muscle. That’s a huge part of what regulates your body’s overall usage of glucose. So, if you jump to a high fat diet, and your muscles change how they metabolize nutrients due to that change to high-fat, it has a huge impact on your overall metabolism – this can have dire consequences on the rest of the body and can lead to health issues.
What was found out in the study is that your muscles’ ability to oxidize glucose after a meal is disrupted after five days of eating a high-fat diet, which could lead to the body’s inability to respond to insulin, a risk factor for the development of diabetes and other diseases.
A normal diet is made up of about 30 percent fat and students in this study had diets that were about 55 percent fat. Overall, they still had the same caloric intake – the only change was the overall percentage of fat vs. protein and carbohydrates. And, interestingly enough – the students didn’t gain weight, as their caloric intake didn’t change – the only change was “more fat”. The study tested what happened to their blood glucose, and the manner in which muscles metabolized that glucose.
So – whether you’re on vacation, or just feel like “falling off the diet wagon” – it’s much better for your log term fitness goals – as well as your long-term health – to stay on a healthy diet!
Source: Virgina Tech
