Random question about calories

How long does it take to gain weight?  I mean, say we eat our weight in ice cream one day and the ultimate weight gain will be 10 pounds.  How long does it take our bodies to convert the mass of calories into stored fat that will register on a scale? Also, is there any food that is so calorie rich that the weight gain resulting in eating the food would be equal to or greater than the actual weight of the food consumed? I realize these are random questions, but I seriously have always wondered.

Let me know if this answer is good enough - these are tough questions! How long does it take to gain weight?  Well, weight is not just fat, it's also water, protein, and a host of other things.  Weight can fluctuate 3-5 lbs in a day under normal cir****tances.  If you are talking about fat tissue only - then it takes 3500 extra calories to make one pound of fat.  How long does it take? Every body is different. Most food takes 1-2 days to transit through your gut and be broken down into it's component parts.  The further metabolism of those food components may take a week or more. How long does it take for the calories to register on the scale? The volume of food will register on the scale immediately.  If you don't eliminate anything (urine, feces, vomit) then the volume of food will register on the scale.  After eating anything, your body will process the food and any calorie that is above the body's needs for operation (breathing, moving, metabolizing, etc) will be put away in storage (fat) for a later day. Is there any food so rich... When your body metabolizes a food, some of that food will not be absorbed or will be spent in fueling the processes of digesting it.  Your body is efficient at getting most of the calories out of food, but there's a reason our intestines are 26+ feet long - so that we can get the maximum calories out of food.  But some of the food will be wasted (percentage-wise) in the process of breaking it down.  So, no, there is no food that packs on more pounds than it weighs alone. (at least not that I know of...if there is, someone please let me know!) Danielle Halewijn RD eNutritioncare.com

Aaaah, thank you for your answers!  These questions have been plaguing me for far too long! LOL I wondered if maybe a really fancy and rich cheesecake or something, but I've never checked the nutrition label on a cheesecake... I'm kind of scared.  Is there such thing as healthy cheesecake??

Is there a healthy cheesecake? Well it has "cheese" and "cake" right there in the name to give you fair warning!  You can adjust a recipe to lower the fat and sugar content - but I don't know if you ever make it "healthy".  These types of foods are meant to be enjoyed as a treat.  There are no bad foods! But, there are bad habits!  If you have a slice of cheesecake occasionally as a treat, that's fine.  If you eat cheese cake every day because you like it, that's a bad habit.  If you eat the entire cheesecake over a weekend, that is just a bad idea! (or binge-eating behavior) Food should not just provide you with calories, it should also provide you with nutrients.  Sure, you can take a daily vitamin pill to get your nutrients but it is a well known fact that the nutrients in foods are better absorbed than supplements.  Fruits and vegetables provide more than just vitamins, there are also 'phytochemicals' that promote other body functions - a well known phytochemical is beta-carotene another that is getting alot of attention these days is lycopene.  These aren't vitamins or minerals but are health promoting substances all the same.  There are thousands of these compounds in our food (especially in fruits & veggies) which cannot be reproduced in pill form. Now, supplement producers are going to tell you about soil depletion, on & on and how our food doesn't contain the nutrients it once did.  Well, all you botanists out there (or gardeners for that matter) know that a plant won't grow unless it has what it needs in its soil.  With this fact in mind, I have faith that the fruits & veggies I eat have more nutrients than the vitamin producers can put in a pill. So for all the WLS people out there reading this (and who want to tell me that they can't tolerate fruits & veggies with their new pouch), as soon as you can tolerate them - fruits and veggies should be a part of your life. Long answer for a short question... Danielle Halewijn RD eNutritioncare.com

That was a beautiful answer, thank you very much! The ability to eat fruits and vegetables is very important to me.  My parents are vegans, so the importance of veggies has been deeply ingrained within me, but I didn't know that things like lycopene and beta-carotene weren't in supplements.  Thank you for taking the time to put so much valuable  information in your response. 

Let me clarify a little - lycopene and beta carotene can be separated out, but beta carotene is one of a family of carotenoids (there are 400 or so of these related compounds).  They just can't get all 400 into pill form - that's where food is better than vitamins!  Lycopene can also be separated out, but does anyone know what other compounds are present in tomatoes that also promote prostate health (for the men in our lives). Some phytochemicals can be separated out, but they can never reproduce the complexity of fruits & vegetables. (I sound like I'm in love or something!) Happy Labor Day! Danielle Halewijn RD eNutritioncare.com

Nothing wrong with singing the praises of good vegetables.  While we are on the subject, I heard that low zinc can cause stinky feet.... is that true, and can you tell me what foods are good sources of zinc?  My daughter gets really smelly feet, which I always thought was because she doesn't like to wear socks.

Zinc and smelly feet is a new one for me!  Someone out there may know more than me, but I have never heard of that.  Usually smelly feet is from sweat in the shoes and the bacteria that grow in that warm, moist environment.  Zinc deficiency is more often associated with taste changes and poor wound healing Zinc is one of the nutrients 'enriched' into processed grain products.  The Daily Recommended Intake for women is 8 mg, for men it is 11 mg.   Zinc is present in meats, shellfish, poultry, milk and milk products.  Zinc in foods cannot lead to toxicity but zinc from supplements can.  In RNY and othe WLS zinc may be malabsorbed. The foods which are considered high in zinc: 3 oz oysters 72 mg, 3 oz beef steak 4.9 mg, 1 cup plain yogurt 2.2 mg, 1 cup enriched cereal 3.8 mg, 3 oz pork chop 2 mg, 3 oz shrimp 1.5 mg Danielle Halewijn RD eNutritioncare.com