Sugar digestion and Fat digestion are very different processes. It is common knowledge that water, and oil do not mix. Regarding digestion carbohydrates are water soluble whereas as fats are emulsifiable. This renders simultaneous digestion difficult and probably also inefficient. Meaning that extracting energy from such a mixture is challenging for our digestive system and this reflects itself on a metabolically. If we consider our stomach to be an engine then it would mean that the combustion process is hampered and the output is negatively impacted. Slowing things down and possibly creating conflicting processes.
Carbohydrates for example are digested very rapidly and the process starts in the mouth. The time that sugars need to reach our bloodstream and the energy to reach our cells can be measured in minutes whereas fats require hours. According to some research it takes up to 40 hours to be fully digested. This means that if we are in urgent need of energy our body will want us to eat carbohydrates. And if we mix those carbohydrates with fats then the calories from fat will not reach our cells except much later. This means our body will continue to request carbohydrates to satisfy the urgent energy need and this is done by signaling hunger.
If eating a carbohydrate and fat mix, then an urgent calorie need for 800 calories would translate to eating 1600 calories in total. The 800 calories from carbohydrates will be used first and the 800 from fats will be sidelined. And since the need has been satisfied it is probable that the fat calories will be stored for future needs. If this type of a scenario keeps being repeated it is clear that there will be an overconsumption of calories because of a hunger satisfaction mismatch.
This scenario is valid in the case that our digestive engine is in a primarily sugar energy extraction mode. But what would happen if our digestive engine were in a primarily fat energy extraction mode?…
*Sources of information:
https://www.healthline.com/health/carbohydrate-digestion
https://www.healthline.com/health/fat-digestion
