Everything in moderation is a load of crap?

bump

Loved the article. So true..not ALL calories are created equal. My high protein lower fat and good amounts of clean complex carbs 1200 calorie diet (6 meals) gives me energy and fuels my body ALL day vs a 1200 fast food meal (maybe only 1 or 2 meals for the whole day) that leaves one starving and crashing with no energy.

though i'm in the overwhelming minority here, i totally agree with that article. i don't know anything about sugar changing the protein structure of foods and all that biological jargon, but yes i completely agree that it's never ok to put crap into our bodies :flowerforyou:

bump

i get the point that they are trying to make. basically bad foods are bad. but we all already know that. no one puts a cheeto in their mouth and thinks about how nutritionally valuable it is, lol. so i think this is definately more of an opinionated article. some things are just hard to stay away from. i think calorie counting is extremely usefull in learning to control your lack of self control over those foods. one step at a time. if in time people who have weaned themselves off of binges using counting can eventually get rid of processed foods all together, then more power to them. i personally could never completely stray away from those naughty things that made me pack on the pounds because i just dont have that kind of will power, but what i can do is make sure i moderate it. which so far is working for me and has for many others.i know cheetos are bad, but i still like them.

I think that depends on how you define 'moderation'. Everyone seems to have really different definitions for the same word/concept. For some people it means eating all the junk food they want, as long as they stay under their calorie goal. For other people, it means having cheat days that they allow themselves to go way over calories. For me, eating in moderation means eating mostly healthy foods, but making room for daily indulgences and social situations.

Personally, eating in moderation works for me. I've lost 32 pounds since April 10th. I normally eat around 2000 calories a day. I eat 'treats' of some sort every single day. I am not on a 'diet'. But that said... I eat lots of fresh, unprocessed and homemade food.

For example, this morning I made a smoothie with fruit and yogurt. For lunch, I had a board meeting for a local arboretum I work with. Pizza was served, and I ate two pieces. For dinner, I made a big taco salad with tons of romaine lettuce, homemade salsa, homemade taco filling made with lean sirloin, cheddar cheese, olives and low-fat sour cream. I had a chocolate merlot cupcake for dessert and a mini-bag of microwave popcorn for a snack. I went for a six mile hike. I came in around 2000 calories, 1300 net. I know plenty of people will disagree and tell me I'm doing it wrong. But, it works for me. :-)

they treat "moderation" as a free pass to eat whatever you want... that's not my understanding of moderation. I still believe you can have indulgences once in a while and that no specific food should be entirely off limits if you love it, but having it in moderation means balancing those indulgences within an overall healty diet (at least to me that's what it has always meant).

I agree with Jackie here, the article totally misses on what "moderation" means. Moderation in every definition I know of including my own would be understanding the good and bad of everything we're eating and making sure we don't over do it on the bad stuff and couple any intake of the "bad" stuff with plenty of the good. Ultimately the article is poorly written in my opinion. It goes all over the map and really doesn't back anything with evidence. A few quotes from doctors, some non-sequitur conclusions and really nothing of any assistance to anyone.

Pretty much my thoughts on this article...
Eating junk food in moderation means that at the end of the week, your total calories and macros will not be very different from a 100% clean diet. Sure, there will be more simple carbs and such but in the end, it's better to indulge in a smart way than to give up after 2 months of a strict diet and binge eating that overloads your body with junk.

good theory, but I'll eat what I want, when I want, in moderation, while counting and working out.
You can't sustain limiting certain foods you like.

I'm not saying that you should eat a bag of chips and fill your daily calorie intake that way, but if you want a doughnut, eat ONE, and fulfill that craving or else your gonna risk a binge later. I eat lots of veggies, fruits, and whole grains, but I also HAVE TO fulfill my little cravings every now and then, and it is way more than once a week, almost daily, and it hasn't hindered my progress.

We're all different though, and for that reason, I stay away from these types of articles.