Julius served as the ship's surgeon as it sailed the tropical seas of the East Indies. It was during this voyage he stumbled onto his first discovery. As he was draining some of the blood of an ill sailor, he noticed it was much too red. Venous blood should have a bluish tint to it as it carries less oxygen than arterial blood. But the blood of the ship's sailors was a different color in the tropical climate than their home climate. The blood was redder. He deduced that this change was due to an increase in the concentration of oxygen in the blood since the climate was warmer. A warmer climate would mean that the body did not need to use as much oxygen to keep the body warm. From this observation, he concluded that muscular work, heat, and other forms of chemical energy from the oxidation of food must be interchangeable. The energy is transferred from one source to another. It is neither created nor destroyed.
After he concluded the voyage, he returned to his home in Germany, married and began his practice as a local physician. But, the observation of the reddish blood tugged at his mind. He set out to record his observations and publish a theoretical paper later that year in 1840. It was ignored by everyone in the scientific community. Julius's paper was rubbish. Julius had no formal training in physics so he returned to study the discipline and two years later published a much better and more robust argument. It was still ignored.
At about the same time Julius was publishing his observations, James Joule was conducting scientific experiments about how mechanical work is converted into heat. His work, detailed and methodical, was 99% correct. The scientific community accepted Joule's work and ignored Julius. Julius was devastated and in 1850 tried to kill himself. He spent the next several years in and out of mental asylums. It was not until 1862, that Julius Robert Mayer was recognized for his original theory which became known as the First Law of Thermodynamics.
The First Law of Thermodynamics states that energy is neither created nor destroyed. Energy is conserved. Energy can be converted from one form into another. Ice into water. Water into gas. Your body follows this law. The food you eat is converted into energy through the digestion process. The amount of energy in food is measured and reported in the form of Calories. One Calorie (a calorie from food is expressed with a capital C and is equal to 1000 calories) is the amount of energy required to raise 1 kilogram of water 1 degree centigrade (this is about a 2 degree increase in Fahrenheit). A Calorie in a cookie contains the same amount of energy as a Calorie in lettuce. The difference between a cookie and a cup of lettuce is the total number of Calories and the way your body processes or uses the energy.
Whatever energy your body does not use, it must change into something else. The unused energy is stored as fat. Your body has a limited ability to store protein or carbohydrate, no ability to store alcohol, but virtually an unlimited ability to store fat. We call this process of energy entering your body, being converted, used and stored your Energy Flux. When you have a positive Energy Flux, you will deposit the excess energy as fat. When you have a negative Energy Flux, you will burn fat. Expressed as a formula, Energy Flux is:
- Energy Flux = Calories In - Energy Demand
- Positive Energy Flux = Excess Energy
- Excess Energy = Fat Deposition
When your body runs at high speeds, you have a negative Energy Flux. You use most of what you consume and have little left over to be deposited as fat. It's like your body is the engine of a Hummer instead of a Geo. You just suck up the energy. Lance Armstrong consumes 8,000 - 10,000 calories a day during the Tour de France. Do you see any fat on his body? No. He churns through all that energy spending hours on his bike. So, the logical next question is, "What are the best and easiest ways to help your body run at a higher speed to create a negative Energy Flux"? Especially if you do not have the time to spend hours on a bike, at the gym or in a pool? And, are there certain things that might be counter productive? Hmmm.......
I'll let you in on the secrets soon about what science tells us really revs your engine. In the meantime, you can find the answers in Fat Burning 101 available through our online store. Just released in audio CD format, this product is filled with great information about how to change your body from a Geo to a Hummer for way less than filling a Hummer's gas tank. As always you can still purchase this product in a DVD format.
Make today count.
Doug Kelsey
