Why Calories Count More than Which Diet You Choose

Article by Danna Schneider, part 1 :

This is part one of a two parter that I felt was important to share, especially with all the new research studies that are coming out on the subject.  It’s about calorie consumption and the benefits of reducing caloric intake in the human diet.

It’s probably not something that a lot of Atkins devotees want to hear, but there is more and more mounting evidence that when it comes to weight loss, and long term success with keeping weight off, it’s not so much the type of diet you choose, but in the end, it’s the amount of calories you are taking in that matters the most.  In the past, we’ve had a myriad of “fad” diets telling us that calories don’t matter as much as excluding certain kinds of foods or eating at certain times of day, or maybe even eating only foods that, according to our blood type, are the foods that will allow us to remain thin.

With all of the different regimens out there claiming to be the gospel when it comes to being thin, it’s no wonder people are as confused as ever about what types of foods they should eat, or to which diet they should subscribe.  I’ll never forget my first foray into the world of dieting and weight management.  I was only 15 years old, just starting to lose my baby fat, and just starting to care about the way I looked (yes, a blooming interest in boys was the primary catalyst, I’ll admit).  I remember picking up a book at a used book sale for a quarter that looked interesting called “Fit for Life”.

This book essentially was about a way of eating that gained a large following in the seventies and eighties amongst health nuts, that involved food combining, which is actually still a principle that many follow today.  It seemed to have merit, the way they were describing that chemical reactions that occur in our bodies when we eat certain foods, such as a starch and meat, together, and why eating some foods together not only led to weight gain and obesity, but also conjured up a host of other health problems in it’s wake.

I did in fact lose weight on this diet regimen, however I noticed that eating the way they wanted me to was really hard sometimes, especially when I would go out to eat at a restaurant, since food combinations are common, even in one dish recipes.  Not only that, but half the time I still felt starving after eating a meal, and wanted more food.  I’m not saying the diet was bad, in fact I think it had many merits, but it was too stringent for me to last on, or to make a lifetime habit of it.

There are other diets like this as well, like the Atkins diet, which more so than calorie or fat intake restriction, wants you to radically reduce or cut out any sort of carbs.  The bad thing is, you are cutting a lot of healthy foods like fruits and veggies out of your diet, simply because their carb count is too high.

TO BE CONTINUED