What’s in Your Calories?

A good friend of mine recently shared a story with me that had him overly frustrated.

Reaching into the mini-bar fridge in his hotel room, he was hoping to find something to ease his starvation. Still dripping sweat from his 20 minutes of running on the hotel treadmill, his hunger pangs were melting away his desire to avoid putting back on all the calories he had just lost. As he surveyed his options, salted peanuts, a mixed bag of nuts and dried fruit, he felt compelled to take a look at the nutritional label to find out how many calories he was about to ingest. Thinking about all the effort he had just put into his workout, he felt completely frustrated not wanting to risk jeopardizing his potential long term results.

Not too long ago I was that same guy trying to lose weight and increase my energy levels. I was frustrated because I knew exactly where he was coming from, looking for healthier calories, but having no clue how to find them or what options were the best. I wanted so badly to tell him everything I knew about calories, but instead provided him with a few simple options he could take with him on his next road trip to avoid the mini-bar blues.

Anybody who spends a lot of time on the road would benefit from creating their very own travel bag of mixed nuts and seeds including almonds, hemp seeds and some dried unsulphered fruits. Take along a box of whole grain crackers, especially my favorite, Mary’s Crackers.

Pack some homemade power bars on your trip. Making you own bars is easy and takes less then 10 minutes. Watch my video below to learn how.

Now that I have revealed some tips on avoiding the mini-bar blues, I would like to share with you what I learned about calories while regaining control over my pre-diabetic state.

First off, not all calories are created equal. It’s great that you might be trying to loose a few pounds and therefore are counting your calorie intake. But to succeed with your health goals it is crucial to be aware that not all calories are created equal. In order to explain this better, let’s take a quick look at calories.

Each calorie is defined as a unit of energy and your body needs a certain amount of calories each day to maintain essential body function. With every bite you take, the food you eat is providing you with the energy you need to perform daily actions. If you go over your needed amount of calories each day, and you’re not a very active person, you will eventually gain weight.

The number of calories you should eat daily varies depending on your activity levels, gender, age, weight and height. The minimum suggested daily calorie intake for women is 1200 and 1500 for men.

But in North America we tend to eat on the opposite end of the scale, somewhere in the range of 3000 to 5000 calories daily. That’s a lot of extra calories being stored in your body and the leading cause of weight gain.

The average adult should look to consume 2000 to 2500 calories per day. These calories should be made up foods that offer superior nutrition, but this is where we get into a problem.

Most of the calories we consume are heavily refined, over processed and void of essential nutrients. This means that when we reach for the salted peanuts or a bag of chips we are fueling our bodies far differently than if we were to reach for hemp seeds, or a bag of almonds.
Energy is supplied through the foods you eat and are made up of the essential building blocks of all life. These essential building blocks are fats, proteins and carbohydrates.

The more you eat whole foods, foods that have not been broken down, altered or transformed in any way – such as nuts, seeds, grains, beans, fruits and vegetables – the more your calories will supply you with quality protein, essential fatty acids and complex carbohydrates. With so many diets focused on calorie counting it’s no wonder so many people are confused as to why they keep failing when trying to achieve their desired health goals.

The more you eat over processed, refined foods, you can be sure your calorie intake will be comprised of simple sugars which will only leave you weak, tired, and susceptible to weight gain.

Have a question? Ask me below or email me at info@poweroffood.com