How Calories REALLY Count
COOKING LIGHT MAGAZINE/April 2011
Last Summer, Mark Haub, PHD, an associate professor of nutrition at Kansas State University, made headlines when he lost 27 pounds after two months of living on Twinkies, Ho-Hos, Little Debbies, and other convenience-store snack cakes. Haub’s experiment reinforced the calories-in/calories-out equation: If you drastically cut back-as Haub did from 2,600 to 1,800 calories per day-you will lose weight, no matter how nutrient deprived your diet may otherwise be. Anyone who knows what calories are-units of energy-knows this to be so. But lost in the brouhaha surrounding the so-called Twinkie Diet was a more interesting trend: a revision of the idea that all calories are equal. New studies hint that the body may burn calories from whole foods better than it does calories from processed foods like Twinkies. Essentially, it appears the body can “burn” a bit hotter on whole foods and use healthier fuel at the same time. That’s great news for people who want to follow the new Dietary Guidelines, because it addresses two big problems with the American diet: calorie overload and nutrient inadequacy.
While Dr. Haub was carefully counting his Twinkie calories, a group of scientists from Pomona College in California were preparing to publish a small study with interesting implications for anyone who wants to maintain a healthy weight and eat good food. The researchers fed people two meals with the exact same number of calories; the only difference was how much the food was processed. Group A was treated to sandwiches made with real cheese on whole-grain bread; Group B made do with processed cheese on fiber-stripped white bread. The results published in Food & Nutrition Research, found that the processed meal decreased the rate of diet induced thermo genesis-the number of calories you burn when eating and digesting-by nearly 50% compared to the meal made with whole foods. Eating whole foods is the best way to make calories count for the American diet that must include fiber, potassium, calcium, vitamin D, which are all associated with whole foods. Eating more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains delivers those nutrients in a form that may also hold a calorie burning advantage.
