Stop Calorie Counting!!

One thing that makes me really mad is when I hear people say, “I can’t eat that… it has too many calories!” First of all….

Calories over the years have, for some reason, been turned into a negative thing. But lets start with the basics. Calories = energy. Almost everything we consume provides us with some type of energy. And as it turns out… our body needs this energy to function! Go figure!

There are three types of calories: carbohydrates, proteins and fats and our body needs each of these to function properly. This is where most people go wrong. They think that just because something only has 100 calories that it is good for you… WRONG! 100 calories of fat converts differently in your body than 100 calories of carbohydrates would. Most people do not take this into consideration when counting calories and this is what inhibits their weight loss. Another thing people do not consider is the quality of nutrients provided in that serving of 100 calories. Look at the portion difference between 100 calories of different types of food:

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More information about 100 calories worth of foods can be found here:

Not to mention that counting calories has been proven to increase a stress hormone called cortisol, which can result in more cravings and even more overeating. So that is why counting calories is not important or effective if you are trying to lose weight.

Now, I am not saying that you should ignore calories all together, because they do offer good insight into what we are putting into our body, however calories should not be the “end-all-be-all” to determine whether or not you can eat something.

A more effective way to keep track of what you eat is to count chemicals! You know… the unnecessary shit food companies put in your food to make it last for years and years. Turns out, that stuff is not actually good for us and in my opinion it should be illegal. But anyway, lets start reducing the amount of chemicals we consume instead!

Excessive chemicals in the body are very harmful to many of the natural functions of our body. For example:

• High fructose corn syrup consumption can lead to less digestion and absorption of essential nutrients leading to obesity.

• Plastic water containers, trash bags, and even baby bottles are also making us fat with endocrine disrupting Bisphenol A (BPA). (Read more here!)

So the next time you are at the store, or staring into the vending machine, try not to think about how many calories you will be consuming, but what type of calories and more importantly, what type of chemicals.

A very simple way of doing this is to eliminate processed food from your diet all together. I know this sounds drastic and wayyyy to difficult, but it is possible. Chances are you will feel 100x better after just a few weeks of not eating any chemicals. Even if you can not commit to changing your lifestyle for good, participating in chemical detoxes and eating foods such as the ones mentioned in this article, can dramatically improve body functions and nutrition absorption.

I challenge you to try and eliminate ONE thing this week that has too many chemicals in it. Observe how your body reacts and then continue to eliminate certain snacks and chemicals from your daily life.

Until next time, keep it wholesome!