It's Not About the Number of Calories
The quantity of calories isn't the problem - the quality of calories in our food is the problem.
Over the last few years I have become VERY passionate about studying health and nutrition and learning as much as I can about it. I have read tons of books on the subject and am so appreciative of the knowledge I've gained.
Even though it was just about losing weight when we started our journey, it’s now about SO much more. It's about our health and it's about preventing the diseases that are so prevalent in our country today. Most don't know that most of the diseases we are dealing with in this country can be prevented with proper diet and nutrition. Type 2 diabetes is one of the biggest health problems in our country today and it can be completely reversed simply by changing the way we eat.
I wanted to share this excerpt from the book The Obesity Code by Jason Fung MD. This is such an important thing to know because I know that those of us who have struggled with our weight have all blamed ourselves and we've all had these thoughts:
"The key assumption of the theory that reducing caloric intake leads to weight loss is false, since decreased caloric intake inevitably leads to decreased caloric expenditure. This sequence has been proven time and again. We just keep hoping that this strategy will somehow, this time, work. It won’t. Face it. In our heart of hearts, we already know it to be true. Caloric reduction and portion-control strategies only make you tired and hungry. Worst of all . . . you regain all the weight you have lost. I know it. You know it.
We forget this inconvenient fact because our doctors, our dieticians, our government, our scientists, our politicians and our media have all been screaming at us for decades that weight loss is all about Calories In versus Calories Out. “Caloric reduction is primary.” “Eat Less, Move More.” We have heard it so often that we do not question whether it’s the truth. Instead, we believe that the fault lies in ourselves. We feel we have failed. Some silently criticize us for not adhering to the diet. Others silently think we have no willpower and offer us meaningless platitudes. Sound familiar? The failing isn’t ours. The portion-control caloric-reduction diet is virtually guaranteed to fail. Eating less does not result in lasting weight loss."
It's not about how many calories you eat. It's a hormonal issue and it all boils down to insulin. When we eat things that raise our insulin levels, it causes health issues and obesity. It's that simple. If we eat in a way that will reduce insulin, we will improve our health and lose weight. But we have been told for decades that we need to eat more grains and reduce our fat intake. This is the opposite of what we should be doing and this is why we suddenly have such an epidemic of obesity and major health issues. And I say suddenly because if you look back over all of human history, this has just happened in the last 50 years or so. No other generation before us has dealt with this problem.
And why is that? Because the calories in, calories out mantra started in the 70s and that’s when the government started telling us to eat more grains and eat less fat with the food pyramid. Ever since then we, as a society, have been getting heavier and heavier. One of the saddest things of all is that even our children are becoming more and more obese. They don’t stand a chance for a healthy adulthood because they’re starting out life in such an unhealthy way. We’ve got to get our health back and stop this madness.
Let’s be honest with ourselves. In spite of massive improvements in medical technology, the health of our population is declining. Millions of nonoverweight people are now harboring hidden fat in their organs, which leads directly to countless surprise heart attacks every day and contributes to Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, many cancers, and most of the diseases of modernity. Today’s generation of young people is the first in human history that may live shorter lives than their parents. This is in spite of continued advances in medical technology. Heart disease rates are spiraling out of control. Diabetic dysfunction is everywhere. What’s more, the vast majority of diabetic people go undiagnosed—whether they are slim or fat. And it can all be traced directly to the advice to consume a low-fat diet. - pg 18 from Eat Rich, Live Long by Ivor Cummins & Jeffry Gerber, MD (references cited in the book)
I don’t know about you but that just makes me angry. How many lives have been lost because of this horrible, horrible nutritional advice? We need to stop blaming ourselves and assuming we are eating too much and not exercising enough and we need to take back control of our health and start eating a proper diet with healthful food choices.
We need to stop worrying about how MANY calories we’re consuming and worry about what TYPE of calories we’re consuming.
