Hi there…
I hope you’re all having a lovely weekend!
As promised (finally!) I am back with some intriguing info on health and wellness trends.
I came across this article from The Smithsonian several weeks ago:
This Doctor Pioneered Counting Calories a Century Ago, and We’re Still Dealing With the Consequences
If you’re here, you immediately understand why this was clickbait for me. You all know that I am opposed to the idea of calorie counting. I did it for years. And let me tell you – it “worked” – which is to say, I was thin. It also malnourished me (because, as you’ll read more about in the article, calories don’t take into account the quality of food – they only tell us a small percentage of the nutrient makeup). I’ve struggled with gut and thyroid issues ever since.
Society has evolved in many ways from calorie counting. We now hear more about macro-counting and “eat right for your blood type” and grain free, gluten free, dairy free, sugar free, carnivore – etc.
So it might surprise you that still, any time a new client starts with me, we still have to tackle the notion of calories. Without fail, after sending a meal plan, I always get asked, “but how many calories is this and will it be too many that I won’t lose weight?” It is fascinating how these narratives get embedded in our brains and have such a hard time evolving. …until we choose to educate ourselves and learn different.
Hence my sharing todays article.
It’s a longer read – 10-12 minutes. But worth your time, as I believe it will enlighten you and give you fresh perspective on where and how these ideals and narratives we stick so loyally to actually come from; and I hope it will remind you that at the end of the day, as desperately as I know you want an answer and a one-size-fits-all approach (because wouldn’t that make health, weight loss, etc so much easier!?) – it simply doesn’t exist. These ideals we’ve lived by for decades: calories in, calories out; eat less, move more – were spawned by humans, who, like you – don’t know but are experimenting (often times with themselves) and just trying to figure it out like the rest of us.
This is not to say that counting calories doesn’t “work” or at the very least doesn’t or shouldn’t have a place in our nutritional considerations. It just shouldn’t be the whole story – no different than counting macros or only eating meat, dairy and eggs (shout out to my carnivore dieters) or never eating another grain should be the whole story.
I’ll let you get to reading.
As always, I am here for questions!
Gentle reminder to set your intentions for self-care this week.
Sending lots of love!
xoxo
Alix