Diet Typing Systems provides each person the ability to understand their most efficient energy production source. Identifying the right foods to use for energy production is key to optimal health. Learning how your body burns fuel and utilizing it in the most efficient way is vital for health and wellness.
The Diet Typing System test measures which system each person is “leaning” on the most for energy production. Although each source of energy has great importance to optimal health, understanding which fuel your body prefers allows it to heal and fix itself. This is step one of our system.
There are three sources of energy production, we believe on focusing on only two main sources: Sugar (carbohydrates) and fat. Although protein can be used as a fuel source, it does not burn well as a fuel without first being processed via an inefficient chain of exchanges and is the least desirable fuel source.
Sugar Burner
Sugar (carbohydrates) is the most immediate available and efficient source of energy. It is converted into glucose and a small amount is stored for immediate energy. If too many carbohydrates or the wrong type are consumed they may end up being converted into triglycerides and stored as fat.
Carbohydrates are simply sugar molecules linked to one another in varying arrangements. For example, starch, the most important carbohydrate in the human diet, is nothing more than numerous glucose molecules linked together in a long strand. Potatoes are an excellent example.
Another example of a carbohydrate is glycogen. Glycogen is how humans store excess glucose (a single sugar molecule) for later use. Unlike starch, which is a long chain of individual glucose molecules, glycogen is a highly branched structure that allows the body to rapidly cleave off individual sugar molecules to be burned for energy.
Carbohydrates can be further broken down into 2 categories: simple and complex. We’ve all heard of the term “complex carbohydrates”, which is multiple sugar molecules linked together in a complicated way. Contrarily, a simple carbohydrate is merely a few (usually 1 to 3) sugar molecules linked together.
The distinction between simple and complex carbohydrates; simple carbohydrates are rapidly absorbed by the gut and enter the bloodstream very quickly. Candy bars are a great example. If you need a quick boost of energy unwrap a Snickers!
The problem is that since simple carbohydrates enter the bloodstream so rapidly they get metabolized quickly. This causes you to lose that energy boost fast, which is why you often feel “de-energized” an hour or so after eating “junk food”. In contrast, complex carbohydrates get degraded by the gut much less rapidly, and therefore slowly trickle into the
bloodstream. This gives you a more sustained, but less pronounced energy boost. Whole grains are a great example of complex carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates are almost always the first energy source that is utilized during exercise. This forms the basis behind “carbo loading”, or eating a meal rich in carbohydrates the night before, or morning of, a planned work out. During exercise, the body will then utilize the individual sugar molecules in the carbohydrates to provide energy for your muscles and brain. Once you run out of sugar (or the form that humans store it in, glycogen) your body will turn to using fat.
Fat Burner
Fat is twice as energy bearing as sugar, and is second in terms of energy production efficiency. Fat requires more energy and is slower to burn; as a result, fat is perfect for long duration energy production.
All human beings have a certain percentage of body weight that is fat. From an evolutionary stand point this is advantageous. During times of drought or famine there were not enough crops to provide adequate carbohydrates, and thus humans survived by “burning” their fat stores. In biochemical terms, fat is nothing more than long chains of carbon atoms linked together. It is the carbon in the fat that gets utilized to form energy that your muscles and other body tissues use.
Fat is not as efficient an energy provider as sugar. This is the reason that endurance athletes, a few hours into a work out, hit the proverbial “wall”. The wall represents the point where they have burned up all the carbohydrate in their body, and are now running on fat reserves. The decreased amount of energy gained per unit of fat, when compared to what you get with carbohydrates, results in a relative feeling of fatigue.
These principles can also be used as a weight loss system. Using the basics of carbohydrate and fat metabolism it makes sense that people have difficulty losing weight when they exercise vigorously for only half an hour. This is because the quick vigorous exercise burns mostly carbohydrate stores in the liver (ie: glycogen); the body never touches its fat reserves.
In contrast, running a marathon (or a nice long walk or jog in the park) causes the body to tap into its fat reserves. This is also the idea behind exercising early in the morning before having breakfast. In the morning your body has been burning carbohydrates to keep all your organs functioning; therefore, in the morning your body has less carbohydrate available to burn because it was slowly getting eaten away during sleep. If you exercise at this point you’ll have to tap into your fat stores earlier than you normally would.
The first step is to know your DT score on the spectrum this will allow you to know what type you are (how you burn fuel).
Step two: We then customize your food list by identifying which foods are best and which ones to restrict to help heal over 49 health conditions as well as allergies and intolerances listed on the test.
DTS provides you the most advanced complete personalized Diet Therapy ever created to lead to optimum health.
References and Resources
(1) Champe PC. Lippincott’s Illustrated Reviews: Biochemistry . Second Edition. Lippincott-Ravens Publishers, 1992. (2) Nelson DL, Cox MM. Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry. Fifth Edition. New York: Worth Publishers, 2008.
(3) Summerbell CD, Cameron C, Glasziou PP. WITHDRAWN: Advice on low-fat diets for obesity. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008 Jul 16;(3):CD003640.
(4) Elliott SA, Truby H, Lee A. Associations of body mass index and waist circumference with: energy intake and percentage energy from macronutrients, in a cohort of Australian Children. Nutr J. 2011 May 26;10(1):58. [Epub ahead of print]