Total Health Breakthroughs: Free Natural Health Newsletter and Alternative Health Articles

In a world where we are taught that the way to control our weight is to eat less and exercise more, the only thing that matters in our food choices is how many calories they contain. With this method you will see some shocking food comparisons which can make some very healthy food choices seem bad. Such food comparison bits have been on TV a lot lately with the recent release of book called, Eat This, Not That.

The book is based on the simple concept of pitting two seemingly comparable foods against one another — for example two types of baked goods like a donut and a muffin. The winner is the food item that is lowest in calories. I don’t see any fault in publicizing the truth that an “awesome blossom” or a fried onion type appetizer can sabotage your health (and weight) at 2,710 calories, but when salads come under attack, I hope consumers have the food intelligence to make the optimal health choice.

The appeal of food comparisons is the “shock and awe” emotion elicited from them. For example, a friend of mine recently told me that she saw on TV that eating 8 donuts was better than eating a chicken salad. I didn’t think to ask if it was a mayonnaise-based chicken salad served on lettuce or a grilled chicken breast served on lettuce greens along with a normal serving of salad dressing, which can be very high in calories. But it doesn’t matter to me, because in no world of mine is a healthy serving of protein accompanied by greens a worse food choice than donuts!

Unfortunately, not everyone knows the nutritional benefits of a salad trump a donut, even if a higher fat dressing or additions such as nuts and dried fruits drive the calories higher. Consuming too many foods in which the primary ingredient is sugar, even if the calories are lower for each particular choice, promotes insulin resistance and fat storage¹ and increases the risk of heart disease.²

As if that weren’t enough, high blood sugar levels compromise the all-important memory centers of the brain,³ deplete minerals such as chromium4 and magnesium,⁵ and promote yeast growth in the small intestine⁶ which can compromise our intestinal health. In addition, eating high sugar foods can wreck a person’s attempts at calorie control by driving food cravings.⁷

With the calorie comparison approach, one milkshake is promoted as better than another milkshake because it is much lower in calories. There is never any discussion of the health risks from eating too much sugar, other than as it relates to calories. Unfortunately, that frequently ends up with consumers translating the info to mean that the lower calorie shake is “good for me.”

If one blunder of this approach is not discussing the dangers of high sugar foods, another is relegating some very healthy foods to the “don’t eat” pile strictly because of the calories. For example, one comparison in “Eat This” asked, “what would be better, 10 large olives or a handful of mixed nuts?” The “Eat This” option was the olives because they weighed in at 51 calories and 5 grams of fat compared with the nuts containing 219 calories and 20 g of fat.

This answer educates a layperson about calories, but fails to consider that nuts, not only contain some protein, they are a good source for a variety of minerals and trace minerals that can be hard to find in other foods. While olives are also a healthy food that can indeed make a good low calorie snack, they shouldn’t always be chosen over nuts.

In my book, take the calorie comparison approach to healthy eating with a grain of salt, and remember that good nutrition stems from eating a variety of whole foods and trying to avoid health-wrecking sugar as much as possible.

References

1. UT Southwestern Medical Center (2008, July 28). Limiting Fructose May Boost Weight Loss; Researcher Reports. Science Daily. Retrieved March 30, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/07/080724064824.htm.
2. Selvin E, et al. Arch Int Med. 165:1910-1916.
3. Small S, et al. Ann of Neurology. 64(6):698-706.
4. Kozlovsky AS, et al. Metabolism. 1986 Jun;35(6):515-18.
5. Paolisso G. et al. Diabetologia. Sep 1990. 33(9):511-14.
6. Weig M, et al. Am J Clin Nutr. 1999;69:1170–73.
7. Kampov-Polevoy AB, et al. Eat Behav. 2006 Aug;7(3):181-7.

[Ed. Note: Laura B. LaValle, RD, LD is presently the director of dietetics nutrition at LaValle Metabolic Institute. Laura and her husband, Jim LaValle, R.Ph, CCN, ND have developed the powerful and life-changing Metabolic Code Diet – containing step-by-step, easy to follow recommendations for harnessing optimal metabolic energy and turning your body’s chemical make up into a fat-burning furnace. To learn more click here now.]