Diet Questions

Question
I consider myself fairly smart, but when it comes to eating I am confused.  If you could help me by answering these questions I would be greatful:
1. If you eat well most of the time but over eat on occassion can you make it up the next day.  For example if you eat 100 calories more than you should on Mon. can you make up the differnce by eating 100 calories less on Tues in order to not gain weight?
2.Does it matter where you get your calories?
I know you should of course eat healthy, fruits, veggies, etc.  BUT for the purpose of my questions lets assume someone in one day ate nothing but snickers candy bars.  If they do not exceed their daily calorie need will they still gain weight?  In other words if you eat 1 candy bar that is 240 calories, can you gain weight or is it the same as eating 240 calories of bananas.
I know it sounds confusing, I hope you can get my point, lol.
Thanks for you time.

Answer
Dear Roni, yes the body will burn off the stored extra calories the next day if needed for energy. The trick is to make the body burn stored calories. Some people are very good at storing and holding on to stored calories (fat).
Where a calorie comes from does matter. To make it simple, if you eat all sugar, the body produces insulin to get rid of the sugar. The highs and lows of a blood sugar are related to insulin production and fat storage. You need this insulin to store fat. Bananas are actually mostly sugar as is most fruit, so will also produce an insulin spike when eaten. Instead if you eat say tuna fish, or some other protein food, the body breaks it down with a different pathway, so no insulin spike, hence no easy way to store fat eating this type of food. That's how the Atkins diet works. So yes, the type of food does matter. Sugars and carbs are easily stored as fat, protein and fats are not. Laura Kraemer,Slimkids.com

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