Every day I have lots of people talk to me about calories. How many calories are in that dish, how many calories can I eat for lunch, can I have 5 almonds or 6? If a Freddo Frog has 80 calories and a large green apple has 90 calories, should I eat the Freddo? Ah.... No. Calories on their own DO NOT MATTER!!! Nutrition matters. Making nutrient dense food choices matters. Calorie counting = diets and I do not believe in diets! Just like I don't believe in vampires (sorry Twi-hards but I don't), diets are equally as ridiculous! They do NOT work long term. Maybe for a month, or an 8-week challenge or even a year, but long term they all fail because as soon as you stop dieting, you put that weight back on, plus some. You cannot spend your life on an 8-week challenge. If diets worked we would not be in the midst of an obesity epidemic. If it was that easy and all about calories-in V calories-out, no-one would be fat. These books are a great choice if you want to learn more about the calorie myth Good Calories Bad Calories and Why We Get Fat & What To Do About It.
You need to adopt clean, nutritious eating habits permanently. For life. Forever. That is not to say you cannot go out to dinner, you can't have the occasional dessert, it means that you educate yourself about what is actually in the food you are eating, so, more importantly than "how many calories does it have?" you are asking "what can this food do for me?", "what health benefits will I get from eating this deep fried Mars bar?"- the answer to that last question my friends is NONE, you will get a sugar high, then a sugar low, the amount of fat & sugar together is taking the whole lot straight to your ar$e, you might clog a few arteries along the way and possibly end up constipated from the amount of cr@p now clogging your guts. Still want it?
If you are eating clean, nutritious, whole foods that are not packed full of preservatives and artificial everything, you are unlikely to overeat. You will be full because good food fills you up, unlike sugar which enables you to smash that entire packet of lollies and be hungry again 15mins later.
Fats are NOT the devil & fat doesn't make you fat (provided they are good fats - grassfed butter, ghee, nuts, seeds, coconut oil, olive oil etc). Your body needs fat! Your weight loss and ultimately health will suffer if you are NOT giving your body enough fat. Good dietary fat is used to build the outer lipid layer of every cell in the body, and if that layer is impaired, your ability to process carbohydrates will be impaired, and you'll get fatter. Lack of dietary fat/cholesterol can result in disregulated hormones, depression, anxiety & Parkinson's disease just to name a few issues. I eat more fat (but FAR less sugar) than ever and am leaner and healthier than I have ever been. Stay away from all TRANS fats- that $hit will kill you.
So, my challenge to you is to step away from the calorie panel and before you shove anything suspect down your pie hole, ask yourself "what can this food do for me?", google it, ask someone, download an app, I don't care. If you cannot find an honestly positive health benefit from it, don't eat it! 'High in fibre' or 'low in fat' is NOT good enough, that does not make it healthy if it is devoid of any real nutrients. Become a nutrient-seeker & look to nourish your body with food. "The food you eat can either be the safest & most powerful form of medicine, or the slowest form of poison" Ann Wigmore.
Duck on over to My Food Religion for loads of nutrient rich, super tasty and easy meal ideas.