Total Body Diet For Dummies

Chapter 6

Focusing on Calories and Portion Size

In This Chapter

Defining what a calorie is

Determining your daily calorie needs

Uncovering simple ways to manage calories

Banishing overeating by becoming an expert portionist

Calories fuel your body every day for work, play, and rest, so it’s important that you eat and drink good-quality calories so that you can function like a well-oiled machine. Good-quality calories come from foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, legumes, nuts, seeds, loin cuts of beef and pork, fish, chicken and turkey breast, milk, cheese, and yogurt. On the other hand, sugar-laden calories from soft drinks, candy, cookies, cake, cereals, as well as fried chips, white-flour crackers, salty nut mixes, and fake-buttered popcorn, contain very little nutrition, so cutting back on these would do your body good.

Your total body health relies on a steady stream of good-quality calories. If you don’t get that, health breakdowns can occur. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), poor nutrition is a leading cause of chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, obesity, and some cancers. So, understanding how and where to get good-quality fuel for your body is vital to ensuring optimal health for life!

In this chapter, you find out what calories are and why all calories are not created equal. You gain an understanding of how to manage your calories and how many calories you need to consume daily. Plus, you explore the world of servings versus portion sizes — and differentiate between the two once and for all. As you become an expert portionist, I also show you simple ways to be satisfied on fewer calories so you can put an end to overeating.

Getting the Inside Scoop on Calories

You don’t have to look far or live long to hear about calories. Knowing how many calories you’re eating at one time is helpful, but do you know what that number really means? When you have the calorie information in front of you, does it influence your decision on what to buy or eat? Knowing what the numbers mean is the key.

What are calories, anyway?

In science-speak, a calorie is a unit of energy. Calories actually provide your body with heat energy to allow your heart to beat, your brain to think, and your lungs to breathe. You can’t function without calories. Getting enough calories to maintain the delicate balance of internal systems in your body is essential for survival.

Calories come in different types and have distinct forms and functions:

· Carbohydrates: Carbohydrates supply sugar (also known as glucose) to your cells for energy. Fruits, vegetables, breads, pasta, rice, milk, and yogurt all contain carbohydrates. Just as not all calories are created equal, not all carbs are created equal. Some carbs are higher in fiber and take longer to digest — which means they’re better for your body. These better-for-you carbs are whole grains, vegetables, fruits, beans, peas, milk, and yogurt. Carbs that are high in refined sugar (like candy, cake, and cookies) lack nutritional value and should be consumed less often.

· Proteins: Proteins fuel and build your muscle mass and satisfy your appetite longer. Not all proteins are created equal. (Sensing a trend here?) High-quality protein sources include eggs, chicken and turkey breast, lean beef and pork (loin cuts), seafood, milk, cheese, yogurt, soymilk, tofu (soybean curd), seitan (wheat gluten), tempeh (fermented soybeans), and grains like quinoa and amaranth. More processed, fatty, and salty proteins — think bacon, salami, and sausage — should be eaten less often.

· Fats: Fats keep cell membranes intact, help your body absorb some nutrients, and make food taste good. Fats are vital to your health, but — as you probably guessed — some fats are better for you than others. The better-for-you fats are unsaturated, such as liquid vegetables oils like olive oil, grapeseed oil, and canola oil, as well as avocados, nuts (such as almonds, pistachios, and walnuts), seeds (such as flax, chia, and hemp), and cold-water, fatty fish like salmon, trout, halibut, tuna, mackerel, and cobia, which contain a type of polyunsaturated fat called omega-3 fatty acids, a heart-healthy fat. Saturated fats are solid at room temperature — like butter, bacon, cheese, cocoa butter (in milk chocolate), and coconut oil — and should be limited because they may contribute to heart disease.

Pregnant women, small children, and older adults should avoid large predatory fish like shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish because they’re higher in mercury and other contaminants.

For total body wellness, the type of calories you take in should be balanced as follows:

· Carbohydrate: Roughly 45 percent to 65 percent of your daily calories should come from high-fiber carbs for sustained energy and to fuel your brain well over the course of the day. Choose less of the more-processed carbs.

· Protein: At least 10 percent and up to 35 percent of your daily calories should come from lean proteins from both plants and animals.

· Fat: Between 20 percent and 35 percent of your total calories can come from fat. Aim for mostly unsaturated fat. The saturated kind should be limited to no more than 7 percent to 10 percent of your total calories.

Figuring out your calorie needs for a day

How many calories you need is very different from what your next-door neighbor, child, or mother needs. Each of us has a unique calorie requirement based on gender, age, and amount of daily physical activity. Table 6-1 lists calorie requirements based on gender, age, and activity level.

Not sure what your activity level is? Here’s a guide:

· Sedentary: A lifestyle that includes only the light physical activity associated with typical day-to-day life

· Moderately active: A lifestyle that includes physical activity equivalent to walking about 1½ to 3 miles per day at 3 to 4 miles per hour, in addition to the light physical activity associated with typical day-to-day life

· Active: A lifestyle that includes physical activity equivalent to walking more than 3 miles per day at 3 to 4 miles per hour, in addition to the light physical activity associated with typical day-to-day life

Table 6-1 Calorie Requirements

Source: Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010

Managing calories in and out

The Total Body Diet is all about figuring out how to balance how many calories you eat with how many calories you expend through activity. When you know roughly how many calories you need to maintain your current weight or lose weight, you can tweak your intake accordingly.

Think about your metabolism like a fire that you need to stoke frequently in order to keep it going. Now that you calculated your calorie needs (see the preceding section), you need to use those calories to your advantage and add activity throughout your day.

Do you feel hunger throughout the day? Do you know when you’re full? One of the best ways to maintain a healthy body weight is to listen to your hunger and fullness cues. By becoming attuned to your appetite, you won’t feel deprived and you’ll eat only what your body needs. This process takes time and effort, so don’t be frustrated with yourself if you don’t get a handle on your appetite overnight. Just keep working at it every day, and view missteps as opportunities to learn about your body and what it needs.

Eating too many calories can cause your body to conserve calories as unused energy (in other words, store it as fat, which shows up as extra pounds on the scale or inches around your middle). But eating too few calories causes your metabolism to become sluggish. (Think of fire turning to embers in a fire pit.) Consuming the right amount of calories is a balancing act.

Here are some simple tips to balance calories in and out:

· Read food labels and know how many calories you’re getting in a serving, to help track your calories in.

· Bring meals and snacks to work, school, or when you’re out and about, so that you’re mindful of the quantity and quality of what you’re eating. Plus, you’ll be prepared when hunger strikes and won’t get the urge to eat convenient, less-nourishing food.

· Write down what you eat and drink right after you consume it. This way you won’t forget what you ate, and you’re less likely to overeat or skip meals. If you don’t want to carry a notebook with you, use your smartphone! Chapter 16 lists a variety of smartphone apps, including several that are great for logging everything you eat and drink!

· Get regular physical activity to balance the calories you take in. By keeping your body and mind active, you use the calories you eat more efficiently.

· Keep your meals balanced with quality carbs, proteins, and healthy fats to satisfy your appetite longer and avoid cravings.

Becoming an Expert Portionist

Everywhere you go, portions are way too large. It’s the get-your-money’s-worth syndrome. At what cost, though? Your health pays the price because overindulging causes your blood sugar, blood pressure, and waistline to expand. So, becoming an expert portionist — someone who can eyeball a portion and know if it’s the right size — is essential in a world where super-sizing runs rampant.

A large part of managing your daily calories is understanding the difference between a serving and a portion. A serving is a single standard unit of measure (used on a food label’s Nutrition Facts label), and a portion is the amount you actually eat. For example, say you pick up a king-size candy bar when you’re filling up your car’s gas tank. If you check the Nutrition Facts label, you’ll likely see that the candy bar has two servings — but if you’re like most people, you eat the whole king-size candy bar, which is one portion. The average American eats more than one serving in a portion, which has a lot to do with our expanding waistlines.

Using smaller plates is a great way to keep your portions on the smaller side. Use appetizer plates for your regular meals. When you fill up a smaller plate or bowl, it gives you the illusion that you’re eating a lot more than you actually are!

We eat with our eyes, as well as our stomachs, so when you see delicious-looking, abundant food on your plate, you feel satisfaction. However, nine times out of ten, your body doesn’t need as much food as your eyes find appealing. Naturally, food excites our senses — and sight is one of them. But less can be more, if you think in terms of smaller cups, plates, and bowls.

Think and see smaller when it comes to food portions. Here are some simple ways to do that:

· Measure it. Get out your measuring cups, measuring spoons, and food scale. If you regularly scoop cereal or cooked rice, pasta, or quinoa into your measuring cup, you get to know pretty fast how much a cup is. You start to recognize a tablespoon of peanut butter or a 3-ounce piece of chicken breast.

· Give it a hand. Use your hand as a food measuring tool when measuring precisely isn’t possible. The size of the palm of your hand is about 3 ounces of cooked meat, chicken, or fish. The tip of your thumb is a tablespoon of butter, and your fist is about a 1-cup serving. You might not carry your measuring cups and spoons with you to restaurants, but your hand is always with you!

· Divide and conquer. By divvying up your plate for whole grains, protein, vegetables, and fruits, you’re more apt to stick with a reasonable portion and balance your meals better. Set aside one-quarter of the plate for grains, one-quarter for protein, and one-half for vegetables and fruits.

Putting the Halt on Calorie Overload

When you start eating, it can be challenging to stop, especially if the food tastes good. The exact causes of overeating vary from one person to the next, but regardless of your reason for overeating, there are ways to put a stop to it.

Eat like a bird, not a bear

One of the best ways to ensure that you don’t overeat is to eat like a bird does. No, that doesn’t mean living on worms and birdseed. Think about the way birds eat — they eat small beakfuls all day long as they flit around from place to place. With their high activity level, birds can’t afford to be weighed down at any one meal. They’re giving their bodies what they need at the moment and moving on.

Now, think about bears. They eat large amounts of food at one time to store up calories and gain fat to sustain themselves through their hibernation period. Most people don’t need to store up calories and fat for later, so it’s time to put an end to overloading on calories — unless you plan on going months without eating. (I didn’t think so.)

A good rule of thumb is to fuel your body with small meals and snacks throughout the day so that your metabolism keeps humming along like a bird’s does.

Check please! Leaving the table when you’re done eating

If food is around, you’ll eat it — at least if you’re like most people. According to Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think, by Brian Wansink, PhD (Bantam), we have an imperfect food memory, especially when dining out. One of his studies revealed that five minutes after leaving an Italian restaurant, 31 percent of people couldn’t remember how much bread they ate and 12 percent of the bread eaters denied having any bread at all!

Avoid getting lulled into overeating when eating out by doing the following:

· Eat slowly by putting your utensils down between bites.

· Nix the appetizers. Order your entree right away.

· Ask for the bread, butter, chips, and dip to be removed from the table.

· Downsize your plates by ordering small appetizer sizes or half-orders.

· Share your meals and desserts.

· Doggy-bag half of your meal before you eat.

· Set a limit on what you want to spend. Then you’ll stick with a lower-calorie budget, too!

Banishing the nighttime cravings

What is it about the evenings that bring on cravings? Well, for one thing, if you work a standard 9-to-5 job, your work is done — at least for the next 8 to 12 hours — so you can relax. Along with relaxation comes feelings of wanting to eat something — and typically that something is salty, fatty, or sugary. (Most people don’t get late-night cravings for a piece of fruit.) You fall into your easy chair when you get home and grab a pint of ice cream or a bag of your favorite chips and mindlessly munch away the stress of your day!

It’s not that you can’t eat at night — it’s what and how much you’re eating. First, stop eating at least two hours before bedtime — if you hit the hay at 11 p.m., stop eating by 9 p.m. This way, you give your body time to digest your food properly and you don’t go to bed on a full stomach. If you want an evening snack after dinner, be sure it contains some form of protein to stabilize your blood sugar and control your appetite. Finally, take one serving in a small bowl or plate and enjoy it — never eat out of a bag, carton, container, or box (unless it’s a single serving size).

Revamp your evening eating with the following Total Body Diet–approved snack suggestions:

· 1 tablespoon nut butter plus one small piece of fruit (sliced) on a large plain rice cake

· 1 tablespoon ground flax seed or chia or hemp seed plus 1 tablespoon dried fruit mixed into a cup of plain Greek yogurt

· A serving of fruit plus ½ cup lowfat cottage cheese

· 2 tablespoons hummus and sliced veggies in a small whole-grain pita

· Six whole-grain crackers and ½ cup plain Greek yogurt with a drizzle of honey

· ½ ounce of nuts and a small piece of fruit

· 3 cups of popped popcorn sprinkled with grated parmesan and garlic powder

Nighttime eating doesn’t have to ruin your whole day. If you have a hankering to eat after dinner, be sure to keep it portion controlled and balanced with protein and a healthy carbohydrate. You’ll see cravings disappear as you create a new nighttime eating regimen. Many times thirst is masked as hunger, so drink a glass of water when you feel hungry and check in 30 minutes later to see if you’re still feeling hungry for food.