Nutrition: Calories In, Calories Out

Socrates famously said “an unexamined life is not worth living”. THW is bound by this axiom and this entire site is dedicated to inspiring people to self-reflect and examine their lives. This means exploring matters of who we are, and why we are is an activity we must attend to regularly.

I doubt there is a more important aspect to life than food. None of us can live without food. Without it we would perish. Too little of it brings suffering. Too much of it is harmful. Food is something we consume collectively. Our rituals and our identity are shaped by it. Given its importance, the need to examine it is vital.  And at this time when obesity and other diseases caused by over-consumption and often over-consumption of high calorie- low nutrition foods is more prevalent than ever, the need for examination is much greater than in any time in history.

There is no doubt we think a lot about food and many people are fixated with diets. The diet industry in the US alone was worth USD$254.9 billion in 2021 and is estimated to grow to USD$377.3 billion. This is not surprising given the surge in obesity, diabetes and other lifestyle diseases in recent years. We do not need to revisit the size (apologies for the pun) of the problem only to say it is on the rise. It might be possible that drugs like Ozempic might reduce the obesity problem. However, reducing calorific intake by popping a pill is not going to make people eat healthier foods, reduce sugar and high-carb consumption or get them exercising. Dealing with weight only is a sure-fire way to mask all the other serious problems of poor food choices and sedentariness which are as much the cause of poor health, disease and lower quality (and enjoyment) of life as over-eating.

THW does not feel that diet is the right way to think about this issue. Rather, than focusing on the taking away, and what not to do, THW is committed to an approach that focuses on what to do, an approach this is committed to the idea of what to put into our bodies. That said, finding a path to good nutrition and healthy eating requires journeying down the road of discipline and delayed gratification. This topic has been touched on briefly in an earlier entry and will pop up again and again. In an upcoming post, the topic will be self-discipline. In this entry, it is enough to say that healthy eating, especially as people move to a healthier diet takes effort and self-discipline. It also takes knowledge about what is nutrition and how much nutrition is required. Hence, this entry on quantity.

Before turning to nutrition, let me explore the foundation on which I believe it is built.

Sickness-Wellness-Fitness Continuum

One model of Health that THW follows is taken from CrossFit and is known as the Sickness- Wellness-Fitness Continuum. Greg Glassman argued that there is a continuum with sickness (high blood pressure, obesity, low bone density, high cholesterol, poor insulin sensitivity/diabetes, and so on) on one end all the way through to fitness (low blood pressure, low body fat, etc.) which is at the other end. Below is a diagram that illustrates this idea.

The Sickness-Fitness Continuum: from CrossFit.com

The aim for all of us, according to this idea, is to be at the fitness end of the continuum. Maybe sitting at wellness will be enough for some. But, as the idea suggests, fitness takes you furthest from sickness and also insulates you against the inevitable illnesses that all of us have to deal with sometime. The fitter you are the better chances you have to fight a disease. As we all know, people who have poor underlying health (or are on the sickness end of the continuum) have greater trouble fighting off diseases and suffer worse symptoms than other people. This is not always the case but often is. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

Physical activity may help reduce the risk of serious outcomes from infectious diseases, including COVID-19, the flu, and pneumonia. For example: People who do little or no physical activity are more likely to get very sick from COVID-19 than those who are physically active.

Ok, we’re back to exercise which is not where I wanted to head. Nonetheless, it is important to say that exercise is a fundamental aspect of being fit and no pill, now or ever, can give people the benefits of exercise. So, while dieting pills might reduce food consumption and alleviate some aspects of “sickness” on the continuum, it will not get people to the other end of it. Neither will exercise and a pill by itself do the same. The pill might reduce food cravings and consumption, but will it help people make good food choices? Again, THW doubts this will be the case as a pill does nothing to address the underlying problems that have caused obesity, poor food choices and overconsumption in the first place.

Nutrition is one of the foundations on which the continuum rests. Just as Hippocrates said over two millennium ago,

Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.

In this entry, we’ll look at quantity. In an upcoming one, on quality and then beyond that, we’ll tackle the topic of fasting.

Nutrition:

One of the rules of nutrition is calories in, calories out. Again turning to CrossFit founder Greg Glassman, who defined the approach to nutrition in the following two sentences: “Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.” THW almost entirely subscribes to this approach. The only digression is that THW believes that the formula should read “Eat some meat”. Let’s put aside the topic of meat for now, and instead turn to the sentence about how much food is required to support our activities.

I think somewhere prior to this, I might have said something along the lines that this idea, to “Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat” sounds simple. And on one level it is. But, the reality is, that nutrition is a minefield and trying to get the right amount of food to support exercise, and not more, is surprisingly more complex than it might seem, especially if you’re looking to maximise exercise gains, muscle mass, etc., But even for people looking to live a good life, portion sizes and calorie density, not to mention macros (whether foods are carbohydrates, protein or fats) can be complicated. In this day and age of processed foods, high protein, low fat, low sugar, no added sugar, and a range of other labelling, it is more complicated than it is has ever been. One thing that can be said, following from Glassman and THW, is that if one’s nutrition is predominately vegetables, nuts and seeds, some meat and fruit, then this is an excellent base and very little can go wrong regarding either quality or quantity.

Calorific Needs: Counting Calories Out

Before moving on to portion size and calorie counting, it is important to start by working out what your calorific needs might be. The formulas are fairly easy to use and even if they are not exact, approximations are a very good place to start because they provide an idea of how many calories you require.

Here is how to calculate your energy needs:

Start by measuring BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate which is minimum level of energy required to sustain vital functions on a daily basis):

• For women, BMR = 655.1 + (9.563 x weight in kg) + (1.850 x height in cm) - (4.676 x age in years)

• For men, BMR = 66.47 + (13.75 x weight in kg) + (5.003 x height in cm) - (6.755 x age in years)

Let me give you my details as an example. I am 82kg and 180cm tall. Also, I am 54 years old. This means my calculation would be:

66.47+ (13.75x 82) + (5.003 x180) – (6.755 x 54)= 66.47 + 1127.5 + 900.54 – 364.77= 1729.74

That’s step 1. We’ve calculated the number of calories required to fuel my body’s daily functions. The next step is to calculate the energy I require for the activities I pursue- or what THW calls fuelling performance. Once more there is a formula that can be used and it is called the Active Metabolic Rate (AMR) formula. To calculate your AMR, you take your BMR (mine is 1729.74) and multiply it by a number according to your activity levels. The AMR comparisons are as follows:

Sedentary (little or no exercise): AMR= BMR x1.2

Lightly active (moderate exercise 1-3 days a week): AMR= BMR x 1.375

Moderately active (meet the minimum physical government guidelines of 3-5 sessions a week including resistance training): AMR= BMR x 1.55

Active (exercise 6-7 days a week): AMR=BMR x 1.725

Very Active (hard exercise 6-7 days a week): AMR=BMR x1.9

To continue with my example my AMR is 1729.74 x 1.9= 3286.506 calories a day.

However, I mostly err on the side of caution with calories and place my AMR halfway between Active (2984.8015cals) and Very Active (3286.506cals) calculating my AMR halfway between those two figures at 3135 calories a day.

Calculating Calories In

Portion size is a major pitfall for people trying to eat the “right” amount”.  Some research has demonstrated that in recent decades portion sizes have increased. The extent this is true varies from food to food, country to country. What is interesting though is that when we take the time to count calories how obvious it becomes that the amount of food required to fuel exercise and no more is much less than might be anticipated.

Let me give you an example by calculating the calories in one of my favourite breakfasts.

I have chosen an acai bowl- a home-made version- because it is now on almost everyone’s menu in Australia and other places, namely parts of the US, as a healthy start to the day.

Starting with the Acai:

100g = 92 calories

Next we add some granola. I use a no added sugar peanut granola. Below is a pic of 25g = 100 calories.

Then, some seeds- I’ve added 15grams = 75 calories.

I follow this with some yogurt. Again, the one I use is no added sugar vanilla yogurt. Below is what 100grams= 59 cals looks like.

Lastly, I add some peanut butter. 1 tablespoon = 100 cals.

If I add ½ a medium sized banana (50 cals) and a handful of blueberries (44 cals) the total for my morning acai bowl for breakfast is 520 cals or 1/6th of my daily calorific needs. Include the cals from my medium almond latte of about 100 calories and my breakfast in total lands somewhere in the vicinity of 620 calories or just over 1/5th of my calorific needs. If I was less active, this could be ¼ of my daily needs. 

I believe this is a good example because everything in that bowl is “healthy”- all we have are nuts and seeds, a bit of fruit, some low fat, no sugar diary, a few grains (again no added sugar). Yet, this small bowl of goodness very quickly added up to just over 500 calories (2092kj) or approximately 1/5 of my daily calorific requirement. It is worthwhile counting your calories for a week or so just to see how many calories you’re consuming and to grasp the importance of portion sizes.

One final note on this matter. It takes a person to consume approximately 3500 calories less than they burn to lose 1 pound or 0.45 kilograms of fat. Broken down, this is a calorie deficit of 500 calories every day for a whole week just to lose 0.45 kilograms of fat. The opposite is true. In other words, an excess of 500 calories a day leads to 1lb of weight gain a week or almost 25 kilograms a year. Calories in, calories out is a pretty crude way to think about nutrition. It is, without doubt, essential to understand the amount we eat and the amount we burn are in an inverse relationship with each other. If more people counted their calories in, we’d have a lot less people on diets, yo-yo diets, obese, and so on. But, more than just how much we eat, the other crucial component of nutrition is quality.

I won’t say anything about quality in this entry except to say that vegetables, some meat, nuts and seeds, a little starch and no sugar is a good formula to try to adhere to as a rule. Break the rule every now and then, but if you can adhere to this approach 90-95% of the time, then you’ll be consuming quality calories in just about the right amount for good health and performance.