Calorie is a word that scares a lot of people. Believed that it is intrinsically related to body weight and that reducing your consumption or accelerate your loss are basic premises for weight loss. But does prioritizing the elimination of calories should be the focus of anyone who wants to lose weight?
First of all, it is necessary to understand that calorie is not a element found in food – a more frequent mistake than imagined – but a measure of energy. Defined in the 19th century, it corresponds to the heat needed to increase the temperature of 1 g of water by 1 ° C. Later employed in nutrition, she started to determine the energy value of even if officially the unit used to measure thermal energy is the joule (1 cal = 4.186 J). In a flex car, both gasoline and alcohol release the energy it needs to function, without major differences in its performance. Calorie represents this energy for the human body. Only, for our health, it’s important to know if it came from an ice cream or an apple, because it alters your metabolism process, with different effects for the body composition . The specialist advises her patients to be less concerned with the amount of calories and more with the nutritional quality of the food. THE calorie counting becomes expendable when we eat natural foods and balanced, which organically increase satiety . Next, the expert helps us to clarify some common myths involving calories.
WE MUST AVOID HIGHLY CALORIC FOODS
It is important to pay attention to calories, yes, but without focusing just them. Salmon, for example, is very caloric, but healthy because has omega 3, which reduces bad cholesterol levels, and glycemic index low, which makes it suitable for diabetics. If the calorie comes from a good fat, the body will use several metabolism pathways, which will distribute better the energy for the body.
TO SLIM DOWN, WE MUST PRIORITIZE LOW CALORIE FOOD
Not necessarily. It is necessary to consider the characteristics nutritional values of the food before the amount of calories, since, as pointed out the endocrinologist, not all healthy food has a low calorie content – and vice versa. It is preferable to eat an avocado with 100 calories, but with many nutrients, than a 10-calorie fit cookie, but which is highly processed and will produce an inadequate accumulation of fat in the body.
DIET PRODUCTS HELP YOU WEIGHTEN
In these products, there is a complete withdrawal of some nutrient, like fat, sugar or salt. Only to keep the flavor original, other elements are added, such as sweetener or sweetener, which can make it even more caloric.
COOKING CHANGES THE CALORIC VALUE OF FOOD
No, it just changes the availability of some non-nutrients related to energy, such as potassium and vitamins. When the objective is decrease the consumption of potassium, we must cook the food. When we want to to take dvantage of all the nutrients, we reduced cooking .
DON’T HAVE BREAKFAST HELPS TO SLIM DOWN
Despite lowering the level of accumulated energy, which in thesis, helps to lose weight, the strategy can be a shot in the foot. By increasing the fasting period, we reduce metabolism, which consists of spending power. The recommendation is to favor breakfast and a fractional diet, he says, remembering that each case must be treated individually by a specialist