Macroman & Mannequins

Human figurines help people understand their body's relationship with food in a ways that no other methods do. How so?

When visual demonstrations using human figurines are used to explain and show what happens during familiar and concrete experiences such as walking, swimming, bicycling, gardening, or running are – people are enabled to imagine the reality of how their body personally uses food. Unlike other methods used to explain food, these demonstrations relate to experiences that most people already have felt, and therefore, the knowledge is already grounded (to a significant degree), in their bodies - physically and emotionally!

We need only to connect past experience and existing memories with visual demonstrations to teach how nutrition and the physical body relate to one another. This is what the art of teaching nutrition and exercise physiology is all about. This is only the beginning of a radical departure from the way people are conventionally exposed to learning about nutrition, health, and physical fitness. How so?

Rather than identifying food in conventional terms, i.e. as an object such as banana, an almond, fish filet, or food groups, (and much less in psychologically reactive terms such as 'healthy', 'fattening', or 'good/bad' for you) – we step beneath the surface of food 'as object' and look at how the body uses the nutrients in food – beginning with the macronutrients. This automatically allows people to think about food and their body in a new context. How so?

To begin, we start with only the three primary elements of food – Macronutrients: Carbohydrates, Protein, and Fat - in order to view the simplest, macro-elements of nutrition. Adding details to this picture, before seeing it clearly, is like putting fine artwork upon a shoddy foundation, a shaky framework, and walls that won't hold up.

Therefore, this start is exactly like breaking colors into the three primary colors, first and foremost, before moving onward to mix and create other colors. Many foods and food groups are like mixed up primary colors.

In other words, foods or food groups defined 'as objects' (or worse yet… products) -exemplify mixed primary colors, and therefore, this is why it is essential to take a step backward and look at primary elements, unmixed, first.

I am not unafraid to say that most humans are confused because they have not been taught to take this step backwards, and instead, have received too much information (regardless of whether the information is valid or not), that is simply painted over an already confused picture.

I want to stress the principle of the matter: We are simply looking at the three macronutrients, and moreover, we realize that all diets must alter the macronutrients somehow, according to some formula or logical notion. The formula I use is based on the human body's physiology over its full spectrum of physicality (from at rest to maximum physical exertion, and all points in between).

Think again, this means we know how the body uses food at any moment of time relative to any intensity level, as well as over a period of time – say an hour, a day, a week, etcetera – as revealed in the Carbohydrate Continuum. This inquiry reveals what I call 'nutrient specificity' of macronutrients - as detailed in my book, Everyday Alchemy.

The specificity of macronutrient formulas are scientifically measurable and derive from decades of human physical studies that arguably display the highest caliber of consistency compared to virtually all other physiological or bio-medical studies regarding health and nutritional/energy needs. Hence, I use Macroman and the Mannequins to enable people to visualize the relationship between macronutrients and activity level.

Visually showing how the body uses macronutrients relative to real world activity integrates nutritional needs with using the body – or not using the body. Moreover, this reveals that balanced nutrition is not about combining different types of foods with one another, but balancing food against the body's energetic demand. It is a misnomer to call any diet a 'balanced diet' unless calories from food are balanced against the body's physical/energetic demand. * This is explained in full detail in this author's book Everyday Alchemy.

The body is the key for understanding our energetic relationship with food. Without the body, no referent exists for 'calories' to possess any human-like meaning or relevant definition we can wrap our brain around. In other words, we cannot experience what it feels like for water itself (as if we are the water or that water is alive), to heat up when food is burned, but we do know what a muscle burn feels like when our muscles shift into a high-carbohydrate burning mode.

Consequently, The Carbohydrate Continuum is the result – or rather is the reflection of this energetic relationship. The images in The Continuum correspond to the intensity level of exercise – from... at rest on one extreme end of the spectrum, to full-out physical exertion (such as sprinting) at the other extreme. Thus, I use Macroman & Friends, The Marvelous Mannequins, and Einstein's muscle to help people visualize the energetic relationship that in turn, is useful for creating a literally balanced diet, as well as physical training programs to match.

Integration is a reality.

Imagination is a transformative power and is a key for education. Without image-I-nation there is no upwelling of the spirit.

Ed Watson, 2007.

* I am not restricting the notion to eat food strictly in the sense of energy, nor ignoring knowledge on food combining.