Why Calorie Counting is Totally Flawed
Calorie quantities you get from food don’t match what you’ll find on labels or in apps
“I am eating the exact number of calories I was told to eat but I’m not losing weight and my blood sugar levels aren’t any better.”
Countless patients have told me this during our first nutrition counseling session. Here’s what happened before our visit: a well-meaning healthcare worker did some quick math to estimate the person’s daily calorie needs, recommended a calorie counting phone app to keep track of food intake, and sent them on their way.
The problem? Even if the estimated calorie needs are correct, the calorie counts used by food labels and phone apps are probably not accurate for that person. Calorie counting apps can be useful when someone struggles to eat the amount of food their body needs. But calorie counts are estimates. They don’t consider how the food was prepared or the unique makeup of the person eating that food.
Counting calories
A calorie is simply a unit of measure in chemistry. A food calorie is how much heat energy raises the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1 degree Celsius. These kilocalories (1,000 calories), or “Calorie” with a big C, are the values shown as total calories on a food…
