A calorie is a calorie – or Not ?

Flexi nutrition, IFYM, etc etc does eating 100 calories from sweets give you the same output as 100 calories from chicken? Will it have the same effect on your weight? So why do all these nutrition gurus all of a sudden come up with a notion that you can eat whatever you want as long as it fits your macros! Let’s look deeper.

It’s true that all calories have the same amount of energy. One dietary calorie contains 4,184 Joules of energy. In that respect, a calorie is a calorie.
But when it comes to your body, things are not that simple. The human body is a highly complex biochemical system with elaborate processes that regulate energy balance.
Different foods go through different biochemical pathways, some of which are inefficient and cause energy (calories) to be lost as heat.

Even more important is the fact that different foods and macronutrients have a major effect on the hormones and brain centers that control hunger and eating behavior.
The foods you eat can have a huge impact on the biological processes that control when, what and how much you eat.
Here are three elements to consider when calorie counting:

🍗🍗Keep protein high: when restricting calories without consuming sufficient protein you are on the road to losing muscle along with fat giving you the skinny fat look. Hitting a protein intake of around 0.8 – 1.2g/lb of bodyweight ensures you consume all the essential amino acids required for muscle protein synthesis to repair and build tissue broken down during training. You can use a variety of protein sources, from meat, poultry and oily fish.

🥦🥬The nutrient density of food matters: if you have been yo yo dieting for years it is unlikely your digestive system is working at its best; processed food will only make the situation worse. 70/80% of your immune system is in your gut, so it is imperative to keep it healthy and working optimally. When it comes to carbs and fats opt for nutrient dense whole sources like lean proteins, healthy fats and green vegetables

🥗Go for volume: A jelly doughnut might be the same calories are 200g of chicken but which will keep fuller for longer? Calorie dense processed foods tend to be low in volume and will send ghrelin (hunger hormone) into overdrive. Nutrient dense food sources offer volume and press on the stomach lining, leaving you feeling fuller. Different food sources also affect blood sugar levels in various ways depending on their molecule structure and what you eat them with.