Is Counting Calories the Answer to Weight Loss?
A while ago I was talking with a medical doctor friend of mine about my approach to food. He admitted that he had a weakness for ice-cream and cake. He also mentioned that he is always hungry. I said that I wasn’t surprised, given that he was eating a great deal of sugar. He retorted that a calorie is a calorie is a calorie! In other words, the body is a kind of combustion engine. Put fuel in (i.e. calories - any calories), expend enough energy (calories out) and voilà - you reach the perfect equilibrium.
He is a slim man, so I suppose it was easy for him to say (although the hunger should have been a clue). However, if you are overweight, by this logic, it must be because you are greedy, weak-willed or lazy or a combination of the three.
What the “green revolution”, the food industry, the medical establishment and other players have had us believe for the last 50-60 years is that calories are all that matter.
In fact, we have been conditioned to think of food in terms of its caloric value rather than its nutrient density. We have been told that fat is our enemy, especially saturated fat, and that carbohydrates such as pasta, rice and bread should form the base of our food pyramid. When pressure against the high sugar content of the foods that had been robbed of their flavour by removing the fat took effect, the industry switched to artificial sweeteners. Low calorie, low fat food-like substances line the grocery store shelves, but not surprisingly, the population of the western world is getting increasingly fatter and unhealthier.
So is your creeping weight and lack of energy a sign of a weak will, laziness or gluttony, or is it your body’s way of telling you that you are in fact malnourished? Highly processed carbohydrates are high in calories but low in vitamins, minerals, trace elements, essential fats and amino acids that are vital for optimum functioning.
We should be far less concerned with the number of calories we are consuming and far more concerned with the nutrient density of the foods we eat. Let’s eat what humans evolved over millennia to eat - proteins in the form of red meat, seafood, eggs and poultry, healthy fats from animal, fish, olives, macadamia, and avocados, and cellular carbohydrates from vegetables and some fruit that supply our bodies with energy and plenty of nutrients.
Once our bodies receive dense nutrients that can be absorbed with ease, leave a good taste in the mouth and keep us satisfied for hours, we will no longer have to use willpower and endless dieting to reach our desired weight and health. Call it ancestral, paleo or the nutrivore way of eating. This is your ticket to good health. You will never need to say the word ‘diet’ again.
