Why You Need to Stop Counting Calories Now

Let me first start off by saying Counting Calories is engagement in diet culture and the opposite of you listening to you body and engaging in intuitive eating. Diet culture preaches that you’re not good enough or fit enough unless you can get those Instagram likes for your toned, tight, “bikini body” (also wtf is a bikini body, isn’t any body in a bikini a “bikini body”, anyways…) its unrealistic, healthy and promotes an unhealthy relationship with food, your body, with social events that involve either of the two, and so on. Plus the industry will have you believing you need to buy some fitness book, or diet plan in order to achieve that instagram worthy body. This is a $30 billion industry (Health and Fitness) in the U.S, and it. has been growing by at least 3 - 4% annually for the last ten years and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Its time to disengage from it, and stopping counting calories is one of the steps to disengage.

So why is it so important:

1. So many of the diet foods (foods advertised as low calorie foods) contain all sorts of chemicals produced in a lab somewhere that can potentially prove to be poisonous for the body and absolutely ruin the adrenals, cortisol levels, skin, hormone balance and nutrient absorption.

2. It takes the enjoyment out of food, you begin to see everything you eat some a scale of calories, and nutrient density and stop seeing it for what it is, fuel for your body.

3. The potential to become “addicted” to counting calories is ever so powerful as food and your body begin to be seen as “good” or “bad”

4. A calorie is NOT a calorie (contrary to the popular “a calorie is a calorie” belief). Our bodies process and metabolize fat, protein, and carbs VERY differently, and even different kinds of fats (saturated vs unsaturated) and carbs (simple vs complex) are metabolized in diverse ways. Making counting them pointless.

5. Stop looking at the nutritional panel altogether. It’s not as important as the ingredients, as what’s actually in the food you’re eating, you want to at real food don’t you?

6. By restricting calories (counting them insistently, generally leads to this), we are telling our bodies food is not available, which then slows our metabolism WAY down.

7. Finally your health is not based on just your calorie intake for the day. Your stress levels, exercise, water intake, sleep, eating nutrient rich foods, avoiding toxins, all contribute to your health. Calorie counting is not the answer!

You Deserve Respect

I follow a few different guru's in the field and one thing that became a topic of discussion is the idea of what we as individuals "deserve".

First off, you deserve to trust your body’s cues and nourish yourself, no matter what size you are. Respect yourself and your body by listening to it and allowing it to have a voice. 

In order to get to that point, its helpful to stop restricting and stop feeling out of control with food, no matter what size you are. Food doesn't need to own you and your thoughts. The more we focus on our diet the more out of control we generally feel. Turn the dial on the volume of your inner critic and listen to your bodies sensations and feelings.

Its even important to recognize that you deserve, to be able to walk down the street without fear, no matter what size you are.

You deserve to be mindful, and in the here and now in the big, and small, everyday moments—no matter what size you are. You can be you and not have to shrink your body before you're allowed to live fully. 

You can miss out on these kinds of opportunities—or not even realize what kinds of opportunities that are available if your are focused on your size. Acknowledging and practicing what you true passionate about is the greatest gift you can give yourself. 

So let go out having your mind focused completely occupied by the rules and restrictions of diet culture.  By jumping into a mindful of hope, freedom and joy for the future without diet culture controlling your happiness. If you blame yourself for falling into diet culture that can also be a trap that can hinder your joy, do you best to recognize that you deserve to be free of guilt, shame, and unrealistic expectations.

Disordered vs Disciplined

There is a thin line between what makes up disordered eating from "disciplined eating" or diet as commonly called. Diet culture is everywhere, and it often comes disguised as a "healthy food plan".

Dieting is a preoccupation of food and/or exercise, and is seen as "normal" in our culture, seemingly an innocent attempt at eating healthy. Yet it can lead to disordered eating especially when those "dieting" get positive feedback from others. The more positive feedback one gets, the more likely they are to continue in similar behaviors. 

Anxiety often builds over eating, and/or shame develops as a result of eating. This is the danger of dieting, foods get labeled as "good/bad" healthy/unhealthy", broken down into calories, fats, carbohydrates, sodium and so on. While being educated about the food we put in our bodies, placing judgements on them is the slippery-slope. 

When people begin thinking about food and/or exercises often, it allows them to distract themselves from other emotional concerns in their life. In other words having this preoccupation about food/body shape/exercise allows an individual to avoid and numb other problems. This is reason for concern because the long they utilize eating/not-eating as a coping skill to distract/avoid the worse their health becomes and most likely their problems begin to snowball as well.

If you think you or a loved one is on this path, please don't hesitate to contact me or another professional about these concerns.