“Low Calorie” EXPLAINED
CALORIES IN, CALORIES OUT?
Many dieting messages promote calorie reduction (calories-in < calories-out).
Thermodynamically, a calorie deficit is necessary for a body to dip into its fat stores and lose weight.
However, that's not the whole story...
FOOD IS INFORMATION
One issue with this reductionist approach is that it fails to consider the complexities of metabolism.
Different types of calories (carbs, fat, and protein) are broken down and utilized differently.
Food is information, so if your body senses scarcity, it will shift into starvation mode and begin conserving and storing more fat.
NUTRITIONAL WEALTH
Another issue with this approach is that the calorie count of a food does not reflect its nutrient content.
Sure, nuts are high calorie and kool-aid is low, but there is an extreme difference between how nourishing these foods are!
Finally, this hyper-focus on calories can lead to disordered eating.
TAKEAWAY: You are much better off forgetting about calories, listening to your body, and choosing foods in their natural form.
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References
Best Diet: Quality Counts. The Nutrition Source. Havard School of Public Health. Retrieved from https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-weight/best-diet-quality-counts/
Benton, D., & Young, H. A. (2017). Reducing Calorie Intake May Not Help You Lose Body Weight. Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, 12(5), 703–714. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691617690878
Fuentes Artiles, R., Staub, K., Aldakak, L., Eppenberger, P., Rühli, F., & Bender, N. (2019). Mindful eating and common diet programs lower body weight similarly: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 20(11), 1619–1627. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12918