It’s useful to keep track of your calorie intake, but you should also keep an eye on your food choices. This is because there are other properties of food that affect satiety (fullness) and nourishment. Some foods that are higher in calories are made up of fibres, proteins and fats but, they will also keep you fuller for longer; meaning you’ll eat a smaller quantity of them. These foods would be a wiser option over a low-fat, low-calorie choice that you’d need a much larger portion to fill up on, and probably wouldn’t give you the same healthy nourishment.
All About Sugar
Damon Gameau is the brains behind That Sugar Film, a documentary that follows his 60-day experiment uncovering the gobsmacking effects of sugar. His findings are the perfect example of why blindly counting calories is a recipe for disaster!
Unlike other self-sabotaging documentaries, Damon’s approach was very realistic. He based his experiment on the national average sugar intake of 40 teaspoons per day (!) and banned himself from obvious naughties such as lollies, ice-cream and soft drinks. He also only allowed himself to consume seemingly ‘healthy’ food and drink such as low-fat yoghurt, muesli bars, protein drinks and fruit smoothies.
Damon managed to put on 8.5kg and add 10cm around his waist without changing the number of calories he was consuming each day! His experimental lifestyle was a living, breathing guide to what not to do! So how did he become so unhealthy? Eating processed foods. That’s literally it.
Calorie vs Calorie
It is so important to pay attention to what you’re popping in your gob. “Food isn’t just calories,” explains Damon, “it’s so much more than that. It’s information. Some foods affect your brain and your mental health, others affect your metabolism and hormones such as insulin. They all do different things inside your body.” Which explains why your body responds much differently to 150 calories of avocado than to 150 calories of soft drink – the calorie count may be the same, but they’re going to have vastly different effects. It’s not just the calories that are so important, but their source. So pay close attention to where they are coming from.
Sugar Science
Trying to limit your sugar intake is a step in the right direction, but it’s much easier to do when you understand what happens to your body when it is under the spell of a sweet serenade.
Damon explains that when your bloodstream encounters sugar, the hormone insulin is released to balance it out. But, when the body is concentrating on this delicate balance, it becomes too distracted to process any fat, which means that your waistline holds on to everything.
Sugar is snuck into so many products, many of which don’t even taste sweet, and it has many pseudonyms; high fructose corn syrup, organic cane juice, agave, molasses – the list goes on. Most people are unaware of just how much sugar they are really consuming.
We also learn that sugar is incredibly addictive. In an experiment with mice, poor little Minnie chose sugar even over cocaine! Once the experiment was over, Damon started to cut it out of his diet only to experience severe sugar cravings and withdrawal symptoms comparable to quitting smoking or drugs. So while not impossible, cutting out sugar must be a conscious decision.
Words to Live By
One way to approach eating is to think of what your great-great-grandmother would have had available. Lots of fruits and veggies, organic meats, full-fat dairy products, and homemade meals with ingredients that sound like they belong in a kitchen, not a science lab! Or as Damon puts it, “Just eat real food.”
“Your body knows how to deal with real foods such as nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables, and protein sources,” explains Damon, “It recognizes them from centuries of processing them, so it can deal accordingly. But once you put in those processed man-made foods, they start to interfere with that natural process. They can trick your body, and switch on different hormones – and that’s where you start getting the complications.”
Finding the Perfect Balance
Try hard to avoid processed or sugary foods, but if you do want to indulge, don’t feel as though you’re not allowed. “I love chocolate, I eat a little piece of it every day,” Professor of Nutrition at UNC Barry Popkin explains in the documentary, “but I’m careful and I understand the adverse effects if I have too much of it.” Moderation is key and sweet somethings taste much more special when intentionally savoured!
- Low calorie is not always better – the rule of thumb is to avoid sugar and pay close attention to the nutritional content
- Swap sugar-laden products for healthy fats and proteins
- Swap cereal and low-fat yoghurt for bacon, eggs and avocado
- Snack on nuts and cheese instead of muesli bars
- For dinner, have fish or meat and lots of green veggies and forego smothering them in packaged marinades or sauces
- Avoid artificial sweeteners – they keep the sweet tooth cravings alive
For more tips and tricks on sugar swaps, head on over to our Facebook Group.