Natural v. low cal

wonderwomanwannaB

This is a debate I find myself in a lot. There are so many low calorie options and supplements that can make reaching numbered goals in the diary a lot easier. However, sometimes these things aren't natural (some examples that everyone has probably encountered, artificial-no-calorie sweeteners... protein shakes... those "special K" products).

Obviously we want to strike a balance of nature and "nutrition," but when push comes to shove which takes precedence in your diet?

Eggs v protein shake
Juice v Crystal Light
cream v "skinny" or "fat free" etc. coffee creamers and flavorings
Or.... whatever natural v. whatever artificial, but saves some calories

Not the best examples, but I'd love to get an idea on how other people reason through options.


EDIT: Just to be fair... I am typically one to lean towards the natural side (In Defense of Food, anyone?) Would rather just drink my coffee and tea black than add either chemicals or calories. I rehydrate beans to avoid sodium, dehydrate veggies to make snacks. But on occasion I realize something slipped under my nose into my diet and I go "but I LIKE my processed almond milk better than skim... and it's lower in calories!" grr. haha.

6heatherb6

Natural EVERYTIME!!!!
:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

Pebble321

My preference is definitley for natural v low cal.
I think that substiting larger quantities of "low cal" foods instead of moderate portions of "real" food is only perpetuating the problems that made me fat in the first place.

kellybones

I go for natural whole foods if possible with minimum processing over low cal/reduced fat stuff. I especially avoid the artificial sweetners and other foods that have far too many ingredients that I can't pronounce. Now, I'm not 100% "clean" and I do eat some processed food products but given the choice - I'll take a somewhat higher calories/higher fat food product that is made from real, recognizably edible ingredients over a lab made cocktail of goodness knows what!

mowu

Natural - when it all comes down to it I find that they often taste better and I'm (more often than not) willing to trade portion size for taste.

Edit: I do however use artificial sweetener in my coffee and go for the "light" versions of soda and such without hesitation.

SoCalSwimmerDude

Excellent topic to bring up. To be honest, I started as "low cal" when I was at 1310 cals/day on this site. As time went on and eating healthy became more important to me, natural took over. However, I'm now at 2000 cals/day so that surely helps. I won't fault either side because you gotta do what you gotta do to get control over your eating. And to each person, thats going to be different.

Klbryce1

Natural all the way! You'll feel way better for it and its probably much cheaper too

rschuurman

You can now get an all natural sweetener - several different brands made from a natural plant called Stevia. Most products are only around 1 calories = 1 tsp sugar equivalent. I tried a brand called Sweete the other day - it was really nice!

kevalmann

natural would be good but it also depends on ease of obtaining it. for mei substitute coke with coke zero and aspartame isnt natural if im not wrong!!

tattereds

I prefer natural foods also.... That said, I do drink Coke Zero (and enjoy every drop!) lol.

jobster

Natural all day, every day! Some of the ingredients in so called low fat foods scare the hell out of me! Never eat anything you can`t pronounce ~ and have no idea what it is or looks like! I`m a bit obsessed with food labelling and if there is anything on the label, that I can`t visualise, it goes back on the shelf.! My asthma has improved a million percent since giving up anything processed/artificial so I know the benefits of natural are worth it

morganadk2_deleted

Natural EVERYTIME!!!!
:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

i agree

monkeydharma

I'll add my voice to the chorus: the ONLY way to go is natural, whole foods over processed or manufactured foods.

A good part of the reason we are all overweight is that our bodies are searching for SOMEthing it is not getting, and tells us "maybe the next bite will have it....OK, maybe the NEXT bite....". We are designed to eat a variety of simple, whole foods, simply prepared. We are NOT designed to deal with the scores of chemicals and other things that have (up until the last 100 years) never been a part of our diet.

Artificial sweeteners are bad. Fake fats are bad. If a product has to add vitamins to it, it's bad. If you can't pronounce half the ingredients, it's bad. Natural is easy to obtain - just stick to the produce and meat aisles of your market. It doesn't have to be organic (although it is better if it is).