Stop Calorie Counting and Do This in 2018 Instead

Holiday season is over, and you’re back in the grove of things, determined to be your healthiest self by going to the gym and eating healthy. And, you got a bit caught up with your new year resolution of hitting X-amount of calories a day. avoid vegan weight gain

Does the thought of counting every single calorie you eat sound daunting to you?

It does to me. Calorie counting is a reductionist approach – reducing food just to get to a number or measurement. When you look at food holistically, numbers alone can not measure how cleanly the food digests, the effect it has on our body, as well as the nutritive quality of that particular food.

While we can use number as a rough guideline, we are more than just numbers. As we start the New Year, I want to invite you to stop counting calories obsessively and revisit this article I had with Dr. James Costello previously.

In the article below we will address:

• Why counting calories is an ineffective way to lose weight (Isn’t this a relief?) vegan weight gain

• The rule to remember if you want to stay toned without counting calories

• One easy tactic to eat healthy as you’re getting busier in the New Year

Q: You have been emphasising on the importance of quantum calories, not just “calories in and calories out,” can you elaborate on that?    

James: Why Counting Calories Does Not Work vegan weight gain

Sure, let’s use an avocado and a bag of French fries as an example. Let’s say that the two have 500 calories respectively. The quality of the calories between the two is different, and hence the two foods are processed differently in our bodies. This also means that the avocado may not necessarily contribute to weight gain, while the bag of French fries would do so. vegan weight gain

When you eat an avocado, the fats are metabolised by the naturally occurring fruit lipase and used by your body. When you eat French fries the fats are bereaved of enzymes, and stored as toxins. vegan weight gain

When you ingest a lipid, what will end up digesting that fat and make sure you get nourished is an enzyme called “lipase.”

The lipase is naturally occurring in an avocado, especially a ripe one. This goes for all raw fruits and vegetables.

You eat the avocado, lipase dance with body and boosts brain health, nervous system and skin, so all the fat is used in the body. This applies to raw meat too, though you don’t get the fiber you get with the avocado.

Fats are one of the most important element in sustainable health.

The lipid-lipase mechanism in food works in a healthy individual if the food is raw – the enzymes make sure the fat will be assimilated or dispatched properly.

If the fats are processed in any way, like French fries, the lipid has no lipase.

Cooked lipids become distorted and mutated to a point that the body does not recognize them. As a result, our body stores the fats in places where we store toxins. This is why mucus builds up in our colon.

Q: So are you saying that calories DON’T matter?

If you’re eating modern foods that are highly heated and processed, yes the calories idea becomes valid.

However, if you’re keeping foods under water temperature (below 1ooC / 212F), the food you eat is recognised as something that can be nourished in your body.

For instance, our brain is full of fatty acids/lipids. There is a lot more fat and water than there is protein in the brain. Our health depends on cell activities, and the activities are depending on the membrane, which is largely dependent on the lipids.

The quality of lipids you eat with determine your health.

If the fats you ingest are from fries and cooked steak, you will have droopy eyes, foggy brain, and more-than-average gray hair, and cellulite.

If you have plant-based super energetic lipids in diet from coconut, sprouted nuts and seeds, coconut, avocado, olives, you will feel energetic and are more likely to be skinnier than the person who eats lots of cooked meat, even if you eat the same amount of calories.

Q:  If monitoring calories is not the best way to manage one’s weight, what’s a better way to do that, especially when you’re on the road working, and some restaurants may not offer healthy options?

We follow the boiling temperature  rule, which means no cooked foods above 100C/212F.

In restaurants, we ask for salads (no dressing), lightly steamed vegetables and lots of fruit.

We bring our own Himalayan salt and request for no seasoning and oil.

Try the above tips for yourself! Let me know what you think. Be well. x

Check out our other interviews with Dr. James Costello:

• Sprouted, Raw Nuts: The Best Healthy Foods to Enhance Digestion, Increase Energy and Lose Weight?
• If Soaked Nuts and Whey Fight to Death, Who Comes Out Alive?
• Are All Salt and Sugar Really the Villain to Weight Loss and Health?
• 4 Surprising Ingredients To Avoid When Choosing an Energy Bar

And if you want another opinion on fats, please check out our interview series with Dr. Douglas Graham, Author of the 80/10/10 Diet:

• 80/10/10: The Hottest and Most Overlooked Diet For Athletes? (Part 1)
• 80/10/10: Cut Down Fat and Recover Twice as Fast from Workouts? (Part 2)