Counting Calories – yes or no?
Do you believe counting calories is useful for weight loss? Do you plan your meals with calories in mind? You are probably wasting your time.
Do you count your calories?
I ask you from the bottom of my heart: Please do not waste time or energy counting calories. It does not work. It is annoying. And it makes no scientific sense to even try. I will explain why…
There is absolutely no logical point to calculating the exact number of calories you need everyday and then subtracting a magical number that equates to the energy deficit required to lose weight at your desired rate.
It just won’t work.
- You will never know for sure, with 100% certainty and accuracy, the number of calories in a food. Food labels provide an approximate energy content, but when curious scientists tested samples of food, they found that there is a margin of error of 20-25%. That means… a yoghurt marked 100 calories actually contains ‘about 100 calories’ – anything between 75 and 125 calories to be most precise!
- You cannot be sure how much of the energy content in the food you have eaten will actually be digested and absorbed. If you eat an apple, and if I eat an apple (the same apple), there will be a part of that apple that is not absorbed by the body. I don’t have to go into graphic detail about where the remnants of the apple end up… but know that there is a big difference in digestive and absorptive efficiency between individuals. This depends on how well we chew, whether we drink a lot of water with the meal, what combinations of foods we eat, how well our gut bacteria are working and so forth.
- You cannot accurately and reliably measure how many calories you burn. Although your fancy smart watch with activity tracker tells you that you’ve just torched 603 calories during a Cross Fit class… it’s lying. It calculates an approximate calorie expenditure based on your weight, heart rate and movement, but there is another 20-30% error in those calculations. So you actually burned about 603 calories (between 422 and 784 calories).
Moral of the Story: Think about what you are eating. Whether it can genuinely benefit your body. Choose foods that are lower in calories, but higher in nutrients. Enjoy what you eat. Eat until you are satisfied, then stop.
Understand ENERGY-DENSITY as a concept:
I never recommend counting calories as a strategy for losing weight but I believe it is very helpful to understand the concept of ENERGY-DENSITY because it will help you make healthier and better food choices.
Foods that contain a lot of calories per gram have a ‘high energy-density’. While foods that are low-calorie and contain few calories per gram are called ‘low energy-density’ foods.
Foods with a lower energy-density tend to have a higher water and fibre content. And often are more nutritious. Most fruits and vegetables are of a lower energy density, as are lean proteins and fish/seafood. If you choose lower energy-density foods, you can eat a larger volume of food for the same number of calories… and feel more satisfied, happy and less guilty!
Here is a list of foods that contain 100 Calories, pay attention to the volume of each. You will see that you can eat a large amount of popcorn to get the same number of calories contained in 1 slice of cheddar cheese.
- 14 unsalted almonds
- 1 large banana
- 4 marshmallows
- 12 potato crisps
- 1 tablespoon peanut butter
- 1 cup blueberries
- 3/4 cup cooked kidney beans
- 5 whole-wheat crackers
- 34 pieces of penne pasta
- 33 cherry tomatoes
- 2/3 cup 1% fat cottage cheese
- 3 cups air-popped popcorn
- 4 teaspoons hummus
- 1 slice of cheddar cheese
- 8 large steamed shrimp
- 1 medium baked potato
- 1 1/2 hard-boiled eggs
- 2 small chocolate chip cookies
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1 cup red seedless grapes
- 1/2 cup full-fat Greek yogurt
- 2 cups broccoli florets
Here are a few tricks to reduce the overall energy-density of your diet which will make you feel fuller for longer and definitely facilitate weight loss.
- Eat more vegetables and fruit – fresh, unprocessed foods generally have a lower energy-density.
- Start your meal with soup and salad… these foods contain a lot of water which makes you feel satisfied without adding calories.
- Add more vegetables to your usual family favourites… add grated carrot or courgette to Bolognese sauce, add pulses to stews, add more vegetables to stir-fries.
- Avoid high-calorie drinks like energy drinks, sweetened soft-drinks, commercial iced-tea or hot chocolate.
- Use ingredients that add flavor, not calories… like strong cheeses in smaller amounts, and spices.
- Enjoy fruit-based desserts and use yoghurt instead of cream.
Have you heard of NUTRIENT-DENSITY?
Nutrient-Density is the concept of how much added NUTRITIONAL BENEFIT you get from a food, besides just energy.
Consider for a moment… an avocado: Delicious, creamy, packed with vitamins, healthy fats, fibre and minerals. 1 avocado contains about 300 Calories… the same as an average glazed donut. But… you gain almost no nutritional benefit from the donut at all. Just empty calories that trigger insulin release in the body – so that all of those 300 calories are stored as fat!
The way your body processes the energy in the avocado is entirely different to the way in which the energy in the donut is handled. The fats from the avocado will go towards repairing your nerve cells, cleaning your blood vessels and improving the quality of your hair and nails.
The sugar and fat from the donut will cause inflammation and speed up the ageing process. Although foods like avocado, nuts, seeds, fermented cheeses, full-cream yoghurt will certainly increase the energy-density of your meal overall, they make you feel fuller for longer, and offer a high-nutrient-density.
Many studies have shown that people who eat more healthy fats have lower rates of heart disease, diabetes and dementia. And, despite the fact that these foods are higher in calories, people who eat more of them actually are less likely to be overweight or obese.
Do you know what an ‘Empty Calorie’ is?
One of the most important skills I learnt through my own weight loss journey was to escape the ’empty calorie’.
An ‘empty calorie’ is energy that comes with no additional health benefit.
Think of sugar: Sugar is pretty much pure energy. Nothing else. If you eat only sugar, you will die rather quickly because your body requires a lot more than energy to survive.
Your body cells are made of thousands of different components from DNA to enzymes to chemical messengers and electrolytes. You need to nourish your body with enough raw materials to make all these components and keep them in good working order.
So, think about any additional beneficial nourishment you can get from the food you eat. Make choices that will fulfill your nutritional needs rather simply your energy requirements.
A good example: Rather enjoy a few pieces of good quality dark chocolate when you need something sweet, instead of a packet of jelly babies. The dark chocolate provides healthy fats, beneficial antioxidants called flavonoids that fight inflammation as well as minerals like magnesium, iron and zinc, and a decent dose of dietary fibre.
Jelly babies are pretty much sugar, colourants, flavourants and perhaps a little protein from the gelatine.
Learn to discern between healthy calories – those that come with additional nutritional value – and empty calories which offer nothing except energy. Choose foods with a higher nutritional value as often as possible.
Conclusion:
Counting calories is a waste of time and effort. But, understanding which foods contain more calories, and more nutrients is extremely useful to make healthier food choices.
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