Portion control and calorie counting is NOT the answer to good health

"So if you want to lose weight, the main problem is self-control. We just can't stop eating. If you could just have a "little bit" of the donut or only one soda instead of two you can indulge and stay fit, right?"

That's what Coca-Cola wants you to think.

Honestly, the idea that so many people think that portion control is the main solution to poor health is crazy to me. All of these studies come out saying that there are 3500 calories in one pound so the way we lose weight is to limit calorie consumption and then burn excess calories by exercising. Seems like it makes sense to you?

So you mean to tell me if i eat one 500 calorie snickers bar, it's the same for my body as a big salad with avocado, tomatoes, peppers, spinach and chicken? At best, this formula is overly simplistic. At worst, this is an incredibly incorrect overstatement that is the root cause of obesity. I'm in agreement with the latter.

The same old marketing technique

I hear people harping on this overly simplistic math equation all of the time. I'll be sitting with a friend at a restaurant who decides to order a pizza and a coke. What does he lean over and say, "well, i'm going to go to the gym after this and burn it off."

Ok buddy. So you think that the trans fat, wheat, processed cheese, processed pepperoni and the science experiment in your coke is going simply "burn off" without any other ramifications? No wonder why almost 70% of America is overweight.

Coca-Cola wants to get in on this horrid math equation that's wrecking lives too. Take a look at this recent commercial, urging people to avoid obesity by exercising and drinking their lower calorie products:

The commercial treats your body like a math problem. Calories in and calories out. They think it's 1989 and the key to losing weight is a Jane Fonda workout and low fat, low calorie processed foods!

We see that Coca-Cola doesn't lose any money on this either. By pointing unsuspecting shoppers to their low calorie products, they are creating the illusion that they are on the side of health. I can assure you, they are not.

Why counting calories does not work

Did we have an obesity epidemic 1000 years ago? No. What about 500 years ago? No. What about 150 years ago? NO.

So why all of the sudden is counting calories the key to losing weight? Some will argue it's because we're a land of abundance and since we have access we need to control ourselves. That plays a small role. That explanation is beneficial to companies like Coca-Cola who can keep pushing their products, then blame you for getting fat because you can't control yourself.

Counting calories doesn't work because we aren't 2D creatures. We are not only made up of calories. A Calorie is a measurement of energy. Food has X amount of calories based on the amount of energy stored in it. But we are multi-dimensional beings. We require certain vitamins, nutrients and minerals that help us thrive. We also don't simply operate on energy units like calories, but we run on different fuel sources like glucose or ketones. We also have hormones that operate themselves as well.

The calories you eat don't just effect our energy. It effects your hormones. Certain foods can pull your hormones out of alignment. Cortisol is effected. Insulin is effected by sugar intake. Leptin etc.

There is also food intolerances. Certain people react to certain foods differently that can cause weight gain, allergies and/or inflammation.

We also have our gut biome. Gut bacteria are effected by processed food and chemical laden drinks like coke.

To recap here are the things that are effected by what we eat:

• Energy (calories)

• Gut Biome

• Vitamin intake

• micro-nutrient intake

• Macro-nutrient needs (proteins, carbs, fat)

• Food allergies and intolerances

• Hormone levels (insulin, leptin, cortisol, testosterone etc.)

• weight gain/loss

So our Snickers bar, which is loaded with processed sugar, is likely devoid of most micro nutrients. It's sugar content will spike insulin, effecting our hormones. It's lack of protein leaves us deficient, meaning we just ate 500 calories of empty junk calories and need to use the rest of our calories for the day (if we're counting them) to replace the stuff lost in those Snicker calories.

You can start to see there is more behind food than just calories.

Let's look at Diet Coke for example. Diet coke has zero calories. Most of Americans think Diet Coke is fine since it's low in calories. We know that there is more at play than just calories. For one, Diet Coke contains Aspartame and Sucralose two artificial sweeteners many times sweeter than regular sugar. Let's pretend we don't know that Aspartame doesn't cause cancer, Alzheimer's and birth defects , and just focus on the fact that there is no sugar in it. These two zero calorie sweeteners mimic the effects of sugar in the body, meaning they still spike insulin levels. This can lead to insulin resistance (leading to weight gain) and worse, it can lead to diabetes, two of the very conditions you were hoping to avoid by choosing diet soda over regular soda. In fact diet could be worse. Since Aspartame is several times sweeter than regular sugar, it effects your body all the more. So it's as if you ingested more sugar than a regular coke!

Check out this video to get the full story on aspartame:

Quality over quantity when it comes to food

Please understand that Hostess, Coca-Cola, McDonalds and the rest want you to think that if you choose their low calorie options you will be healthier. That removes the burden from them and places it on you. Those foods, however low in calories, still greatly effect your weight, hormones and overall health.

The best way to get healthy and lose weight is to eat quality, non-processed foods. This means anything that God made that hasn't been modified by scientists and marketers.

Good examples are grass-fed meats, vegetables, fish, Almonds, cashews, pasture raised eggs, berries, and high quality saturated fat foods like Avocado, Coconut oil and grass fed butter.

Shop around the edges of the supermarket, but be careful to avoid GMO veggies and breads. Breads are cross-bread and are the root cause of many of our modern health conditions including inflammation. If you can, find a local farm or farmers market and by meat/produce from them. You'll get the food as close to the way it was intended to be eaten.

Your body was originally given the ability to self-regulate food intake. You get full when the body is satisfied. The body wasn't created to fight massive hunger like we are told today. If you have a snicker's bar and a soda, you've had 740 calories, the amount of a meal with chicken, a sweet potato with butter and veggies. Which one will fill you?

Do not by the lie that self control is the reason we are getting fat and unhealthy. The choice of foods is the main cause of obesity, and not just the type, but the way it was grown and treated.

Eat from the earth without human modifications to that food and be healthy,