I think my main problem with "calories in... calories out" besides the fact that I don't believe losing weight is ever that simple... is that it just reinforces the same old message to just "eat less... and move more..." which just isn't working for so many people... and it leads me to believe that there may indeed be something to this idea that the type of calories we consume plays a role in why we are becoming more and more overweight and obese...
That was my problem with my first weight loss effort. I really did treat it as calories in and calories out. And it worked for awhile, but then it was like a demon possessed me and I just lost complete control. I NOW know it was because I upped my carbs. Sure, the fit into my caloric allowance, but it threw me off balance and before I knew it, I was eating a whole box of donuts and didn't know what hit me. (Sleep deprivation was the root of that evil too - lack of sleep meant grabbing quick energy.)
I simply didn't put it all together then. This was before much internet existed and before atkins diet... There was Weight Watchers and they were pretty much about calories in and out. Well... works for some, there needs to be more for me.
Real food, not "diet" food is the way to go! Low-fat products that have flavour enhanced by sugar are not good. But low-fat and carb isn't bad or not flavourful. Look at broccoli! Lots of taste and carb to boot...and frankly probably not something that hunter gatherers would have eaten a lot of. They'd be hoping for more caloric bang for their buck.
Well, I think hunter-gatherers ate a LOT of plants. But they certainly did not eat broccoli, because broccoli and cauliflower and loads of other vegetables that we rely on regularly today are domesticized and bred by ... humans, for consumption. In the case of broccoli, it was probably the Etruscans. Pretty much every vegetable we eat is like that - the product of experimentation and breeding by our agricultural forefathers. So probably if you wanted to eat like the hunter-gatherers did, you would have to find some wild kales and chickweed and make do.
Though I totally agree with you. Real food in real variety, rather than processed stuff. For me that includes whole grains and beans and bread and oatmeal and cheese and veggies, veggies, veggies and fruit, primarily. Plus coffee! Oh, and diet ginger ale.
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I cannot possibly convey to someone who doesn't have this issue the difference between a "I want a cookie" to "I NEED a cookie" (or whatever simple carb).
I have those same impulses, but they are hardly confined to simple carbohydrates. I can eat nuts to infinity, and nut butters call to me more strongly than most cookies.
I'm glad that you've been able to trace and perhaps eliminate those cravings by reducing simple carbs, but for me they exist, no matter what I eat and are entirely unrelated to the actual food.
It is emotional or mental or compulsive or some combination of all of the above, and the way I control them is by controlling the availability of triggering foods, rather than eliminating them entirely from my diet. If I thought that eliminating 'simple carbs' or 'carbs' from my diet would let me walk through the world's largest potato chip-and-cashew buffet without sampling eleventy thousand varieties, I might consider it. But for me (and probably a fair number of other people) the problem is not in the food.
Oh, PS - there was a great article in the NY Times earlier this week about how fast/junk food is designed to be addictive, and it is definitely more complex than carbohydrates. It's the combination of salt and fat and crunch and "mouthfeel." Chili's shreds its chicken for its SW chicken eggrolls so that it just melts in your mouth. And so on.
Oh, PS - there was a great article in the NY Times earlier this week about how fast/junk food is designed to be addictive, and it is definitely more complex than carbohydrates. It's the combination of salt and fat and crunch and "mouthfeel." Chili's shreds its chicken for its SW chicken eggrolls so that it just melts in your mouth. And so on.
Yep, I read that too. And I wonder if that's why a lot of people can't stop eating nuts.
For me, I WILL continue to dip into them if they are there available and not restricted. BUT... it's not the same NEED like a carb/sugar pick me up. That is the boost I get from the sugar - it's the high, quite literally.
For nuts and such salty/crunchy things (and I LOVE PB), it's the taste - pure and simple. But, I don't wake up dreaming about it. I don't have the same response to it as I do with sugars.
Yet, I know those can be huge triggers for some people - they were purposefully DESIGNED to be eaten that way. That whole, "I bet you can't eat just one" commercial? Dude, it's like, "Come on... try to eat just one. We dare ya!" And then people eat the whole bag. as YUM!!!! It's a double whammy if it's also a carby thing as it's the yum AND the sugar rush.
For me, I WILL continue to dip into them if they are there available and not restricted. BUT... it's not the same NEED like a carb/sugar pick me up. That is the boost I get from the sugar - it's the high, quite literally.
For nuts and such salty/crunchy things (and I LOVE PB), it's the taste - pure and simple. But, I don't wake up dreaming about it. I don't have the same response to it as I do with sugars.
That's so interesting. Yeah, sweets are not really my thing and I've always been better about leaving them alone than snack foods. I keep chocolate and ice cream and whatnot and am fine with it around, but sometimes if I have a container of nuts - not just available, but anywhere in the house - I cannot stop thinking about them. So I guess I don't get that sugar-high?
I had a container of peanuts in the pantry over Christmas that I used to make some sweets. Left them in there all through the holidays and was okay. Sometime in early January I suddenly remembered them, and wanted some. And wanted some, and wanted some. Finally, I took them and put them out on the front porch until I could bring them to work. It was COLD outside so physically removing them from the house helped me set a boundary that somehow I could mentally respect.
I never used to think of myself as a sugar or carb addict. And over the years, I lost weight on calorie counting. Even as recently as about 4 years ago, I lost almost 50 lbs with calorie counting and added activity. Eat less, move more. It wasn't easy but I could put in the effort and do it (at least for a little while - sticking with anything remains my biggest obstacle)
But when I started the Dukan diet (low carb and low fat), I was astonished to find out how much easier it was for me. I don't want to say it's effortless but it really is easy for me. And a huge part of that is the fact that aside from a few spoonfuls of oat bran each day, there are no grains or starches, at least at this point in the program. I still get carbs from low/no fat dairy and from veggies, but with those foods, it takes a LOT of food to get that many carbs.
And for me, one of the biggest things is that I don't get cravings and am never hungry - not physically because while food choices are limited on my plan, the amounts are not, so I can eat when I feel hungry. But I am also not psychologically "hungry". Sure, I can think that a freshly baked cookie or some other treat *sounds* good but I really have no particular desire to eat it. And that's even faced directly with temptation, like the table of post-Valentine Day sweets that made it's way into my office.
I think if you are someone who isn't triggered by sugars (meaning wheat, etc. as well as actual sugar), you honestly cannot know what a revelation it is when you eliminate them. It's really a very different thing than emotional eating, or even eating when you aren't hungry just because it tastes good.
That's so interesting. Yeah, sweets are not really my thing and I've always been better about leaving them alone than snack foods. I keep chocolate and ice cream and whatnot and am fine with it around, but sometimes if I have a container of nuts - not just available, but anywhere in the house - I cannot stop thinking about them. So I guess I don't get that sugar-high?
I had a container of peanuts in the pantry over Christmas that I used to make some sweets. Left them in there all through the holidays and was okay. Sometime in early January I suddenly remembered them, and wanted some. And wanted some, and wanted some. Finally, I took them and put them out on the front porch until I could bring them to work. It was COLD outside so physically removing them from the house helped me set a boundary that somehow I could mentally respect.
It's great not to be addicted to sugar. As long as you keep sugar at bay it will leave you alone. I used to be that way too. I had dessert every once in a while, never had real cravings for it, could enjoy it in small amounts and then never think about it. But then I started breastfeeding - and that brings on a hunger for carbs like I wasn't prepared for. I gave in to my cravings of course because I was burning so many calories from nursing and didn't think much of it. 1.5yrs later it's left me with a sugar addiction and 25 extra pounds I couldn't even see coming. Make no mistake, sugar is addictive and the more you have it the worse it can get. It's such a small part of your life and then suddenly bam, you're addicted to it. It's like crack.
. . . Though I totally agree with you. Real food in real variety, rather than processed stuff. For me that includes whole grains and beans and bread and oatmeal and cheese and veggies, veggies, veggies and fruit, primarily. Plus coffee! Oh, and diet ginger ale.
. . .
I have those same impulses, but they are hardly confined to simple carbohydrates. I can eat nuts to infinity, and nut butters call to me more strongly than most cookies.
I'm glad that you've been able to trace and perhaps eliminate those cravings by reducing simple carbs, but for me they exist, no matter what I eat and are entirely unrelated to the actual food.
It is emotional or mental or compulsive or some combination of all of the above, and the way I control them is by controlling the availability of triggering foods, rather than eliminating them entirely from my diet. If I thought that eliminating 'simple carbs' or 'carbs' from my diet would let me walk through the world's largest potato chip-and-cashew buffet without sampling eleventy thousand varieties, I might consider it. But for me (and probably a fair number of other people) the problem is not in the food.
Great post! I excerpted the parts that especially spoke to me. I cannot keep cashews in the house without way overeating them (and it doesn't take much for those calories to add up).
I understand what some of the other ladies here are saying about simple sugars causing cravings, because I have those, too. But, like you, I have other, non-carb-cravings, so significantly reducing carbs would not work the magic on me that it would work on some. For those who can eliminate cravings by reducing carbs, I say, Go for it! I guess I just take exception to any article that claims to be the myth-buster. Like most pieces of advice, it applies and will work for some people but not for all.
