You should stop counting calories and instead focus on eating the right ingredients if you want to lose weight. That says Tim Spector, Professor of Genetic Epidemiology in London.
Highly processed foods can be less filling than whole foods, leading people to eat more than they’re actually hungry.
“Food that has been heavily processed is the enemy,” Spector said. The longer the list of ingredients, the more processed the product tends to be.
If you want to lose weight and live a healthier life, you shouldn’t count calories, but rather make sure you eat less highly processed foods. That recommends the epidemiologist Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College in London.
Although a certain calorie deficit is required to lose weight, that alone would be the wrong approach. It is also important what calories are eaten. According to Spector, nutritional information on labels is often inaccurate. In addition, you automatically burn fewer calories if you eat mainly whole foods without artificial additives.
“We need to stop talking regarding calories,” he told Business Insider. “Highly processed foods are the enemy.” Spector is the best-selling author, Spoon-Fed: Why Almost Everything We’ve Been Told About Food is Wrong, and is the scientific co-founder of Zoe, a personalized nutrition company that helps people control their reactions to understand their body’s response to food.
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Many foods are processed in some way, such as oatmeal, yogurt, or flour. However, highly processed foods are mass-produced and contain additives such as coloring and preservatives to achieve the desired taste or texture. These additives have been linked to various health problems in the past. Examples of highly processed foods include pre-baked cakes and cookies, and chips.
Research suggests that more than half of the foods consumed in high-income countries are highly processed foods.
One small study A 2019 study by the US National Institutes of Health found that people whose diets were high in highly processed foods consumed an average of 500 more calories per day and gained more weight than those who ate fresh foods. Science is not yet unanimous regarding the reasons for this. However, some suspect that our hormones might interact differently with processed foods.
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sea a study from 2020published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, highly processed foods may also already be linked to a higher risk of heart disease and a shorter lifespan.
“It’s a myth that calories are useful”
Spector believes the biggest (and most damaging) myth is that calories are beneficial. Their importance is “far overestimated”. Instead, people should focus more on the composition of food, Spector said.
“We all have very different metabolic needs. So we cannot compare ourselves to others. Just because someone else sticks to an arbitrary calorie limit doesn’t mean we should,” he said. A croissant, for example, has fewer calories than toast with avocado and egg. However, the latter has a far higher nutritional value and will keep you fuller for longer due to the fibre, protein and healthy fats.
According to Spector, calorie counting often leads people to eat more highly processed foods because they can appear lower in calories at first glance. He says many producers are now removing fat and sugar from foods to reduce calories and instead add chemicals and sweeteners to preserve flavor.
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But they don’t keep you full for long. Research suggests that this eventually leads to eating too many low-calorie but highly processed foods, which can lead to weight gain in the long term.
Whole foods, on the other hand, are far more filling as they typically contain more fiber and protein. As a result, energy from the food is released more slowly, resulting in a longer feeling of satiety, according to Spector.
Nick Shaw, a bodybuilder, personal trainer, and nutrition coach at RP Strength, told Business Insider that he encourages people to eat whole foods if they want to lose weight, even when less nutritious foods have the same number of calories and macros .
“You should always keep the quality of food in mind when considering how much to eat each day,” he said. “If you stick to mostly whole foods like lean protein (e.g., sweet potatoes or whole grains), you can still lose body fat.”
Avoid foods with more than ten ingredients
Foods that are technically processed but not highly processed also lend themselves to a healthy diet. Examples include canned fruit, frozen vegetables, and yogurt, Spector said. To find out if a food is highly processed, you should look at the length of the ingredient list. A rule of thumb might be this: if a food has more than ten ingredients, you should probably stay away from it.
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This text has been translated from English. You can find the original here.
