Why Eat?

Why Eat?

Really, what's the point?   Yes, as a rule, food tastes good, and we get hungry.  But why does it taste good, why do we get hungry?  Why is our body programed to "get hungry" and to like eating?

We are aware that if we don't eat we will die - although that remains largely an abstract concept for most people in the west.  At least for awhile.

What exactly would we die from?  Simple. When anything starves, it dies from a lack of energy.

To understand food requires an understanding of energy, which happens to be the main reason we eat.  All living things from the humblest  bacteria, to the blue whale, or to the tallest redwood tree need a constant uninterrupted supply of energy.  Every cell calls out for the stuff.  Much of life consists of the quest of energy.  The availability, or lack thereof, has determined the survival of life forms throughout time. We live in odd times right now in that we have death and disease also resulting from consuming too much of the stuff. In any case, the importance of energy can scarcely be overemphasized.

Lets back up a minute, however.  The word energy, like the word “love,”  has many definitions which leads to misunderstandings and confusion.  We need to get specific.

So let’s begin first with what we don’t mean when we refer to energy in our food.
Sometimes we use the word  “energy” when we are referring more to being “energetic”, as in - feeling good, awake, alive, “king of the world” type thing.  This doesn’t really have much to do with food.  Someone shouting “fire” or “there’s a group of naked people running down the street” can often bring on a burst of this sort of "energy" to the most exhausted of people.  

Then there is the drug thing.  Certain substances can make you feel like swinging from the chandeliers, tap dancing, or partying more enthusiastically than decorum would dictate.  We would marvel at the “energy” such a person has. Likewise, other substances can seem to sap one’s “energy” causing lethargy.  

Other times it is more of a spiritual thing.  Energy may be lined up according to “chakra’s" in some traditions.  One can feel the “life energy”.  Or sense the “energy" in a room.   A friend of mine was seeing someone concerning pain in her back and was given certain exercises that would cause “the negative energy to flow from her back, to her arms and out her finger tips.”  Again, not what we are talking about with food.

These are probably all defensible uses of the word energy and, in each case,  I would be hard pressed to find a substitute.  But these are not related to the type of energy we consume in food or that run our body processes. Our lack of clarity about what we mean by nutritional energy results products being touted as “high energy” and having “no energy” at the same time.  The “high energy” generally comes from a drug, something like caffeine, which gives a bit of a buzz, but does not fulfill a nutritional need.  

Energy that we receive in food does not necessarily make us “feel” anything – except perhaps less hungry.  It is a measureable physical substance.  It is defined in science as the “ability to do work”.  “Work” is further defined as moving something against a resistance.

Bottom line – energy is the ability to move things.  And yes, all of us, even when we sleep are moving, all the time.  A reasonable definition of death would be “not moving." Your heart, lungs, circulation, eyelids, and the intercellular activities of several trillion cells are in motion however subtlety, and require a constant source of energy.

Your body will cajole you finding and  maintaining sources of energy.  Try going hungry for awhile, you’ll be amazed at what you are willing to eat, and the lengths you will eventually go to satisfy you needs for energy.  The pursuit of energy is basic for all life because without it, life ends.

When I taught nutrition I would sometimes ask students if they felt there was a “most important” nutrient.  I got a variety of answers, but protein was usually the popular favorite.  Not to discount the importance of protein, but, in fact, if energy needs are not met, the body will quickly use any availble protein for energy purposes.  If one is in a state of starvation, the body  is breaking down protein from muscle and other proteins in the body and using it for energy.   Death comes, usually, due to organ failure, often the heart, because it has been quarried to the point that it can no longer perform its function.   

So, truth is, and despite its bad name in the popular press, energy is the most essential ingredient in our food - by a long shot. Throughout history, the  deficiency that has caused the most death and illness has been, hands down, the deficiency of energy.   All of our other nutrients pretty much come along for the ride.

It is important to note that, like all food substances, energy can be taken in excess and that too, will result in morbidity and mortality.  In our “food, food everywhere type culture” this has become predominant nutritional disease in western cultures and we will deal with this in due course.  

For the time being, let’s look at the basics.