Calories Count

On today’s topic of discussion, I will be addressing how choosing your calories wisely is important for good nutrition and a healthy diet.

A calorie is a calorie, right? Yes and no. Yes because your body will process a calorie from ice cream the same way it will process it from chicken breast, however there are a few more factors to consider when thinking about calories.

I posted a picture on social media this week comparing my homemade bacon egg and cheese breakfast sandwich to that of McDonald’s.

I tried to make my sandwich the same calories as McDonald’s. First you can see that my sandwich is significantly larger than McDonald’s, I couldn’t even close it when eating it. Next, you can see that mine is higher in protein and lower in carbs. Because of this and the pure size of my sandwich, it was almost difficult to finish and I was full for hours. I’ve had McDonald’s breakfast before and can easily eat a sandwich and still have room for more. Therefore, you can see here is a great example that a calorie isn’t always a calorie. Especially on a low calorie diet, eating food that is filling is crucial.

Foods that are filling and low in calorie like vegetables are great to fill your plate with. When we take an example of say 300 calories of 1 slice of Lou Malnatis cheese thin crust pizza. Compare that 1 slice to 300 calories pizza to what you would need to eat of broccoli.

In order to eat 300 calories of broccoli, you would need to eat almost 10 CUPS.

x 10!

Eating that one slice of pizza is going to be a lot easier to put down 300 calories than 10 cups of broccoli.

So whether it’s when eating out and instead deciding to cook your meal at home or when deciding what to eat in general and thinking a calorie is a calorie, remember that there’s a little more to it and make the wiser choice.

Enjoy this beautiful weather and have a great week!