Actually your last sentence is not factually correct. The correlation is between the TYPE of food you consume more than it is caloric content. Animal fats and proteins are metabolized in the body far different than sugars and carbohydrates.
What changes is the signaling pathways that determine what our bodies do with fat, carbs, and protein. There are different signalling pathways. For example, if you eat a carb-rich meal the carbs get converted into blood glucose and the blood glucose gets converted into glycogen which is stored as fuel in the muscles, the liver, and the brain. Our cells feed on glycogen and if there is excess blood glucose, what is our body going to do? The signaling pathway directs the excess blood glucose to be converted into and deposited as body fat. Using blood glucose requires insulin which acts as a growth factor. It triggers body fat stroage and muscle growth People on a lot of insulin find losing weigth very difficult. Bodybuiulders may abuse insulin because it allows them to grow bigger bigger muscles.
Eat a big steak, lots of protein and fat. The protein triggers a much lesser insulin response comapred to carbs and the protein from the meat can more readily be used for building contractile tissue. The fat barely affects insulin levels. Howver, if the fat intake is high and exceeds caloric requiements, nothing deposts body fat faster that excess fat intake.
Why do bodybuilder sand strength athletes eat all the time? They want to maximize new tissue formation. This sis achieved by activating the m-Tor pathway all the ime by eating all day long, and by exercisinbtg hard repeatedly and often almost every day. The risks are CVD, CKD, and an increased risk for cancer from the caloric overloda, the strain on the cardiovacular system and kidneys, and from ebing in an anabolic state most of the time. They are mximizing strength or appearance at the cost of suboptmal longterm healt.
For optimum health one should balance anabolic and catabolic states, basically you stimulate the m-Tor and AMPK pathways in a balanced manner.
What triggers mTor?
carbs, hard exercise
growth factors like insulin
amino acids
mTor triggers cell growth including abnormal cell proliferation
insulin resistance
adipogenesis (creation of new body fat)
Why is mTor beneficial in mderation?*
Tor increases our capacity for cell growth
What triggers AMPK?
insufficient caloric intake (fasting)
ecercise (yes, it goes both ways so never skip exercise!)
Omega-3 fatty acids (fatty cold water fish)
polyphenols (mostly from plant-based food)
Why is AMPK beneficial in moderation?*
AMPK enhances autophagy, and slows or stops cell growth (so you don;t want to trigger AMPK all the time)
I'm all diatribed-out.
*by moderation I mean based on personal goals. Not everyone has the same goal. But one should find a balance between those metabolic processes. Stand naked in front of the mirror (Draw the blasted curtains,
@Jdeere562) and you can tell if your metabolic balance is off.
