Is a calorie a calorie?

this may be true in large part - maybe - but sounds too simple to me. I love my oatmeal, for example, and it seems to make my body happy.

I have a lot of trouble believing all whole grains are "bad" for everyone - I like them, I feel good, I think people differ in what they need or do best on.

as a pre-op I went on a low carb diet and I hated it, but I know it's the ONLY way for a lot of people here.  so I know I am in the minority.

Yes, it sounds simple probably because my explanation was simplified. :) It is true that based on genetics some people will have LESS trouble with grains than others.. but I'd argue that some people just have LESS damage from them, while others the damage is to a much higher degree. 

It's kind of like any scientific variable.. you can't know how well something works unless you isolate all of the variables. :)  Your body may *seem* to be happy with oatmeal because the inflammation that the oatmeal would cause in your body would cause your brain to release feel-good hormones.  The chronic inflammation is highly damaging.

It is the constant cycle of eating foods that inflame us, our body's immune system responds with feel-good hormones that we crave, and we eat more and do more damage.   These are the same hormones you might get when you get an injury that help you fight the pain. Same concept too.. and again that's a highly simplified explanation in the interest of brevity.

Rose, I have a question. My doctor's protein requirements are considerable lower than most I see on here. His recomendation is 40-65gms daily. I strive for more than this and I can easily get in about 80 gms, anything over that then it's a choice between a protein, veggie or fruit and I try to get one veggie and one fruit a day.

So, for a 145 lb female, what is the OPTIMAL amount of protein?

And how does everyone get so much protein in? I already drink muscle milk every day, eat a protein bar every day and eat mainly protein rich foods. That gets me to the 80-90 mark.

I have another question that isn't related to this, but I'll pm that one.

Thanks! Great Post!!!

Hi there.. I like to use the Sears/Eades formulas for calculating protein requirements.   No two people are exactly alike, and there is also a risk in taking in TOO much protein as excess can and will be converted to glucose (although it tends to be better to get just a touch more than you NEED and the glucose/protein conversion is calorically expensive).  The formula involves knowing your body fat percentage and then calculating based on your lean body mass and activity level. 

So for instance if you have a lot of muscle and exercise heavily, your protein needs will be a lot different then if you have little muscle and are sedentary.  This article explains how to do the calculation.. let me know if you need any help with it:

 http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/zonediet/a/zoneprotein.htm

I TOTALLY agree W/  Rose/sublimate.  A calorie is NOT a calorie ....our bodies utilize them in VERY different ways. (fat,protein, carb)  we as individuals metabolize calories uniquely too!  This will vary for us based on genetics, health issues, lifestyle, etc.   If you want good info read Good Calories, Bad calories, buy Gary Taubes (i think)  And his other book Why We Get Fat  Lots of very good info.  also some other good books are The Paleo Solution Diet, The New Evolution Diet, I'm not saying follow these diet books ,  but they make a lot of scientific, logical sense.  The info can be helpful for MOST of us.  We (large majority of MO people) got MO on carbs.....the wrong type.... and too many!  For  some people "type" of calories is not critical to maintain a "healthy" weight.  They are usually "naturally thin" and have uniquely functioning metabolisms, and genetic profile. This does NOT describe most of "us" who got MO due to.....metabolic issues, insulin resistance, PCOS, and ALL the factors determining these......environment(now and during childhood),  genetics,  ethnicity (kinda the same),  some of these books contend that the refined carb and our biological responses (insulin resistance being foremost) is responsible for our obesity.  I think this is correct. (for most MO people)  our hormones control our weight (insulin, cortisol, leptin,  etc)     So, check out these books.....very "eye" opening!

I'm a big fan of Gary Taubes, although by far my favorite nutrition book is "Neanderthin" by Ray Audette.  This book describes food from an evolutionary perspective and what we evolved to eat and how what we eat both effects our weight as well as our health. 

 Nutrition effects not only our weight/health but our behavior quite a bit too and I've written many papers on the links between vitamin deficiencies and nutrition and various mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, etc.  So not only is a calorie not just a calorie in terms of weight, but it's not in terms of health, behavior or many other measurements. These links are well researched in many studies, as well as the addictive properties of certain foods. 

For example sugar was found to be more addictive than heroin (no wonder we have trouble staying away from it! And why I abstain!).  Dairy and grains have been found to alter brain chemistry in a large portion of the population as they have opioid properties in the brain (akin to morphine). No wonder when we stress we want to eat pizza and ice cream!

Again, even knowing all this it is still hard to make good choices.  Even as educated as I am in nutrition it's not always easy to make good choices.. the world is not always conducive to supporting good choices; many stressors out there.  But it's good to know that many foods are so addictive so we don't feel so horrible when we struggle with it!

Such interesting stuff Sublimate. Great food for thought! LOL. Thanks for sharing your nutrition knowledge. Its really useful to those of us not so well schooled. I read Adelle Davis back in the early 70's and a lot of fad diet books years ago, and more recently "The End of Overeating" , but I always felt that there was a lack of quality accurate books on nutrition and weight control. Glad to hear there are in fact some good ones. As an overweight child I knew way more than most kids did about calories and such but you are right that having a good understanding of nutrition and the science is very useful but in and of itself is not enough to deal with the overeating problem. Thats why tv commercials and education about calories and carbs are not enough to solve the obesity epidemic. I think there are behavioral and societal/sociological issues involved that must be studied and addressed. Would be interested if you have looked into any of this. Have recently been thinking I would like to gather together all the research there is (if any) connecting obesity and depression and/or anxiety or other mental health issues as there seems to be a connection. Would like to write a book on it but I am too  busy having fun doing all the stuff I missed by being fat. OH well. Again, thanks for your insight.  Diane

Diane

I was also thinking about emotions and health. I know that stress & the cortisol will make fat accumulate in your abdomen and also that not getting enough sleep does the same.

my theory is that pasta - eaten with your family because you are in Italy and have always eaten pasta - is better for you than pasta eaten at home in front of the TV  because you are lonely.

 

Hi Diane.. I was just a few classes shy of finishing my psychology PhD specializing in behavioral nutrition, and I gave it up and started from scratch in another program with another specialization. 

 Why you might ask would I spend 5 years on a PhD not to finish?  Because it is an incredibly hard subject to work in and I realized after banging my head on the wall long enough that it was just way too challenging for me to try to make any dents in people's behaviors in that field.  For example like the other person said above, she's very CONVINCED that grains are good for her. 

I could probably spend a few hours (well a few years really) showing her research to the contrary, and just MAYBE I might be able to change her mind, BUT then I'd be up against her societal conditioning and pressures, her desire to continue to eat grains, etc.

Over the years I've spent a lot of time trying to help people with their eating habits (while working on my own), but our society is extremely brainwashed on what good nutrition is, and good nutrition and nutritional knowledge in society is primarily driven by the media.  Even when I went to school I found that so much of the information I was given was based on poor studies that were done by people with an agenda.  

After enough time and educating people enough, I'd be able to have people reconsidering the typical nutrition propaganda (often this would take many hours of explanations and questions on their part), but then even if I told them all the reasons why some foods were better than others and if I could convince them of that, then there would be a further battle to re-condition behaviors, etc.

 So I'm now specializing in sex therapy (and nutritional hints to give people better sex lives too).  Move over Dr. Ruth!  I'm hoping it won't be nearly as challenging to help people with their sex lives as it has been in my experience with eating habits (including my own!).

well i think you should continue to give advice on nutrition because alot of people dont even really have nutritionists and prob only go by what they have been taught anyway... i have found this post really interesting.

for me i dont know what is the best for me, i seem to react to carbs, i react to salt, so tomorrow im going to detox again and look at atkins i think ... i cant do the same food over and over for a week non stop like others can i like variety...

so ill go a few days of protein shakes and then start with  a clean slate with atkins.