We’ve all seen foods like “100 Calorie Pack Chocolate Cookies” in grocery stores. The idea being that limiting yourself to just 100 calories worth of chocolate cookies will help you slim down and reach your health goals. The thing is, counting calories alone won’t lead to long-term successful weight loss. Whatever your goals are, keep this in mind when you see something advertised as “low calorie.”
What Exactly Is a Calorie?
Calories are the measurement of how much energy food gives you.
If you eat too many calories and don’t use up all of that energy, the leftover or extra amount is stored primarily as fat tissue. It’s estimated that an excess of 3,500 calories is equal to about one pound of body fat.
In the short term, counting calories — that is, cutting the amount of calories you’re consuming — can result in temporary weight loss and an initial improvement in your blood work. But in the long run, eating fewer calories won’t necessarily help you maintain your weight loss or optimal health markers like blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Think about it like this:
Calories Are Like Dollars
Let’s say you’re on a 2,000 calorie diet. Every day you have 2,000 calorie “dollars” in the bank that you can spend on food. As with any budget, the goal is to get the most bang for your buck and make a good investment.
Foods are either “good deals” or “bad deals.” The foods that are good deals supply you with lots of healthy nutrients (like fiber, vitamins, antioxidants) for a small number of calories. Nutritionists and doctors call these foods nutrient-dense. Bad deals are foods that have a ton of calories and fall short on healthy nutrients. Bad deals are also called calorie-dense.
For example:
- Bad deal: Spending 500 calories on fettuccine Alfredo is like spending $5 on a paper clip.
- Good deal: Spending 500 calories on a black bean veggie burger is like spending $5 on a luxury car.
Lower Calories ≠ Better Calories
Food manufacturers often use “low calorie” as a marketing tactic to make their products seem more healthy, especially for folks who may be counting calories.
For example, Jimmy Dean’s frozen breakfast sandwiches are touted as “healthy” with fewer than 300 calories. However, they contain more than 20 ingredients including artificial preservatives, trans fats and high fructose corn syrup. Even though they’re only 280 calories, they’re still a calorie-dense bad deal. Some of the not-so-healthy ingredients like trans fats can actually make it harder for your body to shed weight and can worsen your overall health.
Look for Quality Calories
Eating more good deal, nutrient-dense foods — in place of bad deal, calorie-dense foods — will make you more likely to succeed in your weight loss and health goals than just counting calories alone. Nutrients like fiber, vitamins and minerals all play a role in supporting your health markers and metabolism.
So the next time you’re going down the grocery aisle, choose whole plant foods like fruits, veggies, beans, legumes and whole grains, which are all nutrient-dense. Eating more of these foods — in place of highly processed, packaged foods — will keep you full for the least number of calories possible.
This way, an occasional cheat day won’t be so bad after all.
Looking for inspiration in the kitchen? Try out some or all of the following nutrient-dense recipes:
- Grilled Chicken Tostadas with Sweet & Sour Vegetables
- Southwestern Salmon Cobb Salad
- Carrot Ginger Sweet Potato Soup
- Peanut Noodles with Shredded Chicken & Vegetables
- Beef & Bean Chili Verde
Bobby is the community and social media manager at Zipongo. He has a degree in nutrition and dietetics and previously worked as a health educator.
