What About The Calories?

The concept that calories consumed less calories expended equates to either weight gain or loss, is regarded by many as the holy grail to weight management. But is this really the case? Does the body work like this? The reality is that 97% of calorie controlled diets fail, with more weight gain happening after the diet has finished.

A calorie is a measure of the possible energy that can be obtained from burning a particular food. The reality, however, is that we do not eat food purely to create energy and heat, but also to do a plethora of other very important processes including, making enzymes, hormones, antibodies, muscle tissue and new cells. So the body does not simply use food as fuel but also for structure and repair.

Not all calories are equal. It depends not only on whether the calories are being supplied by fats, protein or carbohydrates but also on the type of fat or carbohydrate being consumed. For example there are many different types of fat. Some will be long chain saturated, some will be medium chain saturated, some will be unsaturated and some will be trans fats. The body will process and use each of these fats in a different manner. Each food type uses a different number of calories to digest and unlock their inner nutrients.

When you start eliminating the highly processed and typically glycaemic modern day foods and oils and replace them with whole food choices that we have evolved with for millennia (fruits, nuts, seeds, vegetables, wild pastured meats, line caught fish) the requirement to count calories is negated and you will start the journey to becoming the weight that you are genetically programmed to be.