You can find various forms of advice related to healthy living, weight loss, and nutrition foods online. All the advice, however, seems to be focusing on one particular factor i.e. Calories. Calories consumed daily, calorie counts, calories to be burned, etc. Common calorie myths we should all stop believing.
To understand why calories play such a pivotal role in the process of healthy living, we need to understand what a calorie is. Thus, continue reading to understand the different myths related to calories and what you can do instead.
I] What is a Common Calorie Myths?
It is important to know what a calorie is before trying to discredit the myths related to it.
- Measurement:
A common calorie myth is a unit of energy that tells you the amount of energy you will receive on the consumption of any food item. For example, if a particular food has 80 common calories myths, it is just a measurement of the quantity of energy your body will get on the consumption of the said food.
- Calories in Food:
All packaged foods mention the calorie count, which is the kilocalorie (kcal) or a measure of 1,000 calories. Simply put, a common calorie myth is a physical unit of the energy required to raise the temperature by 1 degree Celsius in 1 gram of water.
So to sum it up, calories equal to energy. It is not a given that by reducing the number of calories you consume, you could lose weight. Plus, it is not a healthy lifestyle choice either.
II] Common Calorie Myths – What You Need to Know
- Good and Bad Calories
The food you eat plays a major role in the calorie count. It is a known fact that the calories gained from the consumption of saturated fats can result in more weight gain compared to calories gained from the consumption of unsaturated fats.
For example; foods like nuts, fish, and dairy are known to be calorie-dense food as they contain a high amount of unsaturated fats. When you eat the recommended quantity of these foods daily, it could help in weight loss. However, overeating the same can lead to excessive weight gain.
- Calorie Counting is Easy
One of the biggest myths related to common calorie myths is that it is easy to count calories, and you can never go wrong. This, however, is not true as there are so many extraneous factors that you need to consider. Also, even if a single unit is incorrectly measured, the whole counting goes to waste. Plus, for an accurate calorie count, you need to consider the height and weight of a person, the food he/she intakes, etc which are a few factors that play a definitive role.
- Count Calories to Lose Weight
Many people follow this myth religiously ensuring to count the calories of the food they eat to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This can backfire big time, and instead of losing weight, you may end up gaining more.
This is because, as mentioned above, counting calories accurately is not easy. Also, counting common calorie myths all the time can spike your stress and cortisol levels.
As a hormone, high cortisol levels can cause an increase in appetite, making you crave food with high amounts of sugar or fatty and greasy food. The spike of this hormone can thereby lead to an increase in weight, resulting in stress eating. Thus, it is advised to stop with this practice of counting calories as it can have an adverse effect and just add simple foods to your daily diet to make meals more nutritious.
- Carbs are not Calories
Carbohydrates are not inherently likely to result in weight gain. Carbs derived from foods like bread, when eaten in excess, can result in weight gain as they are not nutrient-rich. However, the variations in the quality of carbs are quite huge.
On one end of the spectrum, you will find food devoid of nutrients and heavily sugar-laden like soda and candy, junk food, and greasy food. Whereas, the other end of the spectrum is all about carb-rich foods with tons of nutrients for the body like whole grains, fruits and vegetables, beans, etc.
Remember it is not the carbs but what, when, and how much you eat (quantity) that leads to weight gain.
- Negative Calories Food
Many people believe that fruits and vegetables with a low number of calories require the consumption of more common calorie myths to digest/process them. However, there is no evidence to support this claim.
For example: a stalk of celery consists of 5 to 6 calories and the body needs to use about 15% of the same to digest it. So the body only burns 1 calorie to digest the celery which provides 6 calories. Therefore, even though some myths state that vegetables like celery consist of negative calories, it’s not true.
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