Why calorie counting is ridiculous

Original Text:


"If you're a regular reader of my emails you'll know that I'm not the biggest fan of calorie counting as a weight loss method. In fact, that's an understatement. It's drives me freakin' mental.

Why?

Because it's the most non commonsensical, ridiculous, scientifically proven-to-be-wrong idea ever and yet virtually the entire world, including a huuuuuuge percentage of 'weight loss professionals' are advocating it as the way to go for a slimmer, healthier body.

ARRRGGHHHHHHHH!

And you know what really makes me mad about the calories in vs. calories out theory?

It actually MAKES PEOPLE FATTER. And more depressed and miserable. And it makes them blame themselves for failing when it's not their fault.

Let's look at the facts. Not even the scientific facts. Just the plain old glaringly obvious ones.

Pre 1970s, no one counted calories.

Pre 1970s, barely anyone even knew what a calorie was.

Then, low and behold, some bright spark set off a myth that if you just eat less than you burn off, you'll lose weight.

Now, short term this may be true in SOME (not all) people. But telling someone who is overweight to eat less and exercise more is like telling someone who is depressed to frown less and smile more. It demonstrates a complete and utter lack of any understanding of the intricate marvel that is the human metabolism, or, in the case of depression, biochemistry.

Every single organism in the world seeks to maintain internal balance (aka, homeostasis). We don't have to think about our blood sugar dropping low or getting too low, it gets regulated automatically. Of course, things can get broken, and in the case of blood sugar, that's what diabetes is. But when things get broken in the body, it's more often than not as a result of what we subject it to. I'll get to this in a sec...

Incidentally, the introduction of the calories in vs calories out counting frenzy coincided with the unprecedented rise in obesity.

So how come all those pre-1970 non-calorie counters went millions of years without getting obese?

They just ate natural food.

You see, it's NOT a case of quantity, and stupid little calories.

It's a case of QUALITY.

Think of it like the time I accidentally put unleaded in my friend's diesel horsebox. £5 of unleaded I put in.

It wrecked the entire engine.

A little bit of **** food in your body has EXACTLY the same effect.

So all those manufacturers creating food substitutes like chocolate bars and crisps and telling you to 'treat yourself' and have it all in moderation... remember it's not about the quantity.. it will have the same damaging effect on your metabolism as unleaded had on that horsebox.

It will wreck your metabolic homeostasis.

Further proof that you really don't need to count calories to maintain a healthy weight is that we are the only species on the planet who counts them.

Have you noticed how animals in the wild rarely get excessively overweight? Even though they're not counting calories? It's only our domesticated pets who get overfed on processed pet food who struggle to stay in shape.

Can you imagine tribes in the middle of Africa whipping out their calculators mid-hunt to ensure the wild boar they're eyeing up won't take them over their daily quota?

It literally drives me bonkers when I hear 'reputable' weight loss organisations encouraging people to off set their highly processed, toxic food substitutes with a jog.

It's a bit like telling someone to offset the 12 *kitten* they just smoked with a bike ride.

It ain't gonna work!!

As you can tell, this really gets my goat. It wouldn't so much if it actually helped, but it does the exact opposite for the vast majority of people and we've been brainwashed with it so intensively for so long now that people have a real hard time giving up the idea.

Calories do count but there is absolutely no need to count them.

If you have fat you want to lose think nutrition and food quality, NOT calories and quantity.

In my experience of working with thousands of people, counting calories merely takes your attention away from your passion and purpose and away from eating the natural foods that were intended for us and help us thrive.


Char"

???? Not scientifically proven???? Where does she think the whole concept of calories came from? What an idiot. Sorry to be so demeaning, but it's true...her whole argument is based on anecdotes/opinion.

wow - in to see where this one ends up!!!!!!!!

WOW. I can't even imagine the size of an ego this large. Good thing for her that egos don't have calories.