Calorie math
Posted May 14, 2006 at 5:14 pm
Okay, so Jimmy Morris is a low-carb evangelist (which I am not completely on board with), but I really like what he says about the issue of calories in versus calories out:
The problem with calories-in/calories-out is that it relies on a subtle bit of misdirection that has had a dramatic and negative impact on America’s health. Further, it is a grossly oversimplified solution to a very complex problem, that truthfully, no one fully understands. The misdirection is this. If the problem of weight gain is food, shouldn’t the solution to weight gain be food as well. Instead, the second half of this equation puts far too much emphasis on exercise as the solution. By doing so, it lends the impression that all foods are equal… that they’re nothing but calories and that it doesn’t matter what you eat, so long as you balance those calories with exercise. A quick glance at our collective statistics on overweight and obesity should be all the proof one needs to see how the calories-in/calories-out dogma has failed us.
Go read the whole post for his radical perspective, which I’d argue isn’t quite so radical.
In simple terms, when you are talking about calorie math, quality may be much more important than quantity!
May 17th, 2006 at 6:32 am
And don’t forget about the thermic effect of different foods - the amount of calories used up in digesting and processing the food. Carbs burn up about 8% of their initial mass; protein burns up about 30%! That’s a big difference.
May 18th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
I knew a girl in college who lost a lot of weight and maintained her loss for years…but practically all she ate was microwave popcorn and diet coke. She looked haggard.
I was reading over some of your recent posts and I was wondering how often you go out to eat and how you handle it? Do you always order the “healthy” choice on the menu? Do you order whatever you want and eat only part of it? I make healthy choices at home and in the food I take for lunch at work, but in restaurants I can’t usually face the rubbery chicken breast that serves as the only healthy choice on the menu.
May 18th, 2006 at 3:36 pm
Susan, I’d say I tend to eat out once or twice a week. Mostly I do one lunch with co-workers during the work week, and a lunch or dinner with friends or family on the weekend.
In general, I tend to avoid eating white stuff when I go out to eat and I try to order a healthy veggie (or two). I don’t worry so much about fat (though I avoid anything really obscene :). I find that as long as I’m keeping the refined carbs (including sugar…I rarely do dessert) to a minimum, I can eat out occasionally and not have it derail my progress.
Now, as you may be able to tell from my posts, this all goes to hell when I’m away from home (vacations or work travel). But my theory is that a week here or there isn’t a problem, unless I’m unable to get back on track (kinda like now).
With a vacation scheduled in about a week, I need to find a little bit more healthy eating for balance!