Contrary to what the title may lead you to believe, Marion Nestle's newest book Why Calories Count: From Science to Politics does not encourage you to count calories. Rather, it attempts to explain the scientific and social significance of the calorie so we, the readers, are better able to navigate the "convoluted world of food labels and diet fads."
Eleanor West of the blog Civil Eats recently interviewed Dr. Nestle to talk about her new book, which was co-written with Dr. Malden Nesheim. When asked why she decided to write a book about calories, Dr. Nestle responds:
My editor at UC Press took me to lunch at one point and said he wanted me to do two things--one was to update Safe Food (2003) and the other was to write a book about calories. I thought it was a brilliant idea. It was so current since nobody seems to know what to do about obesity and there are huge debates about what you're supposed to eat to maintain a healthy weight. There's so much misunderstanding with calories especially since, as we say in the book, you can't see them, smell them, or taste them.
Another interesting point: Dr. Nestle admits that in one lunchtime experiment, she and her fellow nutritionists underestimated the calorie count of their respective meals by almost 30 percent. As Dr. Nestle describes it, it was "inconceivable" to her that a small dish of risotto would have 1,200 calories. Chefs later told her she "obviously didn't know anything about being in a restaurant kitchen and they were right."
Read More: Counting Calories? Marion Nestle Says Forget It at Civil Eats
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Love Marion Nestle, her book Food Politics is wonderful!
I actually do count calories-- it's the only way I've ever been able to lose weight. Of course, there are a lot of wrong ways to go about it, but if you're a fairly clean eater to begin with it's a good way to make sure you're getting the correct number of calories. If you're cooking your meals from scratch and weighing quantities it's a foolproof system, but she's right about restaurant food!
Counting calories is the only way I've been able to lose weight too. There is a wrong way and a more correct way to do it though. Don't use calories as an absolute, but more of a guide. When you're choosing what to eat from a list of options you can't decide on, go with the one that has fewer calories, provided its still enough food.
I totally agree with @EngineerGirl and @Urgan...counting calories is the only foolproof way to lose weight and it's certainly worked for me. I had no idea how many calories I was ingesting until I started counting.
It makes me wonder, is her book for people who are trying to lose weight? Or maintaining their current weight?
I'm just confused because the headline suggests that she recommends NOT counting calories, but the last paragraph describes her doing just that...I'm not very clear on what the message of the book is. Is it just recommending that we all eat clean?
I haven't read the book, but it sounds like she's explaining what calories really mean, and how to not get caught up in calorie dieting fads. I think the headline of this article may be misleading.
I'll support those who are with counting calories. :) And planning your daily food intake. It does help you to stay focused and keep your body in shape (in combination with daily exercises, of course).
It allows me to keep the same clothes size in my late 30s as when I was a teenager. ;)
I'm completely against counting calories. Despite the estimations of the calories you eat being off by as much as 30%, it's far too complicated to guess how many calories you burn in a day. Everything from body temperature to caffeine intake to muscle mass can affect your caloric output. That said, I do agree with other comments about using calories as a guide. You're certainly more likely to lose weight when you eat less.
I'm curious about this book, too. Only Michael Pollan has been able to sway me with his brilliant ideas when it comes to eating.
Wow, I'm surprised there are so many people counting calories. It seems extremely exhausting and I would never waste my time doing that. I feel like if you eat whole healthy foods, mostly plants, and no processed food, then this worrying about excessive calorie intake. It seems like calorie counting could get obsessive and one would lose focus on where calories are coming from instead. I did a 3 day food analysis for one of my labs. Since I eat everything from scratch with a lot of variety, weighing everything got old really fast. And it is more time consuming to weigh every little thing out so you can record how many calories you've eaten. Anyway, this is just my experience
But hey, I guess everybody's different so if it works for you...
My successful weight loss has also come from counting calories--when you're only 4'11" and need a mere 1600 to stay that way a day, it's very, very easy to eat lots more, even if you're making everything yourself. Once I got a better idea of what I was eating, I was able to stop doing so. A necessary evil, but yes, sometimes really exhausting.
I discovered the other day that calories are simply how much energy a food product creates when burned at high temperatures. Literally burned. Like in a fire.
The hows and whys of heat calories and why we measure nutrition by calories can be read in this very technical, but very nice free article from the Journal of Nutrition: http://jn.nutrition.org/content/136/12/2957.full
I personally don't count calories, but I know it works for some people. I do think it creates a false sense of, "Oh! It's totally okay for me to eat this packaged snack because it's only 100 calories!," when 100 calories is actually kind of a lot. It's not quite as bad as the fat-free stuff where fat is replaced by sugar, but it's not great either.
Too bad we're genetically programmed to crave fats and sweets! Life would be so much easier if we craved raw vegetables more.
I would go further and say don't diet either. Channel the energy and willpower that dieting requires into cooking delicious, satisfying meals so you won't feel like snacking in between, and are planning and looking forward to your next proper, full meal.
I counted calories oh for about... a month. I found it terribly frustrating and even time consuming. So I took the "eat real food" approach and have recently cut out processes sugar. It's made all the difference. I know it can be difficult to always cook meals with busy life styles, but I freeze my own pasta sauces and the like et voila! Nutritious meal!
I've gotta call bullshit on Pearmelon.... Maybe you have a good metabolism or amazing willpower, because even when I eat scratch made foods with whole foods (that are satisfying!), I still want/need snacks and overeat. Counting calories (or doing an equivalent like weightwatchers points) is a really effective way to pay attention to the way things accumulate. I eat healthy foods, just a whole lot of them. Keeping track of them is an easy way to curb mindless eating.
I am intrigued to read Nestle's book... I'm with whoever gave the shout out to Pollan, because his writings on whole nutrition changed the way I eat completely. Food is reduced too much to its nutrient values, including calories, but I'm not sure that's a bad thing in terms of weight control.
@Mercedesz: If you're counting calories, then maybe you should be consuming MORE calories per meal to counteract snacking/ "mindless eating". That's what I mean by satisfying - I eat calorie-laden foods (meat, butter, cheese, ice-cream, chocolate), but during set mealtimes. I do tend to avoid carbs, just because I don't licke them much.
Carb cutting is the only thing that works for me, especially cutting out grains. I test my blood sugar with a meter and grains consistently cause a spike in my blood sugar, even higher than honey itself. My diet is has more fat than standard diets recommend but it also has more vegetables. Adding fat allows the body to feel satiated, and you end up eating less. I am so glad I found a way of eating that's delicious and satisfying yet still lets me lose weight.