MYTH #1 ALL CALORIES ARE THE SAME
Have you stopped to take inventory of what you eat on a daily basis? Almost every client I sit down with when asked to give me a food log for 3 days, is not eating enough. They are eating plenty of carbs, sugar, and processed foods, but not enough food rich in protein, fat, and fiber. You may think you eat “pretty good”, but the American Diet’s version of “good” is not good at all. The calories and fiber from your brand-name granola bar are not the same as the calories from a serving of almonds. The numbers may look the same, but the way your body digests and absorbs them is completely different.
WHY YOU ARE HUNGRY, ALL THE TIME
It’s a fact that carbs don’t fill you up. Your body breaks down sugar and simple carbs immediately, digesting them quickly as well. They don’t take up as much room in your stomach, leaving you feeling hungry and eating again in 2 hours. So then the vicious cycle begins. You start snacking and say “I just eat 6 small meals a day.” You end up eating sugar and carbs all day, then you lay down to go to bed and you are STARVING. I can’t imagine why. Maybe because your body didn’t get any of the macronutrients it needed during the day. You need Protein and Fat to survive, you do not need sugar. You also need fiber from plants, to have a healthy gut.
CALORIE RESTRICTION DOESN’T WORK
“I am watching what I eat, but I can’t lose weight”. I hear this all the time. Ladies especially. The low-calorie mindset is so ingrained in us, thanks to fad diets, and the low-calorie, low-fat craze of the ’80s. Carbs are low-calorie but cause insulin spikes. Eating fewer carbs improves your insulin sensitivity, therefore promoting weight loss. This happens by allowing adipocytes (fat-storing cells) to give up their stored fat. At the same time, you improve your leptin ( a hormone that works to inhibit hunger) sensitivity, in the brain, thus making you feel full and reducing the need to eat all day long. Starving, or calorie restriction after 18 hours of starting, sends signals to your brain to go into fat storage mode to protect you from an incoming famine (Robert Lustig, MD, MSL). This is why the moment you stop calorie restriction you gain your weight back and then some.
You don’t have to starve yourself to lose weight. Calorie restriction can be just as bad as over-consumption. Put your health first, book an appointment here
