We Don't Eat Calories

Without boring you with biochemistry, I’d like to clarify a common myth. Weight loss is not all about calories. Gasp! You read that right. The be all, end all of weight loss and subsequently health is not dictated by calories. Let's back up for a moment. What is a calorie anyways? The scientific definition is the amount of energy needed to heat up 1 gram of water, by 1 degree C. Makes total sense right? Simply speaking, a calorie is just a measure of energy. Since everything that happens in our bodies require energy, scientists came up with a way to quantify it can be measured. Just to clarify though, you don’t have “calories” floating through your blood and what you eat isn’t digested into to “calories”. Your body actually generates ATP from food, which is used as energy. But I promised I wouldn’t delve into biochemistry… I say all this because calories get a spotlight they don’t really deserve. People obsess about them in efforts to lose weight but the bottom line is... Wait for it...
WE DON'T EAT CALORIES! WE EAT FOOD!

Where those calories are coming from (protein, carbs or fat), the combination of them at a meal or snack and the circumstance surrounding when they are eaten are much more important. For instance, eating a 200 calorie snack doesn’t sound so bad. But if that is happening in the middle of the night when you should be sleeping… well, you can see why that isn’t really healthy. In the same way, 200 calories of chocolate cake versus 200 calories of fruit and yogurt are completely different as well. The calories from the fruit and yogurt have a different composition of fat, protein and carbs as well as numerous vitamins and minerals.

Let's dig into why the origin of calories is important. You’ve probably heard about food being fuel, but food also requires energy to be digested and used for fuel! What you eat actually costs the body energy. This is referred to as the Thermic Effect of Food or TEF. It accounts for approximately 10% of the total amount of calories you expend in a day. What is amazing is that you can manipulate that to your benefit to increase your calorie burn. Carbohydrates require little energy to break down, fat requires a little more, but protein costs the body the most in regards to energy. Even though carbohydrates and protein contain the same amount of calories per gram (4 calories per gram), it takes more energy for the body to digest and use each gram of protein compared to carbohydrates. 

I hope you're beginning to see why focusing only on the amount of calories you eat daily is flawed. Instead of paying so much attention to calories, investigate where those calories are coming from. There are dozens of applications to help you determine this. The tool I use is Tap and Track, (http://www.tapandtrack.com/ or can be downloaded from Apple Apps) illustrates the breakdown in calories using a pie chart to represent, in percentages, the amount of calories that are coming from carbs, fat and protein. I aim for 40% carbs, 30% fat and 30% protein (plus or minus about 5%). Once you track your food, check out where you fall in these categories. 

A diet too high in carbohydrates (more than 60% of your diet) can cause high triglycerides and promotes weight gain. Carbohydrates are broken down much quicker than fat or protein in the body, so you end up feeling hungrier, which leads to overeating. Too little carbohydrates (less than 35%) can leave you feeling sluggish and if you’re exercising, can actually cause your body to break down muscle to make energy. Obviously, you want to emphasize eating carbohydrates from fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains. The fiber in these foods helps to slow down digestion (i.e. makes you feel full). Refined carbohydrates from sweets, enriched grains, soda and sugar have little to no fiber and provide no value to your diet (no vitamins/minerals or antioxidants). As a side note, most packaged foods (even under the guise of health food) is relatively low in fiber. The natural fat content of whole grains causes it to spoil rather quickly, so in order to keep food shelf-stable, those parts of the grain are removed.

Fat is important for numerous reasons that I won’t get into right now, but the #1 reason to make sure you’re getting the right kinds and amounts is because it helps to make you feel full. Avoid trans fats (from fried and packaged foods), limit saturated fats (from high fat meats, full-fat dairy, fried and packaged foods) and eat poly and monounsaturated fats (avocados, olives, oils, nuts, seeds, fish and meat and dairy from animals that are fed grass instead of corn). We’ll talk more about the differences between corn-fed and grass-fed animals later. Aim for between 25-35% of your total diet. Less than this and you’re likely missing out on essential fats that are important for regulating inflammation and keeping your hair, skin and nails healthy. Too much fat, especially from saturated and trans fat can lead to higher cholesterol levels, which puts you at increased risk for heart disease.

Protein is a friend to body builders everywhere, but its benefits go far beyond helping muscle repair and build. In fact, I would argue, it is one of the least important functions that protein has. Like fiber and healthy fats, protein promotes satiety, or the feeling of fullness after meals. As I read recently, “Protein is to diet as black is to fashion: It makes everyone thinner”. Even more importantly though, protein is needed to make enzymes and immune factors in the body. With little protein intake, the body attempts conservation and these important functions are compromised. Add to that the fact that as we age, we naturally lose muscle mass, which is what causes the metabolism to lag. Making sure you are getting adequate protein will protect this muscle and keep your metabolism going. While muscle at rest doesn’t burn much more calories than fat pound for pound, muscle demands a substantial amount of energy when it is being used. Aim for 20-30% of your diet from protein. An easy way to figure out what about 30% protein would look like is to eat 1 gram of protein per 1 pound of weight. For a 150 lb woman, about 150 grams of protein per day on average. Less on days without weight training and more on days with strength training.  

These are all general recommendations with the goal of promoting health and weight loss. There are ALWAYS exceptions. If you have chronic diseases like diabetes or kidney disease, the recommendations change. Be sure to talk to a Registered Dietitian or other health professional if you have questions or concerns with how your your diet choices impact individual health conditions.