Calories is a new cussword

The definition of the word calorie is “the amount of heat required at a pressure of one atmosphere to raise the temperature of one gram of water one degree Celsius that is equal to about 4.19 joules”.  So why is everyone counting them to become healthy?

Not all calories are created equal, and I have seen people count them and not achieve their desired goals. Remember the low fat phenomenon and how we ate those cookies called Snackwells because they were low in calories. Those were definitely not quality.

In college, we studied food composition and macro-nutrient and micro-nutrient content. If you are eating whole foods that do not come in a package, you are implementing quality into your diet. I don’t want anyone spending their time counting calories, however label awareness is essential.

1.  First look at the grams of sugar. Lower than 12 grams is ideal for a product that you know has sugar in it.

2. Look at the ingredient list. The majority of the food is the first ingredients. You will want these ingredients to come from whole food sources and not the ones listed above.

3.  Now look at the Protein, Fat, & Total Carbohydrates. You want a packaged product to be balanced with these. For example, the one above is a loaded carbohydrate/sugar cracker.

We were all trained to stare at the fat grams, and run the other way, however you want a product and your daily diet balanced with fat/protein/carbohydrate grams.  Glance at these and then observe what is missing so you can counterbalance in that meal or later in the day.

Release calories from your mind,
Heather Fleming