Eat less fat. Eat more fat. Carbs are bad. Carbs are good.
Nutrition advice changes so often, no wonder so many people are confused.
But when it comes it calories, the advice to consume fewer of them seems set in stone. After all, “a calorie is a calorie”-Right?
Wrong.
For years, we’ve been told that if we “eat less and exercise more,” we’ll lose weight. That recommendation is based on the belief that we need burn more calories than we take in. But this doesn’t tell the whole story.
As it turns out, it isn’t the amount of calories you consume that really affects your weight and your health. It’s the type of calorie.
It’s true-the calories you eat are actually absorbed at different rates. And the different amounts of fiber, carbohydrates, protein, fat, and nutrients in these calories can have very different effects on your metabolism. There’s no difference between a thousand calories of kidney beans and a thousand calories of a low-fat muffin-until they’re metabolized.
As you can see, food isn’t just a source of energy-it’s a source of operating...