If we eat, we know about calories. We ALL know calories. We’re all familiar with this dreaded conversation. I’m here to share with you a better understanding of what calories are and why tracking them is so important to help you reach your goals.
Regardless of what you’ve heard before, calories are not the enemy. Calorie is a general term for energy, you know, that thing we all claim we need more of? How is it then, that we expect we can get more energy from intaking less calories? It’s all in the density of the foodstuff choose! Don’t worry, I’ll help you to better understand.
Everyone kind of understands the basics of calories. There’s a total you’re required to intake every single day in order for you to fulfill daily activities. Everybody’s caloric intake requirement is different. In general, if you take in the total number you are to recommended to intake for your needs, you will maintain your current weight. If you go into a calorie deficit, or take in less than your recommended calories, you will lose weight and if you exceed your calorie requirement, you will gain weight. Simple, right?
Not so fast. There’s another side, which is also quite a touchy subject; exercise. We all seem to have too much to do; were too busy, too tired, too unhealthy. Still we have too much on our plate, literally. See, we as Americans seem to know all about the calories and we’re really good at getting our recommended number and most of the time, over it. Most people are oblivious to their recommended numbers entirely! When we consume more energy than we burn/use, we gain weight. Food gives us energy. We need energy to survive. We only need to eat to be able to carry out our daily activities. Read that again; get in that mindset. We look to food as a reward or a pick-me-up when we feel like we haven’t accomplished what we should have. We look to food as comfort or we feel we need it to celebrate. Our biggest mistake was to ever tie emotions to foods.
What most people fail to realize is that there is more than one type of calorie. There is empty calories and then there is the calories found in nutrient dense foods (remember me talking about density?). Empty calories are those you find in sugary products, such as sodas, that have simple carbohydrates that our bodies easily break down and are more likely to store as fat. Foods that are known as empty calories have NO nutritional value. This means you just consumed calories and it did nothing for you, but it still counts as calories consumed. Nutrient dense foods are those that contain complex carbohydrates that the body slowly breaks down and uses for your nutrient needs. Take this example: a pear and a handful or Carmel popcorn contain roughly the same amount of calories. The pear is obviously a healthier choice, it is nutrient dense and the body can use it for great benefits. Those are calories your body will actually use for energy. The handful of carmel popcorn will probably just be a tease and leave you wanting more popcorn and your body will not use those calories for the same benefit.
Like I mentioned before, everyone’s nutritional needs are different, regardless if you’re the same age, gender, weight, height, etc. Simply put, the more active you are, the more energy you will need to intake. If you live a sedentary lifestyle, there is absolutely no need to consume that extra energy! If you aren’t going to use the energy, what’s the point?
The nutritional decisions you make today, right now, affects the rest of your life. If you don’t make time for your health today, you will schedule your life around it in the future with mandatory doctor appointments. I challenge you to stop letting food control you. Your body is yours, no one else’s. What goes into it is 100% your decision and you have control of that. Your nutritional status is no one else’s fault but your own and nutritional decisions are those that only you can make for yourself!
We eat to survive.
-D.A.
[R]Evolution 