I learned how to strengthen my body long before I learned how to eat better. In fact, I didn’t learn how to eat properly until I was in my 50s. It wasn’t until I understood what my calories were made up of that I finally figured out how to eat better. Once I learned and practiced these three eye-opening facts, I finally figured out how to eat better.
Not All Calories Are Created Equal
All calories are made of up three macronutrients: protein, carbohydrates and fat. Your body needs and uses carbs, proteins and fats in different ways.
Gram for gram, they also have different calorie counts. One gram of proteins or carbs is 4 calories. One gram of fat is 9 calories. Some macronutrients keep you feeling full longer, while others seem to fade pretty quickly.
A tempting snack like chocolate chip cookies might seem harmless enough, especially when a serving size of 3 cookies is only 160 calories. When you compare that to a serving of 5 large strawberries that is only 30 calories, it’s easy to see the difference.
However, if you dig deeper, you see those cookies carry 8 grams of fat and 22 grams of carbs vs .3 grams of fat and 7 grams of carbs for strawberries. That’s a pretty big difference.
This is why understanding what calories are made up of was so important in teaching me how to eat better. I could eat a few cookies and be hungry in 20 minutes, or I could eat 3 times as many strawberries, feel fuller longer, and increase my fruit intake at the same time. Win. Win.
(Portion) Size Matters
It wasn’t until I started counting macros (which meant weighing and measuring everything I ate and drank) that I really understood the impact of portion sizes.
We grossly underestimate the amount of food we eat at one sitting. Even when we use measuring instruments, we fill cups and spoons to the top, assuming that is a correct measurement. It isn’t.
How many times have you poured yourself a bowl of cereal an assumed that to be a serving size? Or scooped out a spoonful of peanut butter? Or poured a glass of milk? Your typical serving size and actual serving size are drastically different.
It’s easy to figure the portion size of packaged items – you just read the box or bag. But what about other foods? Well, you have two choices: you can go crazy obsessive like I did and weigh and measure everything , or you can follow some handy guidelines using just your hand.
Yes – you’ll be shocked to see how small a serving size actually is. I know I was shocked. Seeing the difference between the two portions sizes (mine and reality) was an eye-opening learning experience.
Every Morsel Counts
Guess what.
Every piece of food you put in your mouth has calories. The french fry you steal off your kids plate, the two to ten chips you snack on while you’re cooking dinner, the forkful of the meal you’re taste testing- they all have calories.
Even condiments. Yes – condiments! A squeeze of ketchup, mustard, sriracha sauce, steak sauce – they all have calories! Even the oil you sautéed your veggies in….
All of these little morsels add up in very sneaky ways. Before you know it, you’ve eaten the equivalent of a snack, or depending on the number of morsels, a whole meal.
These are the lost calories – the one’s that you forget when looking at your daily caloric intake. I had to work to be aware of these calorie creepers and slap my own hand when I reached out for “…just one…” of anything.
Conclusion
Like any new skill, it takes time to incorporate anything you learn into something that becomes habit or second nature. I still struggle. If I’m not mindfully diligent, it’s easy to grab a cookie instead of a bunch of grapes, over pour on the cereal or have a handful of ‘harmless’ peanuts while I’m waiting for dinner to cook. At least now I know what the impact is and can course correct instead of thinking it’s “..no big deal..”.