Question about the QUALITY (not the QUANTITY) of calories

dumb_blondes_rock

Would you buy a lamborgini and use the cheapest gas there is? Or would you cherish it and use the premium gas and get oil changes every 3000 miles? Sure, the cheap gas works, but the premium is SO much better and it helps the longevity of the car

Slaintegrl

Hi, you asked for personal experience, so here's mine.

Up until about 6 months ago, I ate pretty much whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. Lots of fast foods, processed foods. And I weighed about 350 pounds! I was in a wheelchair in constant pain. I had diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, severe arthritis, fibromyalgia - the whole nine yards, and was on bunches of meds (up to 30 pills a day plus insulin). Thanks to a good friend and life coach, I began to incorporate more fresh vegetables, fruit, lean protein - things that I believe (and this is my belief, if it's not anyone else's that's fine) are more healthy and provide more nutrition while providing fewer calories. Since that time, I've continued to improve my eating habits, still incorporating fresh veggies and fruit, lean meats, fish, fewer starches. These choices keep me full and satisfied. I'm now down to 293 (yes, I know I've got a long way to go), and my latest blood tests were phenomenal. I've been able to lower my insulin and one bp med, and have the promise of reducing or getting off of more of my meds. I'm probably better nourished now than I ever have been in my 65 years. So, while there's probably no such thing as a "quality calorie" - it's just a unit of energy, I believe that the quality of the food does have an impact. Does this mean that any food is bad? Not necessarily. It's an individual thing and you have to find what works for you. A food is only "bad" if it affects you badly - such as a food allergy, or processed sugar to a diabetic (and yes, diabetics don't have to completely avoid sugar - we just have to be careful). I've found something that is working for me. Once I get the weight off and get to maintenance, I'll probably allow myself a few things that I don't eat now. Whatever I do, I'll be more aware of food and what works best for me and my body. Like others have said, to each his own and I hope you find something that works for you.

JackieRL55

Truth is, you can eat whatever you want within the calories and lose weight...but your health will most likely suffer in the long term based on your genetics. I say this because I know people who have eaten fast food all their lives in minimal quantities and never had so much as a hiccup, yet I eat McDonalds three times a week and my ears are ringing because my blood pressure spikes. Do what works for you. Everyone will have their opinion but at the end of the day you are the only one that knows how you feel and your family history so to hell with the experts. Just understand that you won't really know how something will affect you...until it does and then you just have to deal with the consequences of that.

At the end of the day, my theory is, to each his own. You like it, I love it!

bcattoes

Lean proteins make me feel fuller for longer so I snack less.
Sugary foods and carbs make me sleepy or 'crash' so I feel sluggish.
Vitamin rich vegetables make me feel lively and energetic.

The effect of these things on my likelihood to eat well and exercise means they do have some influence on weight loss/gains and fitness.

Lean proteins are no good for my satiety, unless I am adding some other fat somewhere. For me, fats are better.

I agree. I buy (mostly) lean meats, but I cook them with olive oil. I know most people say protein is most satiating, but without fat, it just does not work for me.

LiftAllThePizzas

I improved the quality of my diet by eating more pizza.

aakaakaak

Lean proteins make me feel fuller for longer so I snack less.
Sugary foods and carbs make me sleepy or 'crash' so I feel sluggish.
Vitamin rich vegetables make me feel lively and energetic.

The effect of these things on my likelihood to eat well and exercise means they do have some influence on weight loss/gains and fitness.

Lean proteins are no good for my satiety, unless I am adding some other fat somewhere. For me, fats are better.

I agree. I buy (mostly) lean meats, but I cook them with olive oil. I know most people say protein is most satiating, but without fat, it just does not work for me.

My max level of satiety usually occurs just by hitting my macronutrient needs. It doesn't really matter if I'm at my caloric numbers or a few hundred calories lower. If I hit my macros I'm usually full.

eryquem

The thing that gets left out of most of these conversations is a true understanding of the difference between "healthy" and "unhealthy" foods. While not all-inclusive, it's safe to say that the primary distinction is between refined carbs (both sugar and grains/starches) and carbs that are combined with micronutrients and fiber in the form of fruits and vegetables.

When looking at this metabolically, the only real difference between "junk food" and "clean/healthy/whole/etc" is the speed at which your digestive system can absorb the carbs and convert them to glucose in the bloodstream.

Whether one is better than the other is dependent on multiple factors that change based on the current state of the body. If you're doing hard exercise and are glycogen depleted, than at that moment, your body may actually respond better to "unhealthy" food, because it needs energy fast.

On the other hand, chronically overloading your system with bursts of excess energy, and the resulting yo-yoing of insulin levels, etc., can, over time, cause problems.

Bottom line is that it ultimately, the thing that really matters is moderation vs. excess. I know this sounds cliché, but think about it this way. If you were to take one bite of twinky every 20 minutes all day long, that could potentially give the same rate of energy uptake as eating a healthy meal once every several hours. You're simply controlling the level of carb absorption from the outside, rather than letting your digestive system do it for you.

bagge72

Would you buy a lamborgini and use the cheapest gas there is? Or would you cherish it and use the premium gas and get oil changes every 3000 miles? Sure, the cheap gas works, but the premium is SO much better and it helps the longevity of the car

Just a bad analogy. Who decides which calories are the premium gas, and which are the regular unleaded gas? Wouldn't you consider a pro level athlete more towards the Lambo end of cars, and they fuel themselves with much different food than the normal person? Wouldn't you use like a honda accord as an example, it runs the same off of all levels of gas, if you are putting the higher stuff in you are just wasting your money? Also a Lambo needs it's oil changed every 7500 miles.

bcattoes

You are right. Calories in .. calories out is out the window these days... There are too many added artificial ingredients and a calorie of one food is not the same as a calorie of another.... look at vitamin water for just one example.

It is about the quality not the quantity and it unfortunate that EVERYONE does not know that and is still listening to the media but the word is spreading... thankfully.

More information is in the group, the Skinny on Obesity.

Joanne Moniz
The Skinny on Obesity Group

And yet I lost over 50lbs eating 'junk' and my blood test results showed what eating this way did-no longer having a glucose number in the pre-diabetic range, a total cholesterol number in the 160s and being pegged 'very low risk' for heart disease. Go figure.

eta: I've spent hundreds of hours researching food/nutrition and how it relates to health, longevity of life etc. I've read all the books, watched the documentaries and lectures, read a ridiculous amount of articles etc. And what it came down to is I had to listen to my body-eating a strict 'healthy' diet was detrimental to me. Now I don't label food as 'good' or 'bad', focus on macros and I feel fantastic. Life is much better now that I've learned to listen to my body's cues.

If you lost weight and improved your health by eating junk, why did you change your diet for maintenance? I took a look at the past couple of weeks in your food diary and saw very little food that wouldn't be considered "healthy" by most.

I hit maintenance this spring and I had a different account here on mfp. I transitioned over to the 'clean' eating movement after that because of all the reading/watching about food/nutrition/health I had done (especially documentaries like Forks over Knives, Food Matters etc). And I went 'hard core'-organic everything, only fresh veggies and fruit and only from the farmer's market, cut out any extra fat (olive oil etc) etc. I even eliminated most dairy because it was still too 'processed' etc. Really jumped in with both feet Tried it for several months over the summer/early fall.

Realized it was causing me way more grief than how I used to eat ever did, gave it up, quit MFP and went into kind of a funk. Then I got over myself, rejoined MFP and got plugged into sidesteel/sarauk2sf's group and I'm now focusing on IIFYM/macros/strength training. I now eat fast food several times a week, drink diet soda, use regular ranch dressing, use protein bars etc. Things that during my clean eating experiment were a big no no.

eta: eating clean sent me over into orthorexia territory. I began looking at food in a totally different way-everything was now 'good' or 'bad' and food was no longer just food. I had to analyze every single thing I ate to see if it was 'safe' to eat. I realize many people who eat a clean/whole foods diet don't get to that point, but there is definitely a push by those in the clean eating movement that say if you don't eat clean, you're harming yourself. It's very easy to get trapped into that extreme mindset and it only leads to bad things.

I completely agree that many take "clean eating" to unhealthy extremes. And I can understand how that could happen. But I don't think that fits the OP's question, because once you take "clean eating" (or whatever name you choose to give it) to unhealthy levels, you are not "eating healthy".

bcattoes

I improved the quality of my diet by eating more pizza.

I can believe that. Pizza gets a bad wrap, but it can be a good mix of carbs, protein and fat.

gcg3

I agree with the calories in- calories out approach people are taking here. That being said, I find that when I eat a lot of chocolate or have fast food even when they fit into my days calories, I'm hungrier afterwards (because you have to eat less) and then I either crash out afterwards or crave more sugary/salty/fatty foods afterwards. When I began to eat healthier I moticed that my energy levels were more stable (no 3 o'clock in the afternoon vending machine trips) and my skin is way healthier. Also I think sometimes in my head I think I'm thinner or weigh less when I'm eating healthily just because I'm not as bloated after eating junk food, even if my weight is the exact same.

Phoenix_Warrior

My view or quality of calories is Arctic Zero 'ice cream' vs. Ben & Jerry's. Clearly, anyone who knows what either tastes like would agree, Ben & Jerry's is the clear winner in quality.

TR0berts

Would you buy a lamborgini and use the cheapest gas there is? Or would you cherish it and use the premium gas and get oil changes every 3000 miles? Sure, the cheap gas works, but the premium is SO much better and it helps the longevity of the car

Just a bad analogy. Who decides which calories are the premium gas, and which are the regular unleaded gas? Wouldn't you consider a pro level athlete more towards the Lambo end of cars, and they fuel themselves with much different food than the normal person? Wouldn't you use like a honda accord as an example, it runs the same off of all levels of gas, if you are putting the higher stuff in you are just wasting your money? Also a Lambo needs it's oil changed every 7500 miles.

Chad Johnson/Ochocinco was, in his day, one of the elite NFL WRs. He ate McDonald's every day on his way to practice. The "cheap gas" seemed to work just fine for him.

jonnythan

Would you buy a lamborgini and use the cheapest gas there is? Or would you cherish it and use the premium gas and get oil changes every 3000 miles? Sure, the cheap gas works, but the premium is SO much better and it helps the longevity of the car

You know the "premium" gas is made by adulterating the gasoline so that it's harder to burn? Yup, they typically add more ethanol to it.

Just FYI. That's a pretty bad analogy.

dumb_blondes_rock

Everyone can eat how they like, I just think there is a link between diseases/cancers that can be attributed to our diets. If you disagree thats fine. I eat mcdonalds but I prefer foods that my body can use as a defense, instead of just a way to survive. To each their own

The_Enginerd

Would you buy a lamborgini and use the cheapest gas there is? Or would you cherish it and use the premium gas and get oil changes every 3000 miles? Sure, the cheap gas works, but the premium is SO much better and it helps the longevity of the car

Just a bad analogy. Who decides which calories are the premium gas, and which are the regular unleaded gas? Wouldn't you consider a pro level athlete more towards the Lambo end of cars, and they fuel themselves with much different food than the normal person? Wouldn't you use like a honda accord as an example, it runs the same off of all levels of gas, if you are putting the higher stuff in you are just wasting your money? Also a Lambo needs it's oil changed every 7500 miles.

Chad Johnson/Ochocinco was, in his day, one of the elite NFL WRs. He ate McDonald's every day on his way to practice. The "cheap gas" seemed to work just fine for him.

I agree, this is not a good analogy. Your body is more like a Mr. Fusion and runs on pretty much anything as long as the constituents it needs are there. Evolution rewarded that ability handsomely.

Michael Phelps is an elite athlete, and this is what he eats:
Breakfast: Three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise. Two cups of coffee. One five-egg omelet. One bowl of grits. Three slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar. Three chocolate-chip pancakes.

Lunch: One pound of enriched pasta. Two large ham and cheese sandwiches with mayo on white bread. Energy drinks packing 1,000 calories.

Dinner: One pound of pasta. An entire pizza. More energy drinks.

ktsimons

There are a lot responses here so I might have missed someone else bringing up this point but if I ate only the higher calorie, "less healthy" food, I think I would just be so hungry all the time. Fast food etc. has so many calories that I could only eat one meal a day or so to stay within my 1,300 to 1,600 daily limit to lose about a pound a week. Of course there are a lot of high calorie extremely nutritious food that I try to eat very moderately in order to keep the calories down but this post seemed to be focusing on the fast food and sweet choices. I also believe it's calorie in, calorie out but common sense seems to say a diet rich in "empty" calories isn't giving your body much to work with. I guess I go with the philosophy of all things in moderation.

totally this...It is almost IMPOSSIBLE for me to eat enough volume if I choose higher calorie "junk" food. With only 1400 calories to work with a day (I am 5'4" and only have 5 more pounds to loose) one Wendy's single with cheese and a small fry is nearly HALF of my calorie allotment for a 24 hour period. I would be really very hungry if I ate that on a daily basis.

jonnythan

There are a lot responses here so I might have missed someone else bringing up this point but if I ate only the higher calorie, "less healthy" food, I think I would just be so hungry all the time. Fast food etc. has so many calories that I could only eat one meal a day or so to stay within my 1,300 to 1,600 daily limit to lose about a pound a week. Of course there are a lot of high calorie extremely nutritious food that I try to eat very moderately in order to keep the calories down but this post seemed to be focusing on the fast food and sweet choices. I also believe it's calorie in, calorie out but common sense seems to say a diet rich in "empty" calories isn't giving your body much to work with. I guess I go with the philosophy of all things in moderation.

totally this...It is almost IMPOSSIBLE for me to eat enough volume if I choose higher calorie "junk" food. With only 1400 calories to work with a day (I am 5'4" and only have 5 more pounds to loose) one Wendy's single with cheese and a small fry is nearly HALF of my calorie allotment for a 24 hour period. I would be really very hungry if I ate that on a daily basis.

So here's the question: where does a grilled chicken sandwich and side salad fall on the spectrum of "healthy" vs "junk" if it comes from McDonald's?

bcattoes

Would you buy a lamborgini and use the cheapest gas there is? Or would you cherish it and use the premium gas and get oil changes every 3000 miles? Sure, the cheap gas works, but the premium is SO much better and it helps the longevity of the car

I'd trade that POS in for a Jeep and use the cheap gas recommended in the Jeep manual.

dumb_blondes_rock

*insert backin up lady song* damn...didnt know people were going to get so technical. I shall back away from the illustration I used, even though I think most people got the point I was trying to make. Truce over milkshakes?