There are better ways to lose fat and stay healthy
Are you still counting calories? How is it working for you? Does it really make sense to you? And…have you ever wondered how accurate you truly are?
Unless you are preparing for a body-building competition or getting ready for athletic performance, why go through all this trouble? Yes, we have to be mindful of the amount of food we consume, but there really is a more freeing approach to managing your nutrition.
What is a calorie anyway? It's merely a unit of measurement. Specifically, it is defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius.
One of the ways to measure calories in food is with a tool called a bomb calorimeter. This tool directly measures the amount of energy that a food contains. The food item is placed in a sealed container surrounded by water and heated until it is completely burned off. Scientists then record the rise in water temperature to determine the number of calories in the product.
Calorie counting is not necessary and oftentimes not beneficial. Most people who count calories for weight loss or weight management assume calorie counting is an exact science. It’s not, and here is why:
1. You can’t really trust that the caloric values you see on food packages are accurate. The way they are calculated is surprisingly imprecise. FDA permits inaccuracies of up to 20%, but oftentimes that margin is higher.
2. Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) . Eating costs calories: calories to chew, swallow, churn the stomach, make the acid in the stomach, make the enzymes and so forth. To give you some perspective: Protein takes the most energy to digest (20-30% of total calories in protein eaten go to digesting it). Which means that from the 100 calories worth of chicken breast you are consuming…20 to 30 calories will be burned just from digesting it! Next is carbohydrates (5-10%) and then fats (0-3%).
3. The way we prepare food changes the calorie load. Cooking your food generally makes more of the calories available for absorption and nutritional value labels don’t always reflect that.
4. We all absorb calories differently. Our own individual gut bacteria can increase or decrease calories we absorb. We also burn calories in our unique way based on genetics, epigenetics, rate of exercise, hormones etc.
5. There is a large margin for error as we are not good at eyeballing portion sizes and therefor we usually underestimate the amount of calories we consume.
So…RELAX. Eating healthy does not need to be a science nor a major stress factor in your life.
In my view, it all boils down to the following:
1. Get educated and be aware on what healthy nutrition means and what it doesn’t. Make sure that your diet consists of 85% whole and fresh ingredients.
2. Be mindful of what you consume, AND be mindful of how your body reacts to the foods you eat. You can tune into those messages by eating slowly and allowing the foods to digest. This practice allows you to tune into the signals that tell you that you had enough.
3. Focus mainly on insulin control which can be done without hunger and then on the caloric component.
4. Learn how to create healthy and nutritious meals. Find out how you can be effective with your time by learning how to meal plan and shop with purpose.
5. Learn how to portion control whilst incorporating a balance of all three essential macro nutrients (protein, fat and carbohydrates) and the necessary micro nutrients to thrive.
With this said, it is a fact that in order to lose fat some people will have to decrease their caloric intake and increase their caloric output by exercising and movement. It is my belief that with a sustained and CONSISTENT habit adaptation of eating whole and nutrient dense foods with a combination of consistent exercising this can be attained. Educate yourself on what these nutrient dense foods are, learn how to prepare these ingredients and make it a habit to prepare your meals so that you will set yourself up for success. Be consistent so that this becomes a lifestyle rather than a diet.
If you would like to learn more about how you can create healthy eating habits, please click on the button above for a free consultation chat with me. It would be a great pleasure to help you!
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