Do Calories Matter?

a calorie is a calorie?

Not all calories are created equal, especially when it comes to your health. If they were all equal then we would be able to eat anything we wanted including processed foods and junk foods without gaining any weight simply by maintaining the number of calories that we eat or by creating a calorie deficit. Unfortunately, our bodies are much more complex than this simple formula and if you don’t put enough of the correct fuel in it, then it won’t run properly. Keep reading to learn more about what a calorie is, how much we need, and what happens if we do not eat enough of them.

what is a calorie?

A calorie is a measurement of heat energy.

A calorie is a unit of energy or heat that is in food that the body needs to function. The calorie that you see on a food package is one kilocalorie, or 1,000 calories, and is defined as the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one gram (1g) of water by one degree centigrade or one degree celsius. Simply put, the more calories a food has, the more energy it can provide to the body.

The real question is, how does this energy of heat react and how is it processed in your body. Take a group of twins for example and put them on two different diets but with the same amount of calories. One twin will eat a diet full of high-fat animal products and processed junk foods and the other twin will eat a high carb, low fat, high raw whole food plant-based diet. Now ask yourself, will these two twins weigh or look the same? Probably not. The twin consuming a diet with over 60% calories from fat will be much heavier than the plant-based twin is probably consuming around 15-25% calories from fat. This is mainly due to caloric density and calories from fat.

calories in, calories out

Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of energy used or calories burned at rest.

If “calories in, calories out” were in fact true, then we would be able to eat fast food and junk food without any negative implications or gain any weight. Here is what the calories in, calories out model looks like:

• Eat fewer calories + exercise more to burn more calories = caloric deficit

• Caloric deficit = weight loss

Many people believe that you need to create a caloric deficit to lose weight but despite this being partially true, this is one of the WORST things that you can do to your body. Caloric deficits are difficult to sustain over a long period of time and usually end up leading to additional weight gain because it decreases your resting metabolic rate or basal metabolic rate (BMR) which is the number of calories that you burn performing basic functions to sustain life.

Keep in mind that this is just an estimate. It’s nearly impossible to calculate this number accurately but still useful to calculate and see how much you burn while at rest. This is why it’s essential to eat sufficient calories for your specific needs.

how many calories do we need?

[a] Sedentary means a lifestyle that includes only the physical activity of independent living.

[b] Moderately Active means a lifestyle that includes physical activity equivalent to walking about 1.5 to 3 miles per day at 3 to 4 miles per hour, in addition to the activities of independent living.

[c] Active means a lifestyle that includes physical activity equivalent to walking more than 3 miles per day at 3 to 4 miles per hour, in addition to the activities of independent living.

[d] Estimates for females do not include women who are pregnant or breastfeeding.

Source: Institute of Medicine. Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids. Washington (DC): The National Academies Press; 2002.

Every single day, we need consume a certain amount of calories for our daily energetic expenditure as well as to regulate important functions such as maintaining our body temperature, maintaining our heart to beat, our breath, circulating our blood, and digesting the food that we eat. How many calories we need depends on many different factors such as age, sex, activity level, and of course the BMR. The chart above is the calorie recommendations from the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. The World Health Organization also (WHO) has similar recommendations as well.

Keep in mind that these caloric requirements are just minimums. There may be many valid reasons why you would consume more than these numbers. Athletes eat and train for performance so if you want to build a healthy body and a healthy metabolism then you need to focus on eating sufficient calories. When people say that they’re “listening to their body” or intuitively eating without a minimum caloric goal in mind, this can lead to a shrunken stomach, improper hunger cues, nutritional deficiencies, neurological problems, and hormonal imbalances over time. The most important thing that you need to do everyday is to make sure you eat enough.

how many calories do I eat

On any given day, I eat between 2,400-2,800 calories. If I am marathon training, then I will increase my calories to about 2,800-3,000+. I have eaten this way for over 8 1/2 years and never came across any issues until I experimented with water fasting and calorie restriction. Click here to learn more about what I eat in a day. Keep reading below to learn more about the effects of calorie restriction.

calorie restriction

Binge and restrict. Restrict and binge.

Anytime we under eat or calorie restrict, over time it can lead to an episode of binge eating. When we do not consume the minimum amount of calories that our body needs to function and perform, we will not receive adequate energy and nutrition from our food so over time our bodies are forced to find it from other places such as muscle tissue and will impair your organs and glands. Decreased caloric intake also inhibits the production of certain enzymes, hormones, and cells to conserve energy. Since the body cannot handle long periods of under eating (or semi-starvation), it will eventually need to overcompensate for a period of time (depending on how long you have restricted) and it will hold on to weight until it heals the imbalance. I experienced this imbalance first hand after a 26 day water fast back in 2016. One year later in 2017, I was the heaviest weight I’ve ever been as a vegan and this was extremely difficult to deal with. Unfortunately I learned a hard lesson that I will never forget, calorie restriction will lead to weight gain or an imbalance of some kind.

On the left: 1 week before my water fast. On the right: 1 year after my water fast (after a meal). I was eating the exact same diet & lifestyle, nothing changed. I was just 26 pounds heavier.

Many other women such as model Liza Golden-Bhojwani have too experienced weight gain after a form of calorie restriction. “After fainting one night in my apartment whilst preparing one of my very low-cal meals (I think it was 20 pieces of steamed edamame if I remember correctly), I called it quits with the diet and workout regime I was put on and decided I could do it on my own,” she wrote. Golden-Bhojwani went through a rebound phase after months of starvation and ended up binge eating as her nutritionally deprived body tried to recover. The cycle resulted in negative self-talk for the model, who instead of blaming her dangerously restrictive habits blamed herself for  “sabotaging” her career. “I was craving every single food you could imagine and I was giving in to every craving even though I knew this was such an important time in my career,” she states.

Model Liza Golden-Bhojwani shared two photos of herself on Instagram, explaining how she dangerously starved herself at the onset of her career before embracing her body

Adaptive thermogenesis is the regulated production of heat in response to environmental changes in temperature and diet, resulting in metabolic inefficiency.

Metabolic damage is the non-clinical term for “adaptive thermogenesis”. For certain individuals, the down regulation to metabolism becomes so severe that they have the complete inability to lose weight, even at very low calorie intakes and very high levels of exercise. “Metabolic damage”, or better known as “starvation mode”, is the phenomenon referring to the body's physiological adaptation or natural response to long term calorie restriction or deficit. This deficit can either be a reduced calorie intake, increased calorie expenditure through exercise, or a combination of the two. This type of restriction can result of your body's attempt to maintain energy balance and prevent starvation. This type of restrictive behavior is one of the main contributors to our the inability to lose weight and the obesity epidemic which means our body will hold on to both water and weight until the imbalance is healed. People are under eating and not getting enough nutrition then binge eating on high fat animal foods to get in concentrated calories from fats and protein. The weight loss industry is a billion dollar industry that keeps people stuck in the “eat less to lose weight mentality”. It’s clear that eating less is never the answer for long term sustainable weight loss,

the minnesota starvation experiment

1,200 calories meets the nutrient needs of a toddler.

Did you know 1,200 calories a day meets the requirements of a 5 year old? There’s even detox gurus, weight loss “experts”, women’s magazine articles, and fitness apps telling you that you need to create a calorie deficit to lose weight. In fact, more and more studies are finding out the average adult needs more than the recommended 2,000 calories per day. In 1945, Ancel Keys conducted the Minnesota Starvation Experiment was conducted to measure the psychological effects of hunger. The study consisted of 35 healthy men eating a normal diet of ~3,200 calories per day for the first three months of the experiment. They then participated in a semi-starvation period where they were fed 1,570 calories (not far off from most diet apps) per day for six months. The men participated in physical activity throughout the whole process.

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“All of the participants experienced depression, anxiety, and irritability, but there was no helping them. “Psychotherapy cannot cure psychological complaints due to physiological causes.”

— Ancel Keys

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During the semi-starvation period, the researchers found a decrease in the men’s strength, stamina, body temperature, heart rate, and sex drive. More importantly, the men began obsessing over food. They savored meals, snuck food when it wasn’t allowed, and even reported food clouding their dreams, thoughts, and discussions. The men also reported feelings of fatigue, irritability, depression and apathy.

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“Sometimes, this permeating dullness gave way to moments of inexplicable euphoria followed by an emotional crash.”

— Subject in experiment

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Takeaways from the minnesota starvation experiment

• Restricting your nutrition and calories will lead to a heightened interest and preoccupation in both food and eating.

• Over-eating may be a direct result of under-eating.

• Prolonged restriction of food negatively impacts your emotions and mood which may lead to more serious psychological problems such as anxiety, depression, and obsessive and compulsive behaviors and thinking.

• Almost sixty years later, in 2003, 19 of the original 36 volunteers remained alive. Of these survivors, 18 were interviewed as part of an oral history project about the experiment. They admitted that there had been some lingering aftereffects of the experiment. For instance, for many years they were haunted by a fear that food might be taken away from them again.

Water fasting

Day 25 of my 26 day water fast

Diet and lifestyle changes can be more powerful than a water fast.

Fasting can be a powerful experience physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It's simply an opportunity for your body to rest, cleanse, and heal itself at its own pace. Water fasting is the process of abstaining from food and drinking an adequate amount of water for a specific period of time. Typical water fasts can range anywhere between 1-3 days, 7-14 days or even up to 20-40 days depending the severity of symptoms a person is experiencing. Fasting is essentially resting and provides the body the opportunity to cleanse itself of stored toxins and renew itself. Since the body is not spending time on digestion, it can divert this energy towards healing and has scientifically been proven to do so in short periods.

With that said, animals in nature fast for one of three reasons: There is either a famine, they are sick, or they are dying. That’s it. Yes, there are lots of sick people on this planet but fasting is not the answer for all of them and should not be their first line of defense. Always change your diet and lifestyle first before implementing restrictive behaviors or extreme detoxification protocols such as fasting. Fasting is essentially resting so if you feel that your body is telling you to not eat food, then you should be resting as much as possible. A loss of appetite is a serious condition and must be checked out by a physician. If you choose to fast, then anything over 3 days would need to be supervised by a trained professional who can monitor your levels every single day. Long unsupervised water fasts are dangerous and can kill off healthy gut bacteria and enzyme production so be sure to supplement with these after any period of restriction. Don’t risk your health. There is no fast track to healing.

cravings

Cravings can stem from nutritional deficiencies.

What are cravings? Food cravings are an intense desire for a specific food which are caused by regions of the brain that are responsible for memory, pleasure, and reward. An imbalance of hormones, such as leptin and serotonin, can also contribute to food cravings. Every person will experience cravings differently. The bottom line is that cravings stem from not receiving adequate nutrition to each and every one of your cells. Cravings can also be a roadblock for people who are trying to improve their diet or maintain a healthy weight. You are only experiencing cravings when your body is either restricted of calories, vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, etc. If you are craving specific foods then you may be dealing with a nutritional deficiency. Get your levels checked, reassess your diet, and most importantly, make sure you are consuming enough calories.

• Salt cravings = The need for trace minerals such as chloride or silicone. Try incorporating more sodium rich vegetables such as leafy greens, celery, tomatoes, carrot, cucumber, bell pepper, and cruciferous vegetables into your diet. You can also use Trace Mineral drops in your water as well.

• Sweet cravings = The need for carbon, chromium, phosphorus, sulfur, and/or tryptophan. Increase your intake of high carbohydrate foods such as fruits, squash, and starchy vegetables such as sweet potatoes, and/or corn.

• Bread, pasta, or refined carbohydrates = The need for nitrogen rich foods such as leafy greens, citrus fruits, beets, garlic, nuts, seeds, and legumes. Also add in chia seeds into your smoothies every day to receive additional amino acids.

• Chocolate cravings = The need for magnesium. Magnesium rich foods include bananas, avocados, nuts, and seeds, You can also consume cacao or carob powder in a smoothie for a healthier version of chocolate.

• Dairy cravings = The need for omegas fatty acids. Just remember that you are in fact, not a baby calf and may be under the influence of casomorphins (has opioid like effects) which help to attach a baby calf to a mother cow to help it grow hundreds of pounds in a short amount of time.

• Meat cravings = The need for more iron and/or B12. Increase your calories and consume more dark leafy greens, legumes, nuts, and seeds. Check your B12 levels and supplement if you are below 250 ng/mL.

gut health

Our gut health affects all areas of our body, as well as our overall well being. Our digestive system is made of up organs such as the salivary glands, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum. Accessory digestive organs include the liver, gallbladder, and the pancreas. When these organs do not receive the correct nutrition to function properly, it will decrease the production of certain enzymes, hormones, and cells to conserve energy, which in turn, may create digestive issues when you eat normally again. To heal digestive disorders such as gas, bloating, constipation, indigestion, acid reflux, food intolerances, skin problems, bloating, cobsitipation, diarrhea, etc., we need to understand how the body breaks down food.

To break down food and kill off any harmful bacteria, the stomach needs to be very acidic, so in terms of pH levels, it needs to be in the rage of 1-3 pH. If your stomach acid isn’t high enough then your liver will not release enough bile to help break down fats and fat soluble vitamins (as well as fatty acids). The role of the pancreas in the body is to produce enzymes to break down your food with specific enzymes like lipase to break down fat, amylase to break down carbohydrates, and protease to break down protein. The stomach, liver, and gallbladder all work together to break down food before it is sent to the small intestines where it is further broken down by the gut microbiome and all of the different types of microbes in your gut. If you have been eating a low fat whole food plant based diet long term and are still dealing with gut issues, below are a few things that you can incorporate along with your diet to ease your digestion.

• Consume celery juice on an empty stomach first thing in the morning as recommended by Medical Medium.

• Take 1-2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar before each meal to increase the acidity of your stomach to increase bile and pancreatic enzymes to be released.

• Consume digestive supporting herbs such as slippery elm, fennel, dandilion, and herbal antibiotics such as food grade vitamin C, ginger, echinacea, goldenseal, clove, cinnamon, and oregano.

• Use digestive enzyme supplements prior to your meals. Here is a brand I recommend. I’m not an advocate of supplementation, so this would be a recommendation for someone who is still suffering despite long term diet and lifestyle changes.

• Take a dose of probiotics for at least 2-3 months (especially if you have a past of antibiotic use) to build up a colony of healthy bacteria in your gut.

• If none of these recommendations work along with a complete diet and lifestyle change, then I would recommend seeing a physician for further testing to find the exact root of your issue.

When you have a balanced and healthy digestive system, then you are able to eat sufficient calories without experiencing any negative implications such as bloating. Embrace a full belly after consuming a meal. It helps to trigger your satiation cues and shouldn’t last for more than a couple of hours. If it does then you know may have some digestive issues or you may be eating incorrect foods as well as food combinations. Eating less will never fix digestive or malabsorption issues through. Fasting and juice cleansing is just symptom management. Healing is always found in following a consistent diet and lifestyle over time.

macronutrients

Protein, fats, and carbohydrates.

There are seven major classes of nutrients: carbohydrates, fats, dietary fiber, minerals, proteins, vitamins, and water. These nutrient classes can be categorized as either macronutrients (needed in relatively large amounts) or micronutrients (needed in smaller quantities). A nutrient is a substance used by an organism to survive, grow, and reproduce. The requirement for dietary nutrient intake applies to animals (humans), plants, fungi, and protists. Sorry breatharians, we can’t get all of the nutrition that we need from the sun or the air alone. You will eventually have to eat.

The primal need of our body is carbohydrates as we are most similar to a frugivorous and herbivore species so the majority of our calories need to come from carbohydrates (fruits and vegetables). Even omnivores like bears consume a diet that consists mainly of grasses, roots, berries, and insects. They will also eat fish and other mammals but the majority of their diet will come from plant foods, and/or garbage. If our #1 killer is heart disease which is heavily influenced by saturated fat and cholesterol and is 100% preventable then how come we don't see lions (carnivores) get atherosclerosis or heart disease in nature? Because atherosclerosis only affects herbivores. Humans get disease because they are simply not eating their species specific diet.

carb up

We are carbohydrate creatures.

This orange mango smoothie is well over 1,000 calories and what I tend to eat for breakfast. Some may consider this extreme or excessive but it has been working for me for many years. I sip through it slowly which takes me about 20-30 minutes to finish and my body processes it just fine. I have stable energy throughout the day (since I eat enough and built up a healthy metabolism over time). The only time I have experienced an imbalance on this lifestyle was after putting myself through a period of restriction (water fasting for longer than I should) in hopes of healing myself quicker. Newsflash, there is no fast track to healing or success for the matter. You have to put in consistent work every single day. You can’t reverse many years or even decades of unhealthy living instantly or even in a year or so. Like all good things, it just takes time. Learn patience and find a plan that you can stay on sustainably for many years. Don’t get stuck in the restrict/binge game. Our bodies are far more complex than we can ever imagine.

Caloric density is proof that not all calories are created equal.

A calorie is a unit of energy, or heat that is in food which the body needs to function. Calorie density is the measure of the calorie content of food relative to its weight or volume. Since fruits and vegetables are lower in calorie density, when you switch to a predominately plant based diet, you will be eating a greater volume of food to fill you up. Foods that are higher in caloric density can cause weight gain and foods with lower calorie density can help promote weight loss. One gram of fat has about 9 calories, while a gram of carbohydrate or protein has about 4 calories. In other words, you could eat twice as much carbohydrates or proteins as fat for the same number of calories. A Big Mac, a medium fry, and a medium soft drink from McDonalds totals over 1,100 calories but it won’t keep you full for long and may spike your blood sugar levels with the amount of fat and carbohydrates in the same meal. An entire watermelon that weighs over 6 pounds is approximately 1,300 kcal and will provide you with water, fiber, B vitamins, copper, iron and satiate your trillions of cells more than the McDonalds snack ever would. Plus, the watermelon costs much less than the McDonalds meal, especially over time in the form of medical care costs.

Bacon and eggs may be high in protein and lower in calories, but its caloric density is quite low and isn’t satiating over time due to being devoid of fiber and healthy sugars that our body needs to function.

When transitioning over to a vegan diet, people tend to eat less because they are coming from a calorically dense diet based off of meat, dairy, and eggs. When animal foods are cut out and replaced with plant foods, some newcomers may be left feeling hungrier since the majority of plant foods are lower in calories than animal products. Although plant foods are lower in calories, they are much higher in nutrients and fiber.

Instead of blaming a vegan diet for making you tired, weak or deficient, take the responsibility to keep track of exactly how much they were eating based on their current size and activity level. I recommend using the app Chronometer to track both calories and nutrients to make sure you are getting in enough.

please eat

Your body is worthy of nourishment.

Eating enough is healthy and a necessary process for our bodies to function at the most optimum level. If anyone tells you that calories do not matter or that eating an abundance of fruits and vegetables is “overeating”, then they may be hiding their own eating disorder behind restrictive advice. Contrary to popular opinion in the raw food community, you can still detoxify, cleanse, and heal your entire body by eating sufficient calories and by eating often. You do not need to under eat, intermittent fast, or eat one meal a day to allow your body to heal, you just need to fuel it properly so it has enough energy work on healing itself (especially if you work a full time job or take care of children). Weakening your body by under eating does not automatically equate to healing. Results can be quite the opposite if you imbalance yourself enough and many people are experiencing the rebound effect of under eating in the name of “detox” right now so be please be careful before taking health advice from someone online, especially if their lifestyle does not match up with yours. There is a fine line between eating disorder and raw/veganism since many people take things to the extreme and sometimes even love the attention they get with this approach. Read more about my blog post on eating disorders here.

There is no way around it. Calorie restriction is a form a disordered eating regardless of the situation or justification. We all have specific caloric needs to achieve every day and if we don’t reach this amount consistently then over time it will create problems. I am a living testament to this truth and want you to know that you don’t need to restrict your calories to lose weight, heal, or be healthy.