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Having calories on food packages helps though, even if it is reductionist, because it's a good surrogate for foods high in energy, low in nutrients, the kind of
by bad_user 6y ago
Having calories on food packages helps though, even if it is reductionist, because it's a good surrogate for foods high in energy, low in nutrients, the kind of food that's designed to be overeaten.
For whole food, I agree that calories don't matter because we can trust our satiety signals. For junk food designed to be overeaten, I find that information quite useful.
Note that I do track my calories periodically.
In spite of popular claims it isn't that hard, technically speaking and it doesn't have to be super accurate.
The problem with calorie counting is one of mentality. Because you end up thinking about how many calories you have left, it ends up draining you emotionally and you can suffer binging episodes due to it. The brain is unpredictable and we can't necessarily control ourselves which is why we can get fat in the first place.
I think everyone should try to measure their calories for educational purposes. If you do, the best app is Cronometer, by far.
But to lose weight you need first of all long term compliance, so you need a strategy that can work long term. Counting calories doesn't work long term if you're too emotional and you can't help to treat those numbers as anything else than just data. Counting calories definitely doesn't work for me.
- to11mtm 6y ago>For whole food, I agree that calories don't matter because we can trust our satiety signals. For junk food designed to be overeaten, I find that information quite useful. One of the things I -really- appreciate with the newer labeling is that it shows both the calories per serving as well as total calories in the package. Giving both numbers helps people understand how much a binge really costs them. Speaking of which, since you mentioned satiety signals... Last night I wound up craving doritos like Stewie griffin eating pancakes. But some mindfulness helped me reach instead for some carrots, which quite frankly were a better crunch, and honestly I felt better after eating them.
- ctur 6y agoSeconding Cronometer as a good tool; it’s the best I’ve found, supports data export, and isn’t full of “social” features that obscure the key feature: easy and accurate calorie tracking. In particular it’s database is more accurate than the crowd sourced ones like MyFitnessPal.
- bad_user 6y agoIt's accurate indeed, it has useful info on vitamins and minerals. Some people use it for that and not for calorie counting. It also makes estimating home cooked meals doable because everything comes measured in grams. You just insert your recipe. Estimating home cooked meals in other apps like Myfitnesspal is super frustrating.
- joshspankit 6y agoI agree with you that it works “well enough”, but with one major thing that needs to be addressed: Gaming the calorie count through chemicals. Not only can they cause increased appetites, fat retention, and metabolic disfunction, but they can introduce other health problems as well, far more than the results of even an extra 1000 calories.
- bad_user 6y agoNot sure about fat retention, I don't think there's any evidence for that. But I agree with the claim that companies are trying to game the numbers now and the products might not be healthy. Back in the day you had companies advertising low fat products as healthier, however humans have an innate desire for foods high in calories or salt, so they had to compensate with sugar or salt. Nowadays you have companies advertising low calories or low sugar products via use of artificial sweeteners. At least one artificial sweetener that I know of is carcinogenic. Sweeteners can also have a laxative effect since the whole point is that they aren't absorned. I have IBS-D symptoms and for me that's not good. These days, even if I have a preference for less sugar, whenever I feel the need for sweets, I'd rather have the sugar.