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Every time there is some discussion about weight here, somebody will come with the whole "there is no good or bad food, calories in/out is the only thing that m
by cycomanic 3y ago
Every time there is some discussion about weight here, somebody will come with the whole "there is no good or bad food, calories in/out is the only thing that matters" argument. And while technically correct it's also overly symplistic. The whole point about "bad" (processed) foods is that they make it very easy to take in a lot of calories without feeling sated.
Take an apple or orange juice for example. To eat the equivalent amount of fructose (or calories) that is contained in an orange juice, you will need to eat a lot of fruit, and like feel full before finishing, while the equivalent juice doesn't even register.
- pkulak 3y agoAnyone who says only calories matter should try tracking their calories, then eating processed food one day, unprocessed the next. If you stick to the same total calories, you’ll be very hungry the first day.
- WA 3y agoSo what? It’s still calories in, calories out. Whether you feel full or not is another discussion.
- Gud 3y agoYes, in a universe where people easily ignore their basics instincts it doesn’t matter.
- watwut 3y agoIt does matter even there. You energy spending goes down too automatically.
- readthenotes1 3y agoSays who?
- SAI_Peregrinus 3y agoI'd rather say that the cause of weight gain is excess calories, the cause of weight loss is a calorie deficit. To achieve a change in weight requires a change in calorie intake. How one can achieve that calorie intake is obviously more complicated than just changing calorie intake, because hunger is extremely difficult to ignore. The goal is changing weight. The immediate means is to change calorie intake. The hard problem is that doing so requires changing hunger, and we don't have a good (safe, cheap, widely available) way to do so. CICO is necessary to understanding, but is not sufficient. Any proposed solution that doesn't address hunger is bound to fail.
- johnchristopher 3y agoLaws of physics aren't rewritten because people are hungry when they eat way too much sugar. Of course meal plans are more complicated than just counting calories.
- watwut 3y agoObvious answer to this is that if you create overly simple model of human body so that you can apply the easiest law available without thinking, then you are not trying to deduce off laws of physics. It is scientism and not a science.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- kolinko 3y agoThe question is whether it is because it’s processed food by itself or missing micro/macro nutrients.
- D13Fd 3y agoSome people are hungry all the time regardless, so it doesn’t matter that much whether you’re hungry after you ate healthy unprocessed foods, or hungry after you ate sugary junk food. I do think there’s a difference, though, between processed and unprocessed foods. My guess is that your body can extract more of the calories from highly processed foods than it can from unprocessed foods, or that extracting the calories from unprocessed foods takes more work, burning calories in itself.
- PeterStuer 3y agoIt's more like cars. Different engines have different efficiencies. So filling up a few gallons at the pump will get you less pollution per mile on car A than in car B. But regardless of the efficiency, if you overfill the tank and the fuel starts to spill on the pavement, that is not going into the milage but straight into the pollution bracket. The idea that intake is irrelevant is just as ridiculous as the idea that everyone's metabolism is an exact clone.
- jrs235 3y agoIt's not how many calories you put in your mouth and swallow though. It's how many calories get taken in through your digestion system. Gut microbiome likely has an effect on that as well as a few other things.
- Fricken 3y agoIf I overeat for one meal, then I won't have much appetite for the next. How satiated I feel immediately after eating doesn't matter much, it averages out over time.
- flandish 3y agoFor you. But not for everyone. Thus making “its calories” overly simplistic.
- Fricken 3y agoOne thing that distinguishes me from my obese family is a lifetime of for the most part getting the doctor recommended amount of exercise. Regardless of how many calories I burn with exercise, I am also training my metabolism. My metabolism includes feelings of hunger and satiation, as well as cravings for particular foods. It is plenty capable of going out of whack for all kinds of reasons, but my best tool for bringing my metabolism back to a healthy place is a spate of vigorous exercise, and I've relied on that. If my metabolism were conditioned to be in an unhealthy place over a long period of time then I would have an uphill battle ahead of me to correct it, and I believe many people are stuck in such a situation. One observation is a growing class divide between the fat and the fit that saw a sharp uptick over the pandemic. Our culture unfortunately is very poor at accommodating healthy activity and getting poorer. Conversely, the national parks the last 2 years summers were mobbed with people who found healthier lifestyle practices during their downtime and were out to challenge themselves.
- samdunham 3y agoI stopped drinking fruit juice when, randomly, one day I stopped and thought about how many oranges it takes to make an 8oz. glass of orange juice (and no one drinks 8oz. at a time, it's usually more like 12 or more). And though, "There's no WAY I would ever eat that many oranges in one sitting."