Counting Calories to lose weight - A little help

Calories: "the myth, the legend, the truth"

Here we go again! In today's L.A.Times there is an article titled "Obesity: America just keeps getting fatter" .

Most of us have heard about calories, and that carbohydrates, proteins and fats have certain amount of calories assigned per gram. But what YOU DON'T KNOW IS: how they came up with this!

Here is the scoop people: calories are measured in a very archaic way. Carbohydrates, fats or proteins (or other complex foods) are put in a "BOMB CALORIMETER". Food is BURNED (like with fire!) and the heat given off by burning it is the "caloric content" of the food. This is how they came up the numbers : 4 calories per gram of carbohydrate and protein, and 9 calories per gram of fat. A calorie approximates the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree centigrade.

Now, if anyone else hasn't noticed yet, our bodies DO NOT BURN FOOD! Our digestive system is composed of enzymes and acids that break down food into it's components so they can be absorved by the body via various systems. This process begins in the mouth with enzymes in the saliva, acids in the stomach, and more enzymes, bile and other things in the small intestine and large intestine.

Instead of counting caloric content of foods, we must concentrate on the NUTRITIONAL VALUE of foods, such as vitamin and mineral content, fiber, proteins, etc.
Research has shown that the "so called" manufatured vitamin C in the form of "ascorbic acid" is not nearly as effective as lime juice. Why? Because vitamin C is not just ascorbic acid, but also all the co-factors and vitomers that are naturally found in real food. The same goes for all other foods.

So, if you just count calories, you are missing the point. Don't get me wrong, you might lose weight, but you are not necessarily addressing the nutrition content of your food.  If you eat "lite" products, you are being fooled. If you buy into the "diet" products, you are being fooled. If you think you can drink a two liter bottle of diet coke and have it have no impact on your body you are being fooled! (Sorry to break the news to you)

Please note that how much you eat has an impact on how much you weight, but what you eat is more important (Picture this: try to eat 1000 calories worth of oranges (that's a lot of oranges) versus say two big macs!) It's nearly impossible to go overboard with that you eat when you are making healthy food choices because the physical amount of food you have to eat makes it nearly impossible.

The best way to approach your diet is by focusing on eating fresh products such as fresh foods and vegetables and meats (if you so choose to). Organic is better. Anything from a can you should probably avoid. Seeds and nuts = good!

The topic of what to eat is very broad, but I hope this has shed some light on the topic. For more information or if you have any questions, feel free to call me and set up a time to discuss the basic components of nutrition.

Dr. Eric