Not All Calories Are Equal

I am reading this book right now and I LOVE it because it follows true to what I learned as a personal trainer, not from fad diets. I want to share a few things (I've said before) but in a different way. If you're interested in understanding more about the metabolism and how it works, this is a great book to read, Ultrametabolism. There are seven myths that he counteracts and I want to share some of the most important ones with you over the next couple of days. Out of all the health books I've read, this is by far the most helpful, true, and eyeopening to the way our society is filling its bodies with junk and lies.

One point he makes is that not all calories are equal. Some people think if a sandwich and a candy bar are the same calories you won't gain anymore weight with the candy bar than you would with the healthy sandwich. But through this Dr.'s explanation, he shows that is not true. Hear this out:

"The sugar from soda enters your blood very rapidly, while the same amount of sugar from kidney beans enters your blood slowly. If you drink a soda all the sugar in it goes into your bloodstream at once, the calories you aren't using at that moment will be stored as fat. On the other hand, if you eat the kidney beans and the sugar in them is absorbed over time, your body has a greater chance to make use of those calories."

A Harvard professor, Dr. David Ludwig, did a study of three groups of overweight children. Each group had a breakfast with the same amount of calories. One group ate instant oatmeal, the second ate steel-cut oats, and the third ate a vegetable omelet and fruit. They all had the same thing for lunch. They told them they could have anything they wanted for dinner when they were hungry.

Guess who ate the most? The ones who ate the instant oatmeal ate 81% more than the ones who ate the omelets, which ate the least. The instant oatmeal group were hungrier and had a higher insulin level (which we all know increases weight gain.)

Interesting isn't it!?! So from this Dr.'s perspective, not all calories are equal. Then what do we eat? Whole foods and stay away from processed foods. Here is a list of some whole foods:

HIGH-FIBER FOODS:

• Beans
• Whole grains
• Vegetables
• Fruits
• Nuts
• Seeds

QUALITY PROTEINS:

• Beans
• Nuts and Seeds
• Eggs
• Fish
• Lean poultry, lamb, pork, or beef (preferably organic, grass, or range-fed)
  

HEALTHY FATS

• Fish oil
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Cold-expeller-pressed plant oils, such as grapeseed, walnut, and sesame
  
• Avocado
  
• Olives
• Coconut
• Nuts
• Seeds

HEALTHY CARBOHYDRATES

• Vegetables
• Whole grains
• Beans
• Fruit
• Nuts
• Seeds
  

In Summary:

• All calories are not created equal.
• Food controls information for your genes that controls your metabolism, not just energy in the form of calories.
• The information changes your metabolism and can increase or decrease your weight.
• A whole-food diet is the best way to help food communicate to your genes in a language it understands.
  

Fascinating isn't it! So basically you can eat only 1,300 calories all day but do it by eating junk all day, and yet look better if you ate 2,000 calories a day with only whole foods! I love it. So true.