Bill and Ben are twins aged 30. They both weigh 80 kgs and their height is 1.8m (that’s about 5’11” and 176 lbs or 12 st 8 lbs in old money)., so their BMI is 24.7. Genetically, they are identical and their interests are similar, but they have very different tastes in food.
Bill is very health conscious and follows current trends and advice. He keeps an eye on his calorie intake because he has noticed his clothes are getting tighter. His calorie intake is less than 2500 per day, but his waist is getting thicker. He carefully reads product labels when he makes food choices, to ensure that he is eating a low-fat diet, without added sugar. He knows that fat and sugar are bad for us because he keeps up with food articles and documentaries on TV. He works in an office and goes to the gym quite faithfully, three times each week, where he trains with weights, because he knows that improving muscle mass burns calories by increasing the metabolic rate. He also does some cardiovascular training. At weekends, he goes hill-walking or cycling with his brother.
Ben doesn’t worry too much about his calorie intake. His weight seems to be stable and he has plenty of energy. Like his twin, he works in an office (in the same company and building, in fact) and attends the gym three times each week, training with his brother, combining strength training with brief HIT cardiovascular training. In terms of strength, they are very similar and sometimes competitive on exercises like Bench Press and Pull-ups. As for fitness, Ben seems to have a slight edge. Bill has been suffering more, to keep up with Ben when running or cycling.
On a typical day, Bill’s breakfast consists of the following;
200 ml orange juice
50g Bran flakes
200 ml Semi-skimmed milk
2 slices wholemeal bread
5g low fat olive oil spread
10g marmalade or jam
Coffee with milk
Mid-morning, he is always ready for a snack, which he eats at his desk. This is usually a low fat yoghurt and an apple.
Ben’s breakfast is as follows:
2 slices back bacon
2 fried eggs
2 “home-made” pork sausages from his favourite local butcher
1 fried tomato
100g fried mushrooms
Coffee with 25ml double cream
He cooks the above himself, frying it in lard.
Mid-morning, Ben goes to the water cooler and chats to his colleagues. He doesn’t eat anything. He is simply not hungry. He doesn’t even think of food.
The brothers meet at lunch-time. Bill has a bowl of tomato and basil soup with one slice of pizza and coleslaw and coffee with milk.
Ben usually watches Bill eat his meal because he doesn’t feel hungry enough to eat. Sometimes, if he doesn’t feel hungry on rising, he will miss breakfast, but have coffee with thick cream, then eat an all-day breakfast from the canteen at mid-day, drinking black coffee or water. He always gives the toast and hash browns to his colleagues, who love to sit at his table!
Mid-afternoon, if Bill is going to the gym, he has a banana, to “keep up his blood sugar”, before training at 5.30 p.m. He usually has a Zero Calories Coke too. By this time, Ben is ready to eat, so he has a snack of 50g pecans and 50g cheese. He doesn’t always have this and never, if he’s had lunch.
After his work-out, Bill has a whey protein shake mixed with water. Ben has an apple.
On arriving home, Ben does the cooking. He grills one chicken breast for Bill and fries another in 75g butter and quickly boils 1000g broccoli. The portion sizes are the same, but Ben eats Bill’s chicken skin and pours the butter from his fried chicken over his own 500g broccoli.
After dinner at about 7 p.m., which include a multivitamin for each man, Bill has 250ml of bottled beer and 25g of salted peanuts. Ben had 75ml of dry red wine with his meal. Sometimes, he has 25ml malt whisky with a little water, afterwards, instead of the wine.
By 10 p.m., Bill feels hungry, so he has two small tangerines for supper. The brothers relax in the evening and go to bed at 10 p.m.
Before I discuss this, let me just say that each twin has consumed very close to 2400 kcals of energy this day. Does that surprise you?
Bill’s diet closely mirrors current government recommendations;
48% carbohydrates (50%), 24% protein (20%) and 28% fats (30%).
Ben’s intake, by contrast, is 9%, 19% and 72%.
Is one diet better than the other? What do you think? If they have both eaten the same number of calories, why is Bill hungry? Why has he had more meals than Ben? Is he just greedy? What is going on here? If “a calorie is a calorie is a calorie” and all these energy units are the same, why does one man’s calorie intake satisfy him, while the other does not? And why has Bill been gaining weight while carefully following government guidelines and doing exactly the same amount of physical and mental activity as his twin?
If I tell you that this is the way they always eat, in terms of macro nutrients and calorie intake, what might we expect for their immediate and future health?
I shall address these questions in another post, by which time, I hope you will have made some conclusions of your own.
Bill is very health conscious and follows current trends and advice. He keeps an eye on his calorie intake because he has noticed his clothes are getting tighter. His calorie intake is less than 2500 per day, but his waist is getting thicker. He carefully reads product labels when he makes food choices, to ensure that he is eating a low-fat diet, without added sugar. He knows that fat and sugar are bad for us because he keeps up with food articles and documentaries on TV. He works in an office and goes to the gym quite faithfully, three times each week, where he trains with weights, because he knows that improving muscle mass burns calories by increasing the metabolic rate. He also does some cardiovascular training. At weekends, he goes hill-walking or cycling with his brother.
Ben doesn’t worry too much about his calorie intake. His weight seems to be stable and he has plenty of energy. Like his twin, he works in an office (in the same company and building, in fact) and attends the gym three times each week, training with his brother, combining strength training with brief HIT cardiovascular training. In terms of strength, they are very similar and sometimes competitive on exercises like Bench Press and Pull-ups. As for fitness, Ben seems to have a slight edge. Bill has been suffering more, to keep up with Ben when running or cycling.
On a typical day, Bill’s breakfast consists of the following;
200 ml orange juice
50g Bran flakes
200 ml Semi-skimmed milk
2 slices wholemeal bread
5g low fat olive oil spread
10g marmalade or jam
Coffee with milk
Mid-morning, he is always ready for a snack, which he eats at his desk. This is usually a low fat yoghurt and an apple.
Ben’s breakfast is as follows:
2 slices back bacon
2 fried eggs
2 “home-made” pork sausages from his favourite local butcher
1 fried tomato
100g fried mushrooms
Coffee with 25ml double cream
He cooks the above himself, frying it in lard.
Mid-morning, Ben goes to the water cooler and chats to his colleagues. He doesn’t eat anything. He is simply not hungry. He doesn’t even think of food.
The brothers meet at lunch-time. Bill has a bowl of tomato and basil soup with one slice of pizza and coleslaw and coffee with milk.
Ben usually watches Bill eat his meal because he doesn’t feel hungry enough to eat. Sometimes, if he doesn’t feel hungry on rising, he will miss breakfast, but have coffee with thick cream, then eat an all-day breakfast from the canteen at mid-day, drinking black coffee or water. He always gives the toast and hash browns to his colleagues, who love to sit at his table!
Mid-afternoon, if Bill is going to the gym, he has a banana, to “keep up his blood sugar”, before training at 5.30 p.m. He usually has a Zero Calories Coke too. By this time, Ben is ready to eat, so he has a snack of 50g pecans and 50g cheese. He doesn’t always have this and never, if he’s had lunch.
After his work-out, Bill has a whey protein shake mixed with water. Ben has an apple.
On arriving home, Ben does the cooking. He grills one chicken breast for Bill and fries another in 75g butter and quickly boils 1000g broccoli. The portion sizes are the same, but Ben eats Bill’s chicken skin and pours the butter from his fried chicken over his own 500g broccoli.
After dinner at about 7 p.m., which include a multivitamin for each man, Bill has 250ml of bottled beer and 25g of salted peanuts. Ben had 75ml of dry red wine with his meal. Sometimes, he has 25ml malt whisky with a little water, afterwards, instead of the wine.
By 10 p.m., Bill feels hungry, so he has two small tangerines for supper. The brothers relax in the evening and go to bed at 10 p.m.
Before I discuss this, let me just say that each twin has consumed very close to 2400 kcals of energy this day. Does that surprise you?
Bill’s diet closely mirrors current government recommendations;
48% carbohydrates (50%), 24% protein (20%) and 28% fats (30%).
Ben’s intake, by contrast, is 9%, 19% and 72%.
Is one diet better than the other? What do you think? If they have both eaten the same number of calories, why is Bill hungry? Why has he had more meals than Ben? Is he just greedy? What is going on here? If “a calorie is a calorie is a calorie” and all these energy units are the same, why does one man’s calorie intake satisfy him, while the other does not? And why has Bill been gaining weight while carefully following government guidelines and doing exactly the same amount of physical and mental activity as his twin?
If I tell you that this is the way they always eat, in terms of macro nutrients and calorie intake, what might we expect for their immediate and future health?
I shall address these questions in another post, by which time, I hope you will have made some conclusions of your own.
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