My introduction and 1st look at calorie counting/

Alex Smith

Professor Kerr

EN 101-23

November 20, 2011

Dieting By Choice

                Dieting is a common form of taking care of ones’ body. Almost everyone diets in some form, whether it’s simply watching the sweets or just trying to regulate how much food a person eats in a day, it’s all a form of dieting. People diet for many different reasons, some for looks or self-confidence, and others for more health related reasons like for decreasing chances for strokes, heart attacks, and some cancers (Anderson). Whatever the reason for a persons’ dieting, at one time or another, a question has to be presented, what is the best diet? This can be a difficult question to answer because there are tons of different kinds of diets with different effects that work better for some than for others. Considering dieters as a whole, dieters generally follow one of three diet plans, a calorie conscious low fat diet, a strict no or low carb diet, or a dietary supplement pill described my doctors. There is no denial that exercise is an important part to any healthy lifestyle (“Exercise Is Part of a Healthy Lifestyle for Longevity”). The watching what to eat part of dieting is the undetermined factor. Out of the three general diet plans, each has its’ own pro’s and con’s but overall the best diet plan to lose the weight, keep the weight off permanently, and maintain a healthy lifestyle  is a calorie count low fat diet.

                Calorie counting attacks the problem of eating more than the body burns off (“Calorie Counting”). If a person burns off 2500 calories a day and is eating 3500 calories a day, anyone can look at that situation, do the math and realize that things don’t quite add up for that person. The goal in weight loss is to burn off more than you put in so flipping those numbers around would be ideal. There are different ways to do this. One way, demonstrated by Helen M. Davidson author and researcher for the article “Negative Calorie Diet” states, “The Negative Calorie diet believes that this entire process of digestion uses many calories, and so by eating foods that are low in calories, and take longer to digest, the body will actually be using more calories than are taken by processing the foods” (Davidson). Another way is limiting the quantity of food consumed along with eating foods that are low in fat. Joan Salge Blake, a professor at Boston University, explains “fat serves up more than double the amount of calories per gram (9 calories per gram) as compared to carbohydrates and protein (4 calories per gram each), cutting back on fat, theoretically, will provide you with more caloric trimming for your efforts” (Blake). A low or fat free diet can offer other health benefits besides lowering calorie intakes, it can help reduce a persons’ risk of heart disease by lowering cholesterol (Blake).

                For many people a low fat low calorie diet just doesn’t strike their fancy. Just because a food is lower in fat or fat free does not mean it is lower in calories (Blake). “Also, a diet too low in fat can also cause you to come up short with some important dietary nutrients, such as the mineral zinc, some B vitamins, and certain essential fatty acids that your body needs” (Blake). Addressing the negative calorie diet, most of the foods that are negative calorie do not provide the proteins and fats needed to maintain a healthy life style (Davidson). The main problems concerned with low calorie and fat reduced diets is that this type of dieting depletes the body of the nutrition it needs so someone might be losing weight but how healthy are they?

                Looking a bit deeper into this malnourishment, a dieter must look at his or her goals and improvise. Negative calorie foods are a quick, healthy way to lose weight (Davidson). The key word in that sentence is quick. People want the fastest ways to shred the pounds but that doesn’t mean that those ways are the healthiest. The purpose if losing weight is not to lose it then gain it right back, the goal is to keep the weight off. The improvising comes into play when dealing with malnourishment. The more negative calorie foods a person eats might help lose the weight quicker but no one wants to eat only those foods for the rest or his or her life. Eating proper portions of foods helps keep the weight off (Venuto). Eating a balanced diet while watching the calorie and fat intake, is the best way to keep the pounds off for good. Anne C. Poinier, MD of internal medicine, states “Eat a healthy diet that is low in fat and high in carbohydrates and fiber” (Poinier).