I’m sure you’ve heard that a calorie is a calorie and all are created equal, right?
Hmm…well I hate to burst your little blind-bubble, but that is a LIE!!!!!!! 
Calories are NOT all created equal! It’s about quality, not just quantity! Yes, the amount of calories you eat is important too, but that’s not the main focus!
Yeah yeah, I know that’s a twist in what you’ve always been taught, but let’s talk proof here.
So…for example, let’s take 2 people who are eating 1600 calories a day. Person A eats 1600 calories worth of wholesome food such as apples, greens, oats, chicken, etc. while Person B eats 1600 calories worth of Snickers! They’re both eating 1600 calories right? Well… is there outcome going to be the same?
Don’t think too hard now…
The answer is NO! I’m not even going to touch on the health of Person B, let’s just look at this from a weight-loss perspective: believe it or not, though they both consumed the same quantity of calories, Person A will lose weight, while Person B will either remain the same or gain! So…clearly calorie counting can’t be your only tactic in this weight-loss war.
I know, right? Take a moment to digest…
And if you want an example that’s not hypothetical (which I’d assume you would), let’s take a study conducted by Harvard! They designed a study on calories and weight loss. They used 3 groups of people.
Group A: Fed a low-fat diet—1,500 calories for women and 1,800 calories for men
Group B: Fed a low-carb diet—1,500 calories for women and 1,800 calories for men
Group C: Fed a low-carb diet, but ate 300 more calories a day than the other groups—1,800 for women and 2,100 for men.
The results? Over 12 weeks, Group B lost the most weight!—an average of 23 pounds compared to 17 pounds Group A. (That’s six more pounds of weight loss over just 12 weeks.)
Their difference? The low-carb diet was mostly whole, unprocessed foods like lean animal protein, veggies, whole grains and beans. The low-fat group included more refined carbs.
Both groups ate the SAME # OF CALORIES, but those who ate the whole, unprocessed foods had GREATER WEIGHT LOSS.
I know! You’ve been doing it wrong, huh?
BUT WAIT! It gets better!!!! Group C ( eating 300 more calories a day with the low-carb diet) lost more weight than Group B (low fat)!!!!!!!!—even though those extra 25,000 calories they ate should have appeared as seven pounds of increased weight. They lost an average of 20 pounds (3 more than the low-fat group who ate 25,000 fewer calories during those 12 weeks)!!!!! Tell me that that didn’t just shock you!!!!
They got to EAT MORE and LOSE MORE!
Calorie quality is more important than calorie quantity because the type of calories you eat has an impact on how your metabolism functions. Your diet—in the quality of calories you consume—impacts what your genes tell your metabolism to do!!!!
Are we all clear on that?
Rock on 😉 …you may not proceed with your day.
Health Nut or Not by Rikki Ferrier 