0:00:09.459,0:00:11.097
About seven years ago,

0:00:11.097,0:00:13.140
I saw this photo of myself

0:00:13.140,0:00:14.569
and decided that I had to do

0:00:14.569,0:00:17.423
something about this thing.

0:00:18.643,0:00:22.344
So I ate less food,[br]moved around a bit more,

0:00:22.472,0:00:24.952
and lo and behold, this happened.

0:00:24.952,0:00:27.390
I lost 16 kilograms.

0:00:27.390,0:00:28.818
And you're probably wondering,

0:00:28.818,0:00:29.837
How did he do it?

0:00:29.837,0:00:30.848
But I was wondering,

0:00:30.848,0:00:33.060
Where did the 16 kilograms go?

0:00:33.060,0:00:36.428
And I've been infatuated[br]with this question ever since.

0:00:36.428,0:00:39.940
I ended up publishing a paper about it[br]in the British Medical Journal,

0:00:39.940,0:00:43.099
very brief paper - 850 words, two figures.

0:00:44.650,0:00:47.884
And then, I published a book about it,[br]which was no bestseller

0:00:47.884,0:00:48.997
because it told you

0:00:48.997,0:00:51.536
that you had to eat less[br]and move more to lose weight.

0:00:51.536,0:00:53.297
No one wants to hear that.

0:00:53.297,0:00:57.968
But it's now a first-year subject[br]at the University of New South Wales,

0:00:57.968,0:00:59.766
and so I better explain

0:00:59.766,0:01:05.047
that I did not figure out[br]where fat goes when you lose weight.

0:01:05.047,0:01:07.211
That was done a long time ago.

0:01:07.433,0:01:09.670
In fact, here's some time posts for you.

0:01:09.670,0:01:12.457
When Captain Cook sailed[br]past Bundaberg in 1770,

0:01:13.141,0:01:16.740
we didn't know what happens to fat[br]when you lose weight.

0:01:16.740,0:01:20.950
But when the First Fleet[br]sailed into Sydney Cove,

0:01:20.950,0:01:22.088
we did know the answer,

0:01:22.088,0:01:24.537
and it was all figured out[br]by this bloke in between.

0:01:24.537,0:01:25.937
His name's Antoine Lavoisier.

0:01:25.937,0:01:29.475
He figured out that respiration[br]is a combustion.

0:01:29.757,0:01:32.731
You turn food into[br]carbon dioxide and water.

0:01:33.035,0:01:35.935
And in the process, nothing is lost.

0:01:36.330,0:01:37.364
Nothing is created.

0:01:37.364,0:01:39.018
Everything is just transformed.

0:01:39.271,0:01:40.959
And so, what did I do?

0:01:40.959,0:01:45.203
Well, when I lost weight and I first[br]thought about this, I was so infatuated.

0:01:45.203,0:01:46.199
I wanted to know

0:01:46.199,0:01:50.255
if I lose 10 kilos, where[br]does the 10 kilos go precisely?

0:01:50.685,0:01:52.833
And it took me months to figure this out.

0:01:52.833,0:01:55.070
But it turns out that[br]when you lose weight,

0:01:55.070,0:02:00.330
8.4 kilos out of every 10[br]comes out of your lungs,

0:02:00.330,0:02:05.174
which I think is the best fact[br]I've ever heard, so I gave -

0:02:05.174,0:02:09.077
you've got to add oxygen to do this,[br]so you can't do it (snap) like that.

0:02:09.077,0:02:10.480
It takes a while.

0:02:10.480,0:02:13.927
So I gave a talk about this at TEDxQUT[br]a long time ago now,

0:02:13.927,0:02:17.087
and then I did a story[br]for ABC TV Catalyst,

0:02:17.087,0:02:19.626
and I met this fellow, [br]Professor Andrew Brown,

0:02:19.626,0:02:21.012
who teaches biochemistry.

0:02:21.012,0:02:23.902
And I showed him my calculations,

0:02:23.902,0:02:25.803
and he said, "That's pretty interesting.

0:02:25.803,0:02:27.476
Let's try and get that published."

0:02:27.476,0:02:30.349
And so he helped me get it[br]into the British Medical Journal.

0:02:30.349,0:02:32.369
And the other thing we did

0:02:32.369,0:02:36.247
was we surveyed 150 doctors,[br]dieticians and personal trainers

0:02:36.247,0:02:38.604
and asked them what they thought.

0:02:38.974,0:02:40.474
And here's the thing:

0:02:40.474,0:02:42.364
what they think happens is impossible.

0:02:42.364,0:02:47.323
You can't turn fat into energy,[br]because it's made of atoms.

0:02:47.323,0:02:50.413
And you would need antimatter atoms[br]to annihilate them.

0:02:50.683,0:02:53.873
So that's literally impossible.

0:02:53.998,0:02:56.308
And since then,[br]I've realised, well, hang on,

0:02:56.308,0:02:59.422
this is part of a much bigger gap[br]in health literacy.

0:02:59.422,0:03:02.188
I've asked literally thousands[br]of kids this question:

0:03:02.188,0:03:04.931
When you breathe in,[br]what are you inhaling? Oxygen.

0:03:04.931,0:03:06.214
And what are you exhaling?

0:03:06.214,0:03:07.677
Carbon dioxide.

0:03:08.366,0:03:11.949
What they don't realise[br]is that they're breathing in atoms,

0:03:11.949,0:03:15.005
and two go in, but three come out.

0:03:15.005,0:03:19.431
And it's this atom here[br]that is the gap in health literacy.

0:03:19.737,0:03:21.563
It's also the secret to weight loss

0:03:21.563,0:03:27.693
because it means that your exhaled breath[br]is heavier than your inhaled breath.

0:03:28.707,0:03:31.834
And when you ask around,[br]so few people know this.

0:03:31.834,0:03:33.986
Well, have a listen to these people:

0:03:33.986,0:03:37.333
(Audio) Ruben Meerman: What's[br]the gas that you inhale in out of the air

0:03:37.333,0:03:38.670
that keeps you alive called?

0:03:38.670,0:03:39.855
Oxygen.

0:03:39.855,0:03:40.940
Oxygen.

0:03:40.940,0:03:43.908
RM: And what's the gas you breathe out[br]because you're alive?

0:03:44.428,0:03:45.625
Carbon dioxide?

0:03:45.825,0:03:47.081
Carbon dioxide?

0:03:47.769,0:03:49.121
RM: Now third question.

0:03:49.243,0:03:52.821
Where did the carbon atoms[br]in the carbon dioxide come from?

0:03:52.859,0:03:54.175
Oh ...

0:03:55.261,0:03:56.619
I don't know.

0:03:56.621,0:03:58.120
(Chuckle) No idea.

0:03:58.120,0:03:59.571
I've got no idea.

0:04:00.559,0:04:02.179
I wouldn't have a clue, mate.

0:04:02.179,0:04:03.913
Ooh, ahhhh.

0:04:03.913,0:04:07.083
Ummmm, wow! Good question.

0:04:07.329,0:04:09.849
I should have concentrated[br]more in chemistry.

0:04:09.849,0:04:11.979
So where do carbon atoms come from? Or ...

0:04:11.979,0:04:14.957
Umm, pollution?

0:04:15.030,0:04:16.444
Fumes? Gas?

0:04:17.934,0:04:19.636
Cars and stuff? I don't know.

0:04:19.636,0:04:21.379
Yeah. Vehicles.

0:04:21.559,0:04:22.693
Don't know.

0:04:22.693,0:04:24.546
Cow poop? (Laughter)

0:04:24.854,0:04:26.529
Should know, but don't know.

0:04:26.529,0:04:28.393
So to be somewhere in the body, right?

0:04:28.393,0:04:29.904
Out of my lungs.

0:04:29.927,0:04:31.165
My lungs?

0:04:31.165,0:04:32.491
From the environment?

0:04:32.491,0:04:33.937
From your blood stream?

0:04:33.937,0:04:35.741
From living things?

0:04:35.782,0:04:37.242
Maybe from the blood?

0:04:37.242,0:04:38.479
From plants?

0:04:38.479,0:04:40.674
My chemistry days are over.[br]I've got nothing.

0:04:40.904,0:04:44.571
From the food we eat?

0:04:45.730,0:04:47.670
RM: You know that! You got there!

0:04:47.670,0:04:48.837
Really?

0:04:48.837,0:04:49.964
So you eat it.

0:04:49.964,0:04:51.221
RM: Yeah

0:04:51.221,0:04:53.644
We eat it? From what?

0:04:53.917,0:04:55.719
RM: Have you heard of carbohydrates?

0:04:55.719,0:04:57.029
Yes.

0:04:57.029,0:04:58.367
Oh, yes. Oh, OK.

0:04:58.367,0:05:00.704
RM: What do you think[br]the carbo bit means?

0:05:00.704,0:05:02.104
Carbon dioxide.

0:05:02.346,0:05:05.726
Probably carbon dioxide?[br]Does it connect to somewhere?

0:05:05.726,0:05:11.065
Like carbon and hydrogen[br]and oxygen together?

0:05:11.995,0:05:13.103
RM: Yes!

0:05:13.103,0:05:16.194
Carbon - carbohydrate, yeah.

0:05:16.365,0:05:17.742
It's not the same word.

0:05:17.853,0:05:20.664
Never thought. It's C-H-A.[br]Carbon-hydrogen.

0:05:21.274,0:05:22.496
OK, interesting.

0:05:22.511,0:05:24.108
RM: What do you do for a crust?

0:05:24.108,0:05:26.625
I'm a PDH PE teacher.

0:05:28.923,0:05:31.372
(Onstage) This is not a gap[br]in health literacy.

0:05:31.372,0:05:34.347
This is a gaping black hole[br]in health literacy.

0:05:34.347,0:05:37.761
And the amazing thing is we supposedly[br]learned all this stuff at school.

0:05:37.761,0:05:41.195
We learned all the dots, but no one ever[br]teaches you how to connect them.

0:05:41.195,0:05:43.541
So the word carbohydrates is the big clue,

0:05:43.541,0:05:45.897
and that's because it stands[br]for carbon atoms

0:05:45.897,0:05:48.281
that have been hydrated by -

0:05:48.281,0:05:50.716
well, if you're dehydrated,[br]you need to drink water.

0:05:50.716,0:05:55.838
And water has a chemical formula,[br]which stands for a bunch of atoms.

0:05:56.188,0:05:58.914
So where do these carbohydrates[br]that you eat come from?

0:05:58.914,0:06:00.437
I mean what is this stuff?

0:06:00.456,0:06:02.091
And it all starts in plants.

0:06:02.501,0:06:07.699
So Step 1 in making carbohydrates[br]is plants suck water out of the soil.

0:06:07.699,0:06:10.195
They take the water molecules,

0:06:10.195,0:06:12.262
stick it into a molecule[br]called chlorophyll,

0:06:12.262,0:06:13.496
you've all heard of.

0:06:13.496,0:06:17.545
It takes a photon of sunlight[br]to zap that bond and zap that bond,

0:06:17.545,0:06:20.324
and now we have the atoms free.

0:06:20.454,0:06:21.454
You do that twice,

0:06:21.454,0:06:24.225
and you've got enough atoms now[br]to make an oxygen molecule,

0:06:24.225,0:06:27.007
which is the waste product[br]of photosynthesis.

0:06:27.400,0:06:29.292
And by the way, you breathe that stuff.

0:06:29.313,0:06:33.976
So every oxygen molecule you inhale[br]came from two water molecules.

0:06:33.976,0:06:37.573
Step 2 is to take carbon dioxide[br]out of the air into the leaf,

0:06:37.573,0:06:42.556
and into a chemical process,[br]which is called the Calvin Cycle.

0:06:42.556,0:06:45.495
And if you get six carbon atoms[br]and stick them together,

0:06:45.495,0:06:47.173
you can make glucose,

0:06:47.173,0:06:50.951
which is the most important[br]carbohydrate in the cosmos.

0:06:50.951,0:06:54.605
If you rearrange those atoms,[br]then you can make fructose,

0:06:54.648,0:06:57.293
which is what sugarcane does,

0:06:57.293,0:06:58.990
which I have a stalk of over there,

0:06:58.990,0:07:00.556
and if you stick it in sunlight,

0:07:00.556,0:07:03.806
it will turn carbon dioxide[br]and water into sugar.

0:07:03.983,0:07:05.776
If you stick glucose to fructose,

0:07:05.776,0:07:07.578
you get table sugar,

0:07:07.937,0:07:12.005
and if you stick galactose to glucose,

0:07:12.046,0:07:15.181
you get another famous disaccharide.

0:07:15.181,0:07:16.657
It's called lactose.

0:07:16.957,0:07:18.889
If you're lactose intolerant,

0:07:18.889,0:07:23.272
you can't break the bonds between[br]this oxygen atom and its neighbours.

0:07:23.742,0:07:27.403
So all of this stuff is understandable[br]if you know about atoms,

0:07:27.403,0:07:28.922
and it all starts in plants.

0:07:28.922,0:07:30.761
But you don't just eat carbohydrates.

0:07:30.761,0:07:32.644
So here's everything that you eat,

0:07:32.644,0:07:34.489
all the macronutrients.

0:07:34.489,0:07:35.855
We've looked at carbs.

0:07:35.855,0:07:36.979
Here's fats.

0:07:36.979,0:07:39.367
The three most common[br]fatty acids in nature?

0:07:39.367,0:07:41.421
palmitic acid gets its name from palm oil,

0:07:41.421,0:07:43.335
oleic from olive oil.

0:07:43.995,0:07:45.859
There's only three atoms there though.

0:07:45.861,0:07:47.944
Three kinds. Three elements.

0:07:47.944,0:07:52.765
And if you stick those three fatty acids[br]to a glycerin molecule,

0:07:52.882,0:07:54.677
you'll make a triglyceride.

0:07:54.677,0:07:56.022
This is what olive oil is;

0:07:56.022,0:07:57.967
this is what every fat in nature is.

0:07:57.967,0:08:00.634
It's the fat in your fat cells[br]that you want to lose

0:08:00.634,0:08:02.637
if you're trying to lose weight.

0:08:02.703,0:08:04.742
And when you burn it,

0:08:04.971,0:08:08.219
what you're really doing is turning it[br]into carbon dioxide and water.

0:08:08.219,0:08:09.327
You call it metabolism.

0:08:09.327,0:08:10.806
People say they're burning fat.

0:08:10.806,0:08:13.612
It means you're turning it[br]into carbon dioxide and water.

0:08:13.612,0:08:15.315
And there's two ways to do it.

0:08:15.315,0:08:18.935
The main highway is called[br]the beta oxidation pathway,

0:08:18.935,0:08:21.818
but there's another way[br]called the ketogenic pathway,

0:08:21.818,0:08:24.272
and the low-carb people[br]will be all over this.

0:08:24.272,0:08:28.480
It's taking fatty acids and turning them[br]into smaller molecules -

0:08:28.480,0:08:31.405
acetyl acetate - which can then[br]be turned into acetone,

0:08:31.405,0:08:33.150
and beta hydroxybutarate.

0:08:33.350,0:08:35.734
But the point is you still add oxygen

0:08:35.734,0:08:38.098
and it still turns[br]into carbon dioxide and water,

0:08:38.098,0:08:40.824
so it doesn't matter[br]what kind of diet you're on.

0:08:40.824,0:08:45.152
If you're burning fat,[br]you're turning it into CO2 and H2O.

0:08:45.472,0:08:48.965
And alcohol's made[br]of the same three atoms.

0:08:48.965,0:08:50.396
Protein's an interesting one.

0:08:50.396,0:08:53.012
It's made out of 20 kinds of amino acids,

0:08:53.012,0:08:55.132
but there's only two more kinds of atoms.

0:08:55.132,0:08:59.100
So for all their complexity,[br]there's only five elements.

0:08:59.100,0:09:01.931
And if you eat them -[br]well, let's take a look.

0:09:01.931,0:09:06.324
Because to make a human,[br]you need those 20 amino acids.

0:09:06.324,0:09:10.362
All the protein in nature[br]is made out of these 20 amino acids.

0:09:11.636,0:09:13.209
A baby, a human,

0:09:13.209,0:09:19.818
is 60% water, 16% protein, 19% fat[br]and 5% a bit of other stuff.

0:09:20.348,0:09:22.456
And when you burn protein,

0:09:22.456,0:09:24.496
if you eat a lot of it,[br]you can't store it.

0:09:24.496,0:09:27.929
So you'll burn it, and you'll turn it[br]into carbon dioxide and water,

0:09:27.938,0:09:29.945
a bit of urea and some sulfate.

0:09:29.945,0:09:33.078
Those two things will end up[br]in the toilet via your bladder,

0:09:33.078,0:09:36.098
and now you know[br]where everything that you eat goes.

0:09:36.552,0:09:38.276
You might be wondering, though,

0:09:38.276,0:09:40.088
"I'm eating carbon, hydrogen, oxygen.

0:09:40.088,0:09:42.643
What's all this talk about diets?"

0:09:42.643,0:09:47.206
Amazingly, this junk diet is also made[br]of nothing but carbon, hydrogen, oxygen,

0:09:47.206,0:09:49.633
but you're not getting[br]many vitamins and minerals.

0:09:49.633,0:09:51.414
So let's take a look at those.

0:09:51.414,0:09:56.035
Here's all 14 vitamins[br]that you need to eat.

0:09:56.747,0:10:00.502
If you don't eat them, you'll get scurvy,[br]beriberi rickets - you'll go blind.

0:10:00.502,0:10:02.182
But the amazing thing is

0:10:02.182,0:10:04.847
per day, you only need[br]about half a gram of this stuff.

0:10:05.347,0:10:09.887
The 14 elements that you have to take,[br]we call them minerals.

0:10:10.275,0:10:11.304
Here they are.

0:10:11.304,0:10:13.826
These are the recommended daily intakes,

0:10:13.826,0:10:17.089
and if you stick all that together,[br]it's seven grams worth of stuff.

0:10:17.089,0:10:18.086
It's not very much.

0:10:18.086,0:10:20.533
That's why we call them micronutrients.

0:10:20.951,0:10:22.417
So when I tell people this,

0:10:22.417,0:10:25.863
the first question I get asked is[br]"So what? I just have to breathe more?"

0:10:25.863,0:10:28.046
And they'll start hyperventilating.

0:10:28.046,0:10:29.971
(Laughter)

0:10:30.243,0:10:32.384
So let's talk about breathing.

0:10:32.384,0:10:34.613
Talk to anyone who works in an ICU unit,

0:10:34.613,0:10:38.412
and they'll tell you that a human[br]who's lying perfectly still

0:10:38.412,0:10:41.230
needs 3.5 millilitres of oxygen,

0:10:41.230,0:10:45.071
and 2.6 to 2.9 millilitres of CO2[br]will come out of them

0:10:45.071,0:10:47.041
per kilogram of that person.

0:10:47.041,0:10:48.762
Now, I weigh 72 kilos,

0:10:48.762,0:10:52.007
so that means I need about[br]252 millilitres of oxygen

0:10:52.007,0:10:53.561
just to stay alive.

0:10:53.561,0:11:00.105
That's 15 litres per hour, and over here,[br]I have an hour's worth of breathing.

0:11:01.015,0:11:02.988
This is how much air I have to breathe

0:11:02.988,0:11:07.436
just to get that one balloon of oxygen[br]into my bloodstream.

0:11:07.436,0:11:09.110
A balloon is about 15 litres.

0:11:09.746,0:11:15.334
So that's how much oxygen I need per hour[br]just to stay awake and alive -

0:11:15.624,0:11:17.506
not awake, sorry - I mean alive.

0:11:17.506,0:11:19.469
It's my resting metabolic rate.

0:11:19.469,0:11:24.047
And in that hour, when I breathe[br]all this air back out again,

0:11:24.047,0:11:26.345
it'll have a balloon worth of CO2 in it,

0:11:26.345,0:11:29.418
and these numbers just get better[br]and better and better.

0:11:29.418,0:11:34.414
If you add up all the carbon[br]atoms in that much CO2,

0:11:34.414,0:11:38.399
it's 136 to 151 grams a day[br]of just carbon.

0:11:38.399,0:11:39.925
It's about a kilo a week.

0:11:39.925,0:11:43.046
It's about 49 to 55 kilos a year.

0:11:43.046,0:11:46.683
If you want to lose weight,[br]don't eat that much carbon back in.

0:11:46.683,0:11:50.700
That's the whole key[br]to breathing yourself thin.

0:11:52.310,0:11:57.202
Doctors will - if you are not breathing,[br]they will monitor your breathing.

0:11:57.202,0:11:58.891
If you're having an operation,

0:11:58.891,0:12:00.960
the anaesthetist[br]will look for your breaths.

0:12:00.960,0:12:03.467
This is how much CO2[br]there should be in your breath.

0:12:03.733,0:12:08.061
If you hyperventilate,[br]your body is not producing more CO2.

0:12:08.061,0:12:10.374
You're just breathing out[br]more than you need to,

0:12:10.374,0:12:11.538
and so this will happen.

0:12:11.538,0:12:13.712
You're pumping out[br]more than you're making;

0:12:13.723,0:12:16.169
the amount in your body will go down.

0:12:16.169,0:12:17.900
It's called hypocapnia.

0:12:17.900,0:12:21.609
It will lead to a loss of consciousness[br]if you do it for too long.

0:12:21.609,0:12:22.719
And some people ask me:

0:12:22.719,0:12:25.626
"What about people[br]who have COPD or emphysema?

0:12:25.626,0:12:29.564
Could they get overweight[br]because they can't get rid of enough CO2?"

0:12:29.564,0:12:32.155
Well, they can't do the Calvin Cycle -

0:12:32.155,0:12:33.292
a plant can -

0:12:33.292,0:12:35.887
so you can't turn the CO2[br]that you're not breathing out

0:12:35.887,0:12:36.902
back into fat.

0:12:36.902,0:12:38.478
It's impossible.

0:12:38.668,0:12:43.540
So, you know, there's a lot[br]of misconceptions about this business.

0:12:44.052,0:12:48.610
Now, it takes a while to breathe out[br]the carbon that you eat.

0:12:48.610,0:12:52.234
So let's have a look at how much carbon[br]you can put in really quickly.

0:12:52.234,0:12:53.708
I quite like this stuff,

0:12:53.708,0:12:57.780
and there is a lot of sugar[br]in lemon-flavoured soft drink.

0:12:57.780,0:12:59.008
It's one of the highest.

0:12:59.008,0:13:01.236
So, how much sugar are we talking about?

0:13:02.786,0:13:04.617
Well, one stick is 3 grams,

0:13:04.617,0:13:07.039
so there's 23[br]and a third of a stick in there,

0:13:07.039,0:13:08.375
which looks like this.

0:13:09.005,0:13:12.353
And if you want to turn that much sugar[br]into carbon dioxide and water,

0:13:12.353,0:13:13.939
well, it's going to take a while.

0:13:13.939,0:13:16.426
You're going to need to breathe in[br]that much oxygen.

0:13:16.426,0:13:17.789
You'll make that much CO2.

0:13:17.789,0:13:19.987
How much is that?[br]It's four balloons worth.

0:13:19.987,0:13:22.284
And it's four balloons' worth of CO2.

0:13:22.284,0:13:26.089
So, how long is it going to take me[br]to breathe out that much carbon?

0:13:26.089,0:13:28.386
It's going to take me four hours

0:13:28.386,0:13:32.429
because I only breathe out one balloon[br]of carbon dioxide per hour

0:13:32.429,0:13:33.752
if I stay still,

0:13:33.752,0:13:37.342
but if I go for a walk,[br]I'll breathe it out in an hour.

0:13:37.342,0:13:40.216
If I run, it'll only take me 30 minutes.

0:13:40.216,0:13:42.384
That's why they say eat less, move more.

0:13:42.384,0:13:45.075
Because when you're moving more,[br]you're breathing more.

0:13:45.075,0:13:46.907
And there's always CO2 in your breath.

0:13:46.907,0:13:49.580
What about if we compare it[br]to something a bit healthier?

0:13:49.580,0:13:51.706
Because this has got vitamins[br]and amino acids

0:13:51.706,0:13:53.711
and all the good stuff in it.

0:13:53.711,0:13:55.313
But if we take those ingredients,

0:13:55.313,0:13:58.924
and we chuck it [br]into the equation for food,

0:13:58.924,0:14:01.883
then you discover that, actually,[br]it's four hours as well.

0:14:01.883,0:14:06.725
And so is this tuna salad sandwich[br]on organic wholemeal bread,

0:14:06.725,0:14:10.688
grown on the north side of the hill,[br]blessed by a monk, all the things.

0:14:10.688,0:14:11.713
(Laughter)

0:14:11.713,0:14:13.910
But it's still four hours [br]of breathing, right?

0:14:13.910,0:14:17.243
So the point is they're not equivalent[br]in how healthy they are,

0:14:17.243,0:14:19.942
but they are equivalent[br]in how long they take to exhale.

0:14:19.942,0:14:21.291
An apple takes an hour;

0:14:21.291,0:14:24.189
a fun size chocolate bar,[br]an hour, 10 minutes;

0:14:24.189,0:14:27.524
regular size, 3.5 hours;[br]and a king-sized, 5.25.

0:14:27.524,0:14:30.214
If you're trying to lose weight,[br]don't drink soft drink,

0:14:30.214,0:14:32.051
because that's got carbon atoms in it.

0:14:32.051,0:14:33.520
Drink water.

0:14:33.520,0:14:36.796
If you like this stuff -[br]and who doesn't? -

0:14:36.796,0:14:38.749
a large coffee and a piece of cake.

0:14:38.749,0:14:40.810
That's 10 hours of breathing

0:14:40.810,0:14:43.231
between breakfast and lunch.

0:14:43.231,0:14:44.929
So be careful.

0:14:44.929,0:14:47.972
A large, lovely burger[br]like this guy - 7 hours.

0:14:47.972,0:14:50.817
Have a large fries with it, 13 hours;

0:14:50.817,0:14:53.380
large drink, 16 hours;

0:14:53.850,0:14:57.539
bang in a large sundae -[br]it's a whole day worth of breathing.

0:14:57.539,0:14:59.668
You can see why[br]there's an obesity epidemic,

0:14:59.668,0:15:02.692
but no one knows what really[br]is going on in their body.

0:15:02.692,0:15:06.478
So, usually, we talk about[br]calories in, calories out.

0:15:06.478,0:15:08.709
How's this information going to help you?

0:15:08.709,0:15:11.307
Well, I would like to talk about[br]atoms in, atoms out.

0:15:11.307,0:15:15.972
And when you're counting calories,[br]you're actually counting carbon atoms

0:15:15.972,0:15:18.786
because the energy in food

0:15:18.786,0:15:22.210
is wherever you see a carbon[br]and a hydrogen atom stuck together.

0:15:22.600,0:15:24.479
And it's in all food.

0:15:24.479,0:15:27.972
So just - and it's sunlight[br]that put that there.

0:15:27.972,0:15:33.502
So my project that I really want to get up[br]and running here at Bundaberg

0:15:33.502,0:15:35.477
is let's teach your children this,

0:15:35.477,0:15:36.492
and you can do it.

0:15:36.492,0:15:38.416
Little kids love learning about atoms.

0:15:38.416,0:15:40.630
Adults freak out at the idea.

0:15:41.286,0:15:43.889
But little kids absolutely love it.

0:15:43.889,0:15:46.976
This is Ithaca Creek[br]State School in Brisbane.

0:15:46.976,0:15:49.253
This is a school in India,

0:15:49.253,0:15:53.008
and these kids are using amino,[br]and they're making amino acids

0:15:53.008,0:15:55.178
and sticking them together[br]to build a protein.

0:15:55.178,0:15:59.496
You can do that with amazing resource[br]that my friend Ian Stewart invented.

0:15:59.836,0:16:01.372
They're called "sticky atoms".

0:16:01.372,0:16:04.792
He's a retired physics[br]and chemistry teacher.

0:16:04.792,0:16:06.205
He taught in Brisbane.

0:16:06.205,0:16:09.660
They have magnetic bonds[br]so three-year-olds, even younger,

0:16:09.660,0:16:12.255
can play with these things[br]and learn about atoms.

0:16:12.255,0:16:14.163
And for the educators in the room,

0:16:14.171,0:16:17.949
they conform to the concrete[br]pictorial abstract way of teaching.

0:16:17.949,0:16:19.685
It's a fantastic pedagogy,

0:16:19.685,0:16:21.703
and Ian and I are hoping to work together.

0:16:21.703,0:16:24.594
We took this out backstage,[br]just moments ago.

0:16:24.594,0:16:28.605
Because what we want to do[br]is teach children

0:16:28.605,0:16:31.278
what's actually going on in their bodies.

0:16:31.618,0:16:33.318
And you can't do that

0:16:33.318,0:16:37.168
if you're not talking about[br]the atoms that they're made of.

0:16:37.642,0:16:39.521
Unfortunately,

0:16:39.521,0:16:42.878
the curriculum does not introduce[br]the concept of atoms and molecules

0:16:42.878,0:16:45.685
until kids are in Grade 9,

0:16:45.685,0:16:49.262
and they don't see the periodic table[br]until they're in Grade 10.

0:16:49.262,0:16:50.407
Why?

0:16:50.407,0:16:56.316
Because a fellow called Jean Piaget,[br]who was kind of a contemporary of Freud.

0:16:56.676,0:16:59.422
He thought that kids[br]can't have these abstract thoughts

0:16:59.422,0:17:02.168
until they're about 14.

0:17:03.091,0:17:05.665
We don't use Freud's psychology anymore.

0:17:05.665,0:17:08.347
We still learn it, but we don't use it.

0:17:08.347,0:17:09.367
But our curriculum

0:17:09.367,0:17:13.798
is still under the spell[br]of a person who died long ago,

0:17:13.798,0:17:17.607
whose ideas about education were, well,[br]someone had to have those ideas,

0:17:17.607,0:17:18.931
but they were wrong.

0:17:19.199,0:17:23.913
So I hope to see what happens[br]if kids grow up with this knowledge.

0:17:23.913,0:17:28.150
In 10 years, what do obesity rates[br]look like in a town like Bundaberg

0:17:28.150,0:17:32.396
if all the children learn this[br]at primary school?

0:17:32.396,0:17:35.478
Will they grow up to accept the advice

0:17:35.478,0:17:41.525
that to lose weight, just eat less,[br]move more and keep breathing?

0:17:41.946,0:17:43.244
Thank you.

0:17:43.244,0:17:45.659
(Applause)