Watching the calorie density of your food can lead to all kinds of health benefits - not just weight control. For example, eating food with more water content will make you feel full quicker, with fewer calories. And oftentimes, food with more water content (vegetables, fruits) contain more nutrients than foods with less water (baked, processed, etc.)
This article is from the
San Francisco Vegetarian Society's
Fall 2007 newsletter:
-----------------------------
Weight Control & Calorie Density Foods
By Dr. Rick Dina
Founder of Vitality Wellness Center in San Rafael CA, chiropractic care
& nutrition counseling, and a speaker at World Veg Festival, Saturday,
September 29th.
This article discusses an incredibly important concept in nutrition that is
extremely basic and fundamental, yet all to commonly overlooked. This
simple to understand idea makes portion control, counting calories,
carbs and fat grams, worrying about insulin production and the glycemic
index of foods all but obsolete.
This paramount idea in nutrition has to do with the caloric density of the
foods that make up the bulk of one’s diet. Foods that are high in caloric
density are foods that have a lot of calories in a given weight or volume.
Foods that are low in caloric density are foods that have very few
calories in a given weight or volume. For example, if you measured the
amount of calories in one pound of cheesecake vs. one pound of cucumber,
you would find that the cheesecake had many times more calories
than that same amount of cucumber.
We cannot deprive ourselves into health. Pushing away from the table
and being hungry in order to lose weight is a short-term measure at best.
When people go ON a diet, the implication is that they are going to
deprive themselves of something that they enjoy for a period of time
until they get good and skinny, and then they go OFF the diet, adding
back the very foods that got them to the unhealthy place they did not
want to be in the first place. What we need to do is change our eating
habits in such a way that we enjoy what we eat so much that we can eat
satisfying volumes of food and never feel deprived. In order to be able
to do this, we have to understand what creates satiety, which is the
feeling of fullness and satisfaction we experience so we are no longer
hungry.
Although there are many factors to consider, the greatest contributor to
satiety is the volume of food that we ingest. When we fill ourselves up
with enough food, our stomach and intestines stretch to accommodate it.
Stretch receptors are activated, which send a signal to a part of our brain
known as the hypothalamus. From there the hypothalamus creates the
feeling of satiety by a variety of mechanisms. If we ate enough cheesecake
(vegan or otherwise) to fill up our stomach, we would end up with
a lot of extra calories we don’t need, create a lot of extra work for our
digestive system, and end up with excess body fat. If we stuffed ourselves
completely full of cucumbers, we would certainly not have an
excess of calories. When we eat foods lower in calorie density, we can
fill ourselves up and feel full and satisfied without consuming excess
calories.
There are three primary factors that contribute to the caloric density of
food. The first, and by far most significant is the amount of water found
in a food. Water takes up lots of room and is heavy, but supplies no
calories. Therefore foods high in water content are low in calorie
density. The second consideration is the fat content of a food. One
gram of either carbohydrate or protein contains about 4 calories,
whereas one gram of fat contains 9 calories, or over twice as much for
the same weight. Our third consideration is the fiber content of a food.
Fiber, like water, takes up room, but supplies no calories.
It takes about one pound of food to fill the average person’s
stomach. With that in mind, let’s look at some examples of
the caloric density of various foods. Raw vegetables
average about 100 calories per pound. Fresh fruit averages
about 300 calories per pound. Melons, for example, have
about 180 calories per pound, whereas less watery bananas
have about 400 calories per pound. Brown Rice has 500
calories per pound, whereas fiber deficient white rice has
590 calories per pound. White pasta contains 680 calories
per pound.
Let’s take the ingredients for white pasta (essentially white
flour and water mixed into dough) and put it in the oven for
a while. As the heat evaporates the water, we end up with
white bread, which has about 1250 calories per pound,
nearly twice the caloric density as the white pasta cooked
in water. It we cooked the white flour and water dough
mixture even longer, we could end up with a “fat free”
saltine cracker, with a calorie density of over 1600 calories
per pound. So by cooking our white dough mixture in
water (white pasta) compared to baking it in the oven until
crispy (saltine), we can triple the calorie density, just by
taking the water away. What this means from a consumption
point of view is that it takes three times more calories
from saltines to achieve the same amount of stretch receptor
activation to send signals to the hypothalamus to create
satiety. Another way of looking at this is if you fill yourself
up on low water content food compared to high water
content food, you will eat three times as many calories at
that meal!!
Bananas and California avocados contain about 70% water
content and have similar fiber content. Bananas are low in
fat and avocados are high in fat. We mentioned earlier that
bananas have about 400 calories per pound, whereas
avocados have about 800 calories per pound. Although
double the calorie density of bananas, rich and creamy
avocados have less than half the calorie density of the fat
free saltines we looked at earlier. An organic brown rice
cake, for example, is similar in calorie density to a saltine.
“Dieters” frequently eat brown rice cakes, but typically
avoid avocados. They would be better off eating avocados
if their goal was to feel satisfied with the right amount of
calories. If they made guacamole from half avocado and
half tomato, they could eat 4 times more guacamole than
brown rice cakes for the same amount of calories. Which
one sounds more enjoyable to you?! The bottom line in
this example is that the water content of a food is a far
greater determinant of calorie density than the fat content.
The fiber content of a food, although of some significance
as we saw in the brown rice vs. white rice example, is the
least significant determinant of caloric density.
Have you ever been thirsty? Too hot or too cold? Have
you ever been uncomfortable because you had to go to the
bathroom but had to wait? Our bodies have multiple
feedback mechanisms that give us incentive to take the
actions that favor our well-being. When we drink water,
turn on a fan, put on a blanket, are able to find a bathroom,
etc., we feel better. The hunger mechanism works in much
the same way. When we need food, we become hungry and
when we are full we are no longer hungry and feel good. It
is really amazing how sensitive our satiety mechanisms are.
If we consumed only ½ of one percent extra calories, that
would result in about one pound extra body fat per year, or
ten pounds per decade, which is about the rate that at which
Americans are packing on the extra pounds. Calorically
dense foods do not do a very good job at helping the
hypothalamus regulate proper caloric intake compared to
foods that are low in caloric density.
Another mechanism that helps the hypothalamus create
satiety has to do with nutrient levels in the bloodstream.
When we are nutrient deficient, our body maintains hunger
so we have incentive to eat more food to (hopefully) derive
the needed nutrients. Foods rich in water and fiber, and
low in fat, such as fruits and vegetables, are low in calorie
density, and have a very high ratio of nutrients per calorie.
When we eat large volumes of these foods, we supply both
the bulk and nutrients that help our hypothalamus create
satiety with the right amount of calories for our individual
needs. The Standard American Diet, as well as many
vegetarian and vegan diets, is filled with processed foods
that are low in water, fiber and nutrition, causing us to
overeat that little extra that really adds up over time. This
happens all too frequently with some raw foodists as well,
who eat a diet based on dehydrated foods, oils, nuts and
seeds, as opposed to a diet based on fresh fruits and vegetables.
At three meals per day, we consume 1095 meals
per year. If we consume just three extra calories per meal,
that adds up to one pound of body fat over the course of a
year, or ten pounds per decade.
Satiety researchers tell us that when the average calorie
density of our diet is 500 calories per pound or less,
achieving optimal weight occurs naturally. You simply eat
when you are hungry, until you are full and satisfied. I
know it sounds just too simple to be true, but this concept
has been well researched and documented. For example,
the “Lifestyle Heart Trial” by Dr. Dean Ornish put subjects
with clogged coronary arteries on a diet that consisted of
low fat, whole natural plant foods, with optional small
quantities of egg whites or non fat dairy products allowed.
There was absolutely no restriction of food in any way, or
the counting of calories, carbs or fat grams. In fact, by its
design it was a “high carb” diet. Because it was from
whole natural low fat plant foods it was naturally high in
water and fiber, therefore low in calorie density and high in
nutrients. Participants could eat as much as they wanted as
long as they followed these simple guidelines. The average
weight loss over the one-year trial was 28 pounds. This
approach was not only effective for weight loss, but for
many other health issues. 72% of subjects showed reversal
in the size of the plaques clogging the arteries leading to
their heart. A follow up study was done showing that most
of the original group was still following the program even 5
years later.
In order to maintain a healthy weight, we need to eat
LARGE VOLUMES OF FOOD. Yes, that is correct, large
amounts of foods that are low in calorie density. We are
usually told to eat less, but I am strongly suggesting that
you eat more of the right kinds of foods. That way you
activate those stretch receptors, supply your body with an
abundance of nutrients, and consume plenty of water and
fiber, all of which create that feeling of satisfaction researchers
call satiety. If you get hungry a few hours later,
then eat some more. With this type of eating plan, you eat
all you want, and you never have to feel hungry or deprived.
Your energy level, well-being and many other
parameters of health will improve dramatically. Life will
be so good that the thought of vegan ice cream, cookies,
pancakes and other calorically dense, nutrient impoverished,
addictive processed foods will pale in comparison to
the enjoyment you now experience from your new found
health and vitality. Change always takes effort, but making
these healthy changes is always extremely worthwhile.
After a while, as with any new habit, it simply becomes the
new norm for you. But you have to be willing to get
through the transition phase to get to the other side. I wish
you all the best of success in adding more high nutrient,
low caloric density fresh fruits, vegetables, juices,
smoothies, etc. to your diets and experiencing the level of
health and vitality you deserve!!
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spirituality
November 2008 
George
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