exactly, people still don’t get it. They’re looking for some magical formula or trick. It’s all about calories. Energy in vs energy out.
Sure eating foods that are highly processed and loaded with sugar and salt will cause, in the long run as you age, all kind of health problems. However, if you eat within a targeted calorie range and try to get some exercise a few times a week outwardly you’ll look good.
But you still should try to get as much clean eating in a day as possible. It’s not all or nothing. As long as you eat 80% good clean food (fresh prepared not processed) it’s okay to eat naughty 20% of the time and maintain a good weight and be healthy on the inside as well.
“It’s all about calories.”
Nope.
“It is often said that the only thing that matters for weight loss is “calories in, calories out.” The truth is that calories matter... but the types of foods we eat are just as important.
That is because different foods go through different metabolic pathways in the body (14).
Additionally, the foods we eat can directly impact the hormones that regulate when and how much we eat, as well as the amount of calories we burn.
Here are two examples of why a calorie is NOT a calorie:
Protein: Eating protein can boost the metabolic rate and reduce appetite compared to the same amount of calories from fat and carbs. It can also increase your muscle mass, which burns calories around the clock (15, 16).
Fructose vs glucose: Fructose can stimulate the appetite compared to the same number of calories from glucose (17, 18).
Even though calories are important, saying that they are all that matters when it comes to weight (or health for that matter) is completely wrong.
Bottom Line:
All calories are not created equal. Different foods go through different metabolic pathways and have varying effects on hunger, hormones and health.
It seems to make sense that eating fat would make you fat.
After all, the stuff that is making people soft and puffy is fat.
For this reason, eating more fat should give us more of it.
However, it turns out that it isn’t that simple. Despite fat having more calories per gram than protein or carbohydrates, diets that are high in fat do not make people fat.
This depends completely on the context. A diet that is high in carbs AND fat will make you fat, but it’s NOT because of the fat.
In fact, the studies consistently show that diets that are high in fat (but low in carbs) lead to much more weight loss than diets that are low in fat”