A calorie is not a calorie is not a calorie

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  • mmipanda
    mmipanda Posts: 351 Member
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    Yay! You invented sarcasm. Congratulations, you're a genius! :drinker:

    :ohwell:
  • fast_eddie_72
    fast_eddie_72 Posts: 719 Member
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    (edit) Nah.

    See ya at Church!
  • SKME2013
    SKME2013 Posts: 704 Member
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    A calorie is indeed a calorie, but what the body does with it and how it reacts to it is very different!

    There is a good book out there called "the calorie myth...", by Jonathan Bailor that discusses exactly this statement.

    I personally strongly believe that it matters a lot WHAT we put into our bodies and not only how much.
    Stef.
  • cassylee
    cassylee Posts: 107 Member
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    bump for later :happy:
  • Tigredia
    Tigredia Posts: 107 Member
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    Check out Swedish low carb high fat. Several links. Sweden has low obese rate and most of their population eat this way.
    They don't watch calories.
  • nicoleisback
    nicoleisback Posts: 184
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    I think the point here is a calorie is just a calorie, but food is not just calories.

    I would love to see further long term studies on the effects of different macros settings in ONE STUDY. Most studies seem to focus more heavily on one macro than the others. With such varying conditions between studies it is really hard to get an accurate picture of how one type of macro adjustment compares to others, rather than how it compares to just a control group.
  • fast_eddie_72
    fast_eddie_72 Posts: 719 Member
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    I think the point here is a calorie is just a calorie, but food is not just calories.

    That's what it typically boils down to. Interestingly, a calories is food.

    Insert obligatory link to dictionary definition - as is the custom when having a nonsensical semantic argument.

    http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/calorie

    "2

    b : an amount of food having an energy-producing value of one large calorie"

    "Ah" you say, "but that's #2! No one uses is that way!" But they do. How many times a day does someone say "I ate 2,300 calories" or something along those lines? Rubbish! You can't eat a unit of measure! "I ate a cup." A cup is a unit of measure, but what would you say to that? "A cup of what?" Well, it's a unit of measure, what difference does it make! All cups are the same!

    A calorie is a calorie just as a pound is a pound. Pound of aluminum, pound of lead, makes no difference. Which is exactly why Formula 1 teams spend so much on carbon fiber. Or is it because they want to win races, not arguments on the internet? It's one of those, I'm sure.

    Case in point:
    However, the trefoil has sugar and fat, etc. so in the end the lettuce is better, but the lettuce still counts.

    But what if you are trying to hit your fat and carb macros for the day? Then the lettuce becomes worse while the cookie becomes "better".

    What if you are? What if the lettuce is, as you say, "worse"? But wait, that can't be. Worse is not "the same".

    Or this:
    You probably misunderstand what those nutters are actually saying. No one has ever said all food is the same (cause that would be dumb) but that no food is bad because your diet doesn't exist in a vacuum and that balance is key.

    And that's the point. Probably did misunderstand because they didn't say what you just said. They said "a calorie is a calorie". That's how it is with nonsensical semantic arguments, they're misleading (at best). It's a poor way of saying "You can work any food into a calorie deficit". Huh. It's not much harder to say what they actually mean. If they did that, it would probably be more clear. And people wouldn't call them "nutters". It's almost as if they're being intentionally vague in hopes of eliciting a combative response. What do they call that on the internet? Ah. "Flame bating" I think. There should be a rule...

    (For the record, people here HAVE said all food is the same. Actually when asked, in those words "Is all food the same?" they responded "yes". I'll leave the subjective assessment of that position to you.)
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
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    So we're all agreed then High Fat, Medium Protein, Low Carb (not no Carb).

    Great lets wrap in up there then. :smile:

    Only page three - Too soon ^^^
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
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    Yay! You invented sarcasm. Congratulations, you're a genius! :drinker:

    :ohwell:

    Good point, let me go start a thread about my discovery . . . Oh, wait, wut? :flowerforyou:

    It's okay, hell at least you're getting it. Butt hurt and all.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 9,988 Member
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    It may be opaque, but it's the truth. The "calorie is a calorie" people aren't the ones trying to distort the fact that a calorie is just a calorie as a mile is a mile regardless of whether it is composed of a straight highway, or mountainous terrain, or whatever. Different things make them up, but in the end, a mile is still a mile.

    It's the principal :)

    Sure, same measurement. But she said "The mile I ran" which changes things drastically. Because the distance is the same but the impact on the person involved changes based on variables. How fast was she running? Was it in soft sand or on a treadmill? Up a mountain?

    Its not the same even though the unit of distance measured is the same. Because that's just oversimplifying to the ultimate degree and ruling out every possible variable. Which to me IS distorting facts. Its like saying I have a metre of chain and a metre of ribbon, and they can be used interchangably because a metre is a metre.
    Your confusing energy expenditure with calories........increased energy expenditure increases caloric needs. Make it all uphill and change the mile to an inch, now what do we have.

    Confusion over what a calorie is is generally where one is a unit of energy, which it is, and that will never change and the other being the different metabolic pathways the body utilizes to metabolize that energy.....calories from carbs are different than protein are different from fat in the way the body uses them. :smile:
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
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    It may be opaque, but it's the truth. The "calorie is a calorie" people aren't the ones trying to distort the fact that a calorie is just a calorie as a mile is a mile regardless of whether it is composed of a straight highway, or mountainous terrain, or whatever. Different things make them up, but in the end, a mile is still a mile.

    It's the principal :)

    Sure, same measurement. But she said "The mile I ran" which changes things drastically. Because the distance is the same but the impact on the person involved changes based on variables. How fast was she running? Was it in soft sand or on a treadmill? Up a mountain?

    Its not the same even though the unit of distance measured is the same. Because that's just oversimplifying to the ultimate degree and ruling out every possible variable. Which to me IS distorting facts. Its like saying I have a metre of chain and a metre of ribbon, and they can be used interchangably because a metre is a metre.
    Your confusing energy expenditure with calories........increased energy expenditure increases caloric needs. Make it all uphill and change the mile to an inch, now what do we have.

    Confusion over what a calorie is is generally where one is a unit of energy, which it is, and that will never change and the other being the different metabolic pathways the body utilizes to metabolize that energy.....calories from carbs are different than protein are different from fat in the way the body uses them. :smile:

    You make an interesting point!:smile:
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 9,988 Member
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    It may be opaque, but it's the truth. The "calorie is a calorie" people aren't the ones trying to distort the fact that a calorie is just a calorie as a mile is a mile regardless of whether it is composed of a straight highway, or mountainous terrain, or whatever. Different things make them up, but in the end, a mile is still a mile.

    It's the principal :)

    Sure, same measurement. But she said "The mile I ran" which changes things drastically. Because the distance is the same but the impact on the person involved changes based on variables. How fast was she running? Was it in soft sand or on a treadmill? Up a mountain?

    Its not the same even though the unit of distance measured is the same. Because that's just oversimplifying to the ultimate degree and ruling out every possible variable. Which to me IS distorting facts. Its like saying I have a metre of chain and a metre of ribbon, and they can be used interchangably because a metre is a metre.
    Your confusing energy expenditure with calories........increased energy expenditure increases caloric needs. Make it all uphill and change the mile to an inch, now what do we have.

    Confusion over what a calorie is is generally where one is a unit of energy, which it is, and that will never change and the other being the different metabolic pathways the body utilizes to metabolize that energy.....calories from carbs are different than protein are different from fat in the way the body uses them. :smile:

    You make an interesting point!:smile:
    I must have said something wrong.:bigsmile:
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
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    Just thought I would drop this one for a bit of fun reading.

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-energy-balance-equation.html
  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
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    So we're all agreed then High Fat, Medium Protein, Low Carb (not no Carb).

    Great lets wrap in up there then. :smile:

    Only page three - Too soon ^^^

    No one agreed with that.
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
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    I thought I would be overrun with high fives???
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    However, the trefoil has sugar and fat, etc. so in the end the lettuce is better, but the lettuce still counts.

    But what if you are trying to hit your fat and carb macros for the day? Then the lettuce becomes worse while the cookie becomes "better".

    What if you are? What if the lettuce is, as you say, "worse"? But wait, that can't be. Worse is not "the same".

    Well, if you notice, I used the word "worse" as a contradiction to his "better". Neither are worse in my eyes. The lettuce just wouldn't help me for that day if I was trying hit my carb/fat macros for the day.
  • fast_eddie_72
    fast_eddie_72 Posts: 719 Member
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    However, the trefoil has sugar and fat, etc. so in the end the lettuce is better, but the lettuce still counts.

    But what if you are trying to hit your fat and carb macros for the day? Then the lettuce becomes worse while the cookie becomes "better".

    What if you are? What if the lettuce is, as you say, "worse"? But wait, that can't be. Worse is not "the same".

    Well, if you notice, I used the word "worse" as a contradiction to his "better". Neither are worse in my eyes. The lettuce just wouldn't help me for that day if I was trying hit my carb/fat macros for the day.

    I understood that. The point being, even the way you just said it, you're saying something other than "they're the same".
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    However, the trefoil has sugar and fat, etc. so in the end the lettuce is better, but the lettuce still counts.

    But what if you are trying to hit your fat and carb macros for the day? Then the lettuce becomes worse while the cookie becomes "better".

    What if you are? What if the lettuce is, as you say, "worse"? But wait, that can't be. Worse is not "the same".

    Well, if you notice, I used the word "worse" as a contradiction to his "better". Neither are worse in my eyes. The lettuce just wouldn't help me for that day if I was trying hit my carb/fat macros for the day.

    I understood that. The point being, even the way you just said it, you're saying something other than "they're the same".

    I don't think I am, but I understand what you are saying. It's beyond semantics at this point. We all agree, just don't like the other person's wording...lol
  • cwsreddy
    cwsreddy Posts: 998 Member
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    Don't need to read to know where this went.

    Y'all can delude yourselves all you want, but the quality of nutrition between two calories is not always identical.

    Sowwy.
  • Bry_Fitness70
    Bry_Fitness70 Posts: 2,480 Member
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    Does this also mean that the mile I ran isn't a mile isn't a mile????? :sad:

    A mile is just a unit of measure, but conditions present during the the course of traveling the mile are relevant. Would you perform identically for running a mile ran on a treadmill vs on the street vs up the side of a hill vs through snow vs on the beach? Does a mile ran at 10,000 feet of elevation require the same effort as one ran at sea level? A calorie is also just a unit of measure, just like a mile, and stripping away all of the other factors associated with a measurement is a simplistic way to look at a very complex process.

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