So what is the significance of 20 calories?
The United States Department of Agriculture suggests that weight gain is a gradual process taking place over time. And in order to prevent gradual weight gain overtime, all that you need to do is make small decreases in your food and beverage calorie intake each day as well as increase your physical activity. As well the World Health Organization suggests that to prevent obesity is to achieve energy balance and a healthy weight. So the idea is, that once you notice that you are putting on weight, all you have to do is make small decreases in your daily calories consumed, as well as, increase your physical activity and then everything should be good. All you have to do is to skip a snack here, a dessert there, maybe you just need to take more steps and by doing these things, those nasty extra 20 calories a day will disappear. A pound of fat contains about 3500 calories. How many calories do you have to overeat daily to accumulate 2 additional pounds of fat every year? The answer is 20 calories a day. If you add 20 calories a day, 365 days in a year, you actually get over 7300 calories which tallies to 2 pounds of excess fat. So here is an interesting fact, 20 calories is less than a single bite of a McDonalds hamburger and is actually less than 2 ounces of pop, it is actually less than 3 potato chips. So for me, here is the problem; with so much hidden sugar in food, how on earth would you know that you are eating an extra 20 calories? It is ridiculous, you would never be able to know. The only way to be able to know is to be able to pay attention to how much you’re actually ingesting in regards to carbohydrates. 20 calories a day is folly, it is such a minuscule amount that you wouldn't even be able to recognize that increase. However, if we think in terms of carbohydrates and we say instead an extra 20 carbohydrates a day that you add to your diet, then that is a significant number, a noticeable number, one that could actually really be measured. If I am actually really overeating by 1000 calories a day, cutting out 20 calories isn’t really going to do me very much good. So, what I think is that, as much as the World Health Organization and the USDA wants to help people and to manage this obesity epidemic, I don't think that they actually really get the problem. People eat in the moment. They are not eating and then adding up calories, they are eating to feel satisfied, and the satisfaction is not to do with calorie intake it is to do with the fact that they are feeling emotionally empty. How on earth will they know they have eaten 11 chips more today? Stupid. What people actually really need is both a plan to understand food and a way to manage their emptiness. And that is what the Emotionally Focussed Eating Program is about.
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Emerald HillOn the quest to lose 50 pounds in a year. Can she do it? Only time will tell....with the help of this blog. Archives
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