Rant - Read at your own risk

Okay, I'm just in a ranting mood. I am pointing fingers at no one in particular (I've been on this site all of 9 hours, so I don't know anyone yet). If you are annoyed by what I'm about to say, then stop reading and go find something else to do.

So my rant has to do with calories. I've never bothered counting them before, and decided to give it a month and see how it goes. I cook almost everything from scratch, so it's going to take a time investment to get recipes entered and figure out how much of a dish I actually eat, but whatever... I figured it would be interesting and informative, and I may or may not keep it up after a month.

Anyhow, I'm just a little puzzled at why many people don't seem to realize that calories are not created equal. That, and caloric intake vs. calories burned is only part of the picture.

So let me take the calories are not created equal point. Calories in white pasta are not the same as calories in whole grain pasta. Pizza made from whole wheat and topped with veggies is not the same as pizza with a white flour crust topped with pepperoni. The fat in avocados is not the same as the fat in sour cream. Canola oil is almost always bad (since it is almost always genetically modified--which is another totally different topic), whereas coconut oil (which is saturated) actually stimulates and boosts the metabolism.

Add to that the fact that when you get a craving, it's not that you are actually craving a pizza or spaghetti, but you either craving nutrients. The problem is that your body is probably addicted to the additives and such in the food (ever watched Supersize Me? If you do, you'll know what I mean). So it feels a craving and interprets it as one of those addicting foods. So you eat the food, but you aren't nutritionally satisfied. So you eat too much. If you were to eat something very nutritionally dense, you would probably eat fewer calories yet feel more satisfied.

Then there is the issue of calories consumed vs calories burned. I already mentioned that coconut oil boosts the metabolism, which makes it an excellent source of fat. The idea is that if you use it in place of (not in addition to) other sources of fat, you will burn more calories after that meal. If you eat breakfast, you will boost your metabolism so that you burn more calories. If you get enough sleep, you will have more energy, and therefore burn more calories just by more active than you would otherwise, not to mention that sleep itself seems to make a difference.

I could go on and on (this is a rant, after all), but I guess I've gotten it off my chest, so I'll stop. I just bought bathroom scales, so I'm going to see what I can do in a month. That, and measurements, since I know weight isn't everything either.