Ah the 90’s! All the At Home work out videos flying off the shelves, and muscle beach packed muscle to muscle with body builders. The human physique was in the spotlight as powdered smoothies and shakes began to increase in popularity. Although these powders have been around since the 50’s, the market of the 90’s was HOT in consumers, not just professional body builders, but every day individuals looking to “bulk up”. And this is where the Calorie, Carb, Protein, Fat mayhem started to unleash.

What Is A Calorie?

We will get back to the “bulk” of the problem in a sec, but let’s break this down from top to bottom. An athlete that expends a certain amount of energy every training session, needs to replace all that expended energy somehow. When the energy is not replaced properly many complications and irritations can occur. This doesn’t just occur in athletes either. A lack of calories in daily nutrition can lead to harsh side effects. (ie. weight loss, fatigue, more strains and sprains, temperature sensitivity, and irregular hormonal cycles). Energy in nutrition is called a Calorie. Calories are units of energy supplied by food. No matter what food source you eat, it contains calories. Not all calories are created equal, but we will discuss that later.

Being that calories come from food, we have to find out what varieties of food offer the highest amount of calories (especially for an athletes) in order to keep us going. The three highest calorie pumping foods are Fats, Carbohydrates, and Proteins. For us science geeks, we call these three “Macronutrients”. (I’ll save the lesson on these guys for their own Blog.) These Macro’s are needed in large amounts throughout our bodies systems in order to maintain homeostasis (A balance within our body and its systems.).

Too Much/Too Little

The question of how many calories each person should intake is quite the conundrum. But, to answer honestly, each person will have a completely different amount of calories they need to consume on a daily basis. And, even that number of calories will change frequently for that individual based on activity level. If you are a high performance athlete, and you are going for a 3 hour bike ride, do you think you are going to eat the same amount of food that you ate the day you went for a 30 minute run? Nope. If you are a Stay At Home Mom, and you have a heavy work load day at home (you know what I’m talking about), are you going to eat the same amount of food you would eat on a day you were driving the kids everywhere and sitting at practices? Nope. Even your own body will give you the cues to eat, if you listen to it!

Truth is, every individual is built completely different. We have the same types of systems, but each are uniquely brewed with our own ingredients. All factors must be accounted for when deciphering the proper amount of calories that suit YOUR nutritious needs. Gender, height, your health history, your age, how active you are; the list can continue forever. Yes there is a generalization that most nutritionists and health experts follow, but that could be far off from what your caloric intake should be.

GENERALIZED CALORIC INTAKE:

WOMEN: 1800-2400

MEN: 2400-3200

Keep in mind these are general numbers. Your numbers could vary within or outside of this range.

Quality vs Quantity

Here we go! Let’s chat about what types of calories make sense when we state, “fuel to burn”, and what calories are just flat out “comfort calories” that we don’t want to surrender to.

The difference between a greasy burger slopped on a plate with who-knows-what’s-in-it sauce, and a smoothie loaded with frozen fruits, greens, and some whey protein: is what your insides will tell you an hour later. After eating a burger you feel tired, bloated, and not that satiated. You feel the need for more food, so you eat the giant basket of fries that came with your burger. After doing a macro and micro loaded smoothie, you feel awake, energetic, and for the most part satisfied. Maybe you have to load up on some avocado toast or a tuna wrap depending on your activity level for the day.

All food is a nutrition and lifestyle ripple affect. “You are what you eat” is a very oustanding statement. When you load up your furnace with heavy and dense food, your fuel is going to burn up very quickly and cause you to refuel way too often, leading to obesity, diabetes, and other chronic issues. When you don’t fuel up enough, your furnace will never ignite enough to create any heat whatsoever, leading to fatigue, anemia, and other harsh symptoms. The key is to stay in balance. If you are an athlete, or just someone who wants to feel their best every day, eat calories that give you more bang for your buck. In other words, eat food that has the least amount of calories per volume, or lower calorie density. These are, you guessed it, plant based foods. When you eat higher caloric dense foods, you fill up quicker, but they burn off a lot faster as well. If you don’t want to slap your own hand from grabbing in the snack basket too often throughout the day, eat more veggies and fruit! Seriously, there are 161 calories in a baked potato, and 354 calories in a burger. Both fill you up, but one is worth less calories. If that doesn’t convince you 1 cup of strawberries is 50 calories, as opposed to a snack bag of chips coming in at 160 calories. I can tell you which one would be more filling. Figure out when you get the highest hunger craving throughout the day, and blend up a loaded smoothie. (I love Daily Harvest smoothies for afternoon fuel up sessions-not paid promotion, just love them.)

The biggest issue I have come to find, is that many individuals eat out of boredom. Overload on calories, simply because they are sitting there. I am guilty of this, especially when I’m driving long hours in the car. I’m not hungry, but I have nothing else to do!! Am I right?!! Eating all kinds of snacks we can grab at, and not expending any of it with physical activity. SAD FACE! Truth bomb coming in here…Most snacks in the home (or car) are not “healthy”. Making snacking ALL THE TIME even worse. Let me tell you my secret. What did I do to stop eating all those processed and who-knows-what-that-ingredient-is-anyway snacks? I stopped bringing them in the house and the car! Yup, simplicity has become my new norm. I have shelves in my fridge loaded with fruit and pre chopped veggies for grab and go snacks. I have nut mixes on my kitchen counter in case I need to munch on something crunchy. I still buy bars for Rick and the kids, but I read the labels, and if there are words I can’t pronounce, or more than 5 ingredients-see ya later! My rule is: the healthiest foods are the ones with no labels, and we can make a few exceptions after that!

And the powder drinks…if you are exerting A LOT of energy (aka a high performance athlete), then the powders can assist with restoration of cells and muscle build. Just be sure the ingredients are not “unnecessary” to your objective of taking it. If there are certain “unknown”s on the label, reach out to the manufacturers and ask. Chances are they will explain the use and purpose of the ingredients. If they don’t respond, drop the powder, and move on. Always look for brands that have a popularity and a good following. These brands will go the extra mile to ensure their product will continue to have a positive reputation. If you don’t exert a massive amount of energy throughout the day, powders are not necessary, unless you have a health condition that it is recommended for. All of the basic calories you need are in your plant based foods.

In the end, it really comes down to balance. Yes, you can still have cake, but only for special occasions. Yes, you can still have ice cream, but go out and get it as a treat once in a while. DAILY…eat vegetables and fruit as your main source of nutrition. Load up on whole grains, eat legumes, and animal proteins are ok to consume in moderation, but not every day. Everything you need in calories can be found in the produce section at the store. Load your house with healthy snacks to ensure you don’t reach for bags of chips or Twinkies when you start craving salty or sweet. If you keep it simple, you lower the caloric intake and you get to eat more. If you eat a ton of processed foods, you higher the caloric intake and you have to eat less. If you want “fuel” that will keep you full and burning all day, keep it simple. That’s it…SIMPLE!