Diet and Nutrition
Q- Is it true then that you can eat more and lose weight by combining different foods?
A- No. People say that there are certain foods that take more calories to burn than they provide or that certain food items are going to cause more calories to be burned. It is a misconception and I can fully understand why people think the way they do.
People don’t want to put the time and the energy or the money into losing weight. It is a lot of work. People want to lose weight and they know that some of the food they eat is unhealthy and they don’t want to put the time and energy into changing things.
It takes planning and time. Instead of visiting the fast food restaurant on the corner on the way home you go to the produce aisle in the grocery store. It might take you a little more time and cost you a little more money but it’s worth it. You know the fast food restaurants super size everything.
The artists and executives that design the ads know that our mentality is that the more food we can get for our buck then the better we are going to like it. It wasn’t so long ago that you would go in and order a pop and you would get 8 oz or 12 oz and now it’s not uncommon to get 24 or 36oz because they super size everything.
Q- Are there any specific foods that burn fat?
A- I would say not. Basically, if you want to burn fat or lose or maintain your weight everything comes down to energy balance. It gets back to when you asked me to define a calorie and if you look at the macronutrients the carbohydrates, proteins and fat are assigned a certain level of energy and for example protein each gram of protein will contain four calories.
Q- What about alcohol? You know that we hear that one drink is okay or two drinks are okay and now it’s just red wine?
A- You know the studies that I have read, and I am not 100% up to date on this, but a small amount of alcohol ingested on a daily basis may have some positives in reducing your risk for heart disease or may help to lower blood cholesterol levels.
Red wine may be preferred because of the antioxidants that you get and the other chemicals that come along with the wine. Obviously there is something in the red wine as opposed to the white that makes it more beneficial. Alcohol is number one a source of calories and you know that it is quite high.
The higher the level of alcohol in the beverage the higher the caloric intake is. I believe that one gram of alcohol would be five and a half calories. It isn’t as high as fat but not as low as protein and carbohydrates.
There are other aspects of that to think about, if you are trying to lose weight you need to question whether you need the extra calories. There are many other beverages that would provide many more nutrients. If you are trying to lose weight you need to question whether or not you need those extra calories from something that basically has no nutritional value.
I would tend to be more negative about consuming alcohol because people tend to get out of hand when consuming it and the damage it can do to families as well as the individual.
So I would never be one to advocate the drinking of alcohol because it has no nutritional value or health value. You know any benefit that alcohol might provide you can get from something else.
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