“I can’t believe how much food I’m eating” is a common phrase we hear with our 1-1 coaching clients.
And while it’s kind of accurate, it’s completely false at the same time.
Let me explain…
Up until a couple hundred years ago, humans evolved through food scarcity. Feast and famine. Hunting, gathering, foraging, and physically cultivating the soil from which food and calories would be consumed.
The food abundance now present in our Western society is completely new to our human DNA.
But it’s not so much food abundance as it is calorie abundance…
The production, processing, refinement, and commercialization of food and food products have quickly created a food system that provides far more calories than it does actual nutrition.
For the first time in history, thanks to the Standard American Diet, we’re eating more calories and getting less nutrition than ever before.
Think about it…
Pizza, chicken fingers, alcohol, candy, pastries, soda, and fast food; are all hyperpalatable – almost irresistible to our primal brain. The ideal combination of sugar, salt, and fat – a perfect drug that we simply can’t resist.
We could eat 1000 calories of Doritos without thinking twice, but try eating 1000 calories of broccoli and chicken breast…that’s a much taller order.
A beautiful product of advancing technology and questionably concerning contribution to modern-day disease.
Because of this, most people just don’t realize just how many calories they’re consuming… and this is what is such an eye-opener for our clients.
A bagel and cream cheese = 400 calories
A grande Starbucks frappuccino = 250 calories (without the whip)
In-n-out double-double = 590 calories (without “animal style” sauce)
9 oz glass of wine = 217 calories
Glazed donut = 253 calories
1 tablespoon of mayonnaise = 100 calories
None of these numbers may mean much to you, so, for context, it’s recommended that females consume 2000 calories per day (or less) and males consume no more than 2500 calories per day.
What our clients quickly realize, is that these common foods are 1) not actually food and 2) that the calories, often, far outweigh the appeal.
In other words, as tasty as they are, more often than not, they’re just not worth it.
And that’s the mindset shift that happens within our Smart Nutrition Coaching Program…
The transition from eating out of stress, boredom, ease, and desirability, to eating for energy, satisfaction, satiety, and fullness…While finding more enjoyment in the process.
Making the transition to, what we call, “single-ingredient foods”, is a huge step in the process, that ultimately allows our clients to eat more food, with more actual nutrition, more fiber, and significantly fewer calories than most are consuming prior.
While a bagel and cream cheese is 400 calories, so too is 3 eggs and a bowl of oatmeal with fruit. An iced coffee with a splash of cream and stevia can replace the Starbucks milkshake and save you 200 calories while still satisfying your caffeine and sweet cravings. A donut might have been a mid-morning guilty pleasure while an apple could be just what the doctor ordered.
So, when you hear our clients say they’re eating more food, that’s technically true. Real food, like lean proteins, vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and healthy fats – they take up a lot of space, both outside and inside of the body…they’re high volume.
And when you can base your nutrition on high-volume foods, i.e., single-ingredient foods, then you can eat a lot, and stay satisfied and energized all day, while still ensuring that you stay in a calorie deficit, the #1 driver of fat loss.
This might make you question how your calories are adding up. Do you know?
If you feel like you eat healthy, yet you’re not losing weight, then the logical answer, regardless of how much or little you think you eat, is that you’re still eating too many calories.
So audit your day. Track your calorie intake through an app like Cronometer or LoseIt for a week or two and see how things are adding up.
I promise it will give you a powerful opportunity to create more awareness around your daily behaviors and take full ownership of your daily decisions.
And if you have any questions, or need a bit of guidance, just let me know, I got your back.
Your Coach,
Ben
