January 22, 2025 • 20 mins
Description: If you've ever felt frustrated with dieting's endless cycle of temporary success and crushing failure, this episode will transform your understanding of weight management forever.
Discover why the common advice to 'eat less, exercise more' actually works against God's incredible design for your body's metabolism. You'll learn why calorie counting is fundamentally flawed and how federal labeling laws make accurate counting impossible.
Most importantly, you'll understand why your struggle with weight isn't about lack of willpower - it's about working against your body's God-given intelligence. This episode lays the foundation for a revolutionary, biblical approach to weight management that aligns with how God created you to thrive.
Time Stamps:
2:45 - The new membership club
5:48 - What is a calorie
7:48 - Metabolism defined
11:08 - Will Power vs hunger
18:06 - Counting calories is futile
Links:
More episodes: Podcast Hompage
For a Copy of David’s Book: The Christian’s Guide to Holistic Health
Ask David a question to be answered on an upcoming episode: Ask Me Anything
Would you like to be on the Show? Schedule a Lifestyle Audit
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Perhaps the biggest, mostwidespread myth when it comes to
pursuing healthy lifestyle isthe idea that the best way to
lose weight is to eat less andexercise more, and that'll make
us healthy. If you've ever triedthat approach, you know that it
doesn't work, but because noone's ever offered any usable
alternative advice, you keepgoing back to that method, and
(00:23):
you find it more and moredifficult every single time you
try it. Now, Einstein said thedefinition of insanity is doing
the same thing over and over andexpecting a different result.
The truth of the matter is thatpractice works against our God
given natural design, and itsets us up to have a lifetime
(00:44):
struggle with our weight first,Corinthians, 12:31, says, But
earnestly desire the highergifts. And I will show you a
more excellent way. There is abetter way to weight management,
and I want to share that withyou in this episode. Let's talk
about it. Music.
(01:06):
Welcome to the Christian HealthyLifestyle podcast where I help
Christians over 40 maximizetheir health potential so they
can age gracefully and liveabundantly. I'm your host. David
Sandstrom, Naturopathic Doctorand Biblical Health Coach. And
this is episode number 168, thisis going to be a two episode
series. In this episode, I wantto put to rest the calories in
(01:28):
versus calories out myth. And inthe next episode, I'm going to
talk about why it is that somepeople, no matter what they seem
to do, they just can't seem tolose those stubborn pounds. And
I want to give you a moreproductive approach to weight
management.
Before we get started, I've gota couple of announcements for
you. The first one is, you canfind my website at a new URL.
(01:51):
I've secured the URLchlpodcast.com, it's a new URL.
My website is davidsandstrom.combut I find a lot of people have
trouble spelling my last name,and that's why I secured
christianhealthylifestyle.combut the feedback from that has
been it's a lot of typing, so Isecured CHL podcast. Stands for
(02:13):
Christian healthy lifestylechlpodcast.com it's a lot
shorter, it's easier to type,and if you go to any one of
those URLs, you're going to getthe same website. So now there's
three ways to access my website,but I recommend using
chlpodcast.com, that should bethe easiest way to go. Do you
like my new decor here in thebackground, I added some sound
(02:34):
panels. Hopefully that's goingto improve the sound quality a
little bit. I hope you cannotice that it adds a little bit
of a different look to thestudio here. I hope you like it.
I think it looks kind of cool.
So anyway, the second thing Iwant to share with you, and this
is huge, this is going to be thestart of something great. As
many of you know, I used to dohealth coaching in an office in
(02:56):
brick and mortar. I no longer dothat, because I'm focused here
on the podcast. But since I'vebeen podcasting, I've had quite
a few people reach out to me andask me to do private health
coaching with them, and theywant to pay me for it. But up
until now, I've had to tell themI don't do that anymore. My
focus is on the podcast now.Well, I'm ready to jump into the
(03:18):
health coaching arena again, butthis time, I want to do it at a
21st century level. My plan isto start an online membership
community that will complimentthe podcast and my book but
significantly expand thecontent. Right now, I'm in the
process of creating severalonline courses that'll be for
(03:40):
sale on my website as one offpurchases. Now feel free to do
that if you want. But in thecoming launch of the membership
club as a member of thecommunity, you can get access to
all those courses with yourmonthly membership fee, which
will be substantially discountedfor founding members. I would
also like to do regular live Qand A's with myself and some
(04:02):
interesting guests where you caninteract with me and the guest
and get your questions answered.Of course, we'll have a group of
like minded believers that wantto pursue graceful aging and
abundant living God's way. Ialso think it would be nice to
have a weekly newsletter that'sonly available to the members.
Maybe even have some officehours where members can schedule
(04:24):
an appointment with me and havea little one on one health
coaching time I can help youmove the needle on your health
building efforts. That's an ideaI have. But again, I want the
founding members to give meinput and feedback and let me
know what it is that you'd liketo see in the health club. So as
a founding member, you'll have achance to shape what's in there
(04:45):
and what the membership clubturns into, because I'll be
soliciting feedback from thefounders. If that sounds
intriguing to you, I invite youto reach out to me. Shoot me an
email atdavid@davidsandstrom.com, or you
can use my speak pipe voicemailso. Service that's on any of my
recent show notes pages. Thisepisode is CHLpodcast.com,
(05:06):
forward slash 168 and of course,you can find the Speak pipe
tool, force mail tool rightthere. Now I'm looking for
people to join as foundingmembers and get a substantial
discount off the regular pricingas I roll out the new content
and more and more features,including more and more online
courses, the price is going tohave to go up, but you'll be
(05:28):
locked in at the founding memberpricing. So don't miss out on
this opportunity to get in onthe ground floor and be a part
of something special. Reach outto me. I'd love to hear from
you, and I can give you somemore of the details. You have my
permission to pause this episodeand do it right now. I'll be
waiting here for you when youget back, I promise.
(05:48):
So let's talk about calories inversus calories out. Now we need
to start off by defining what isa calorie. A calorie is the heat
energy required to raise thetemperature of one gram of
water, one degree Celsius. Thatheat energy is measured in a
laboratory with a device calleda calorimeter. Now, proponents
(06:11):
of the calories in, calories outtheory believe that weight loss
is a simple linear equation.It's a matter of calories in
versus calories consumed, andthere's nothing else to it's a
straight line. People will pointto the first law of
thermodynamics, which is theconservation of energy, which
states that energy can neitherbe created nor lost. It simply
(06:32):
changes form. Now that's true,but if we believe in that
theory, if we consume more thanWe've burned, we gain fat, and
if we consume less than We'veburned, we lose fat. Now there
is some truth here. If weovereat enough, we will gain
weight, and if we starveourselves enough, we will lose
(06:53):
weight. But that process is nota simple linear equation or a
straight line on an XY graph.Our bodies are far more
complicated than that, strictlyapplying that first law of
thermodynamics in such a rigidfashion would be correct if
human beings were closedsystems. But human beings are
not closed systems. All livingorganisms, including human
(07:16):
beings, are open systems. Weexchange energy with our
environment. That's the reasonwhy calories in versus calories
out is not a simple linearequation. It's far more complex
than that.
Now we hear the word metabolismtossed around quite a bit, but
what does metabolism actuallymean? Well, your metabolism is
(07:37):
how your body takes upnutrients, how it makes energy
with those nutrients, and whatit does with that energy. Now,
that process is incrediblycomplex and unique to every
person. Now, remember theconcept of vitalism. We've
talked about this on previousepisodes. Our bodies have a God
given built in intelligence. Inour default setting is health.
(07:58):
Psalm 139:14, says, I praise youfor I am fearfully and
wonderfully made wonderful. Areyour works? My soul knows it
very well. God's design for ourmetabolism is absolutely
exquisite.
Again, a calorie is a measure ofenergy if we take in more energy
(08:18):
than the minimum required tokeep us alive, storing that
energy as body fat is not theonly option our bodies have. We
can think of this in terms ofcurrency or money. If a
corporation is making a profitand they have a good year and
they have some excess money tospend, saving that money in the
bank is not the only option thatcompany has. A prudent business
(08:41):
leader would use that moneywisely to maximize the wealth of
the firm. Now they have a lot ofoptions. They could create a
profit sharing program for theiremployees. They could do a stock
buyback. They could invest innew equipment or more efficient
manufacturing processes. Theycould expand their reach by
opening new stores or build newmanufacturing facilities, they
(09:04):
could spend more on marketing.Our bodies are also very smart,
and they have options as to whatto do with that excess currency
or energy. Saying that the onlything our bodies can do with
excess energy is stored as bodyfat is the equivalent of saying
that the only thing a profitablecorporation can do with their
extra money is save it in thebank. If our bodies find
(09:27):
themselves with excess energy,that energy can be used in all
kinds of different ways. Ourbodies may choose to spend some
of that currency or energy onboosting the immune system or
maybe on detoxification, andlet's not forget structure.
Structure is cells, tissues andorgans. Our bodies are in a
(09:47):
constant state of repair,replacing old, worn out cells.
The epithelial lining of our gutor our digestive tract, gets
replaced every seven to 10 days.Our skin gets replaced every 28
to 42 Days, our bodies areconstantly creating new cells
and recycling or eliminatingold, worn out ones, and that
(10:08):
requires energy. So if we'remetabolically healthy, our
bodies will spend that currencyor that excess energy on
efficiently making us strongerand producing more physical
vitality.
There's a term that's used todescribe a person that's not
metabolically healthy. We callit metabolic syndrome. What's
(10:30):
one symptom that everyone withmetabolic syndrome has excess
belly fat? So I would suggestthat most of the time that
excess fat is not because thatperson has no discipline or
can't control what they eat andis constantly over eating that
excess fat is a symptom of ametabolism that's not working
(10:50):
efficiently. That's why I oftensay we don't lose weight to get
healthy. We get healthy in orderto lose weight. If we pursue
health, we create an environmentwhere our bodies will use excess
energy efficiently and not storethat energy as body fat.
Now let me say that I don'trecommend regularly counting
(11:11):
calories for anyone, but thatdoesn't mean that there is no
value whatsoever to countingcalories. It can give us an
approximate measure of how muchfood we're consuming in a day,
but its usefulness pretty muchends there. We can lose weight
by restricting calories, but ifwe're gritting our teeth and
white knuckling our way throughthe process, and our willpower
(11:32):
is constantly battling againstour hunger, eventually, hunger
is going to win that battle,because our survival instincts
are stronger than our willpower.Eventually, our survival
instinct will kick in andoverwhelm our willpower.
Now it's important to understandthat food has potential energy,
but not all that energy getsextracted and used by the body.
(11:55):
For example, a liter of gasolinehas the same potential energy as
two pounds of body fat, but ifwe drank a liter of gasoline, it
will never turn into body fat.Our physiology must be taken
into consideration. Five poundsof grass has the potential
energy to create one pound ofmuscle. Now, ruminants like cows
(12:17):
or lambs or bison are capable ofdoing that, human beings are not
if we ate grass, we would notput on muscle like a cow does.
We don't have the physiology tomake that happen. We must take
our physiology into account.
Now there's a great deal ofshaming that goes on nutrition
and fitness worlds because ofthe belief that overweight
(12:38):
people are just gluttons. I'vehad a lot of practitioners tell
me they believe the reason whytheir clients aren't meeting
their weight loss goals isbecause they're not following
their trainers instructionscarefully enough. They say
things like, I don't know whatthese people are eating on the
weekends. Of course, that can betrue, but I would suggest that
(12:58):
most of the time it's not.
We're told by nutrition expertsthat a pound of fat is equal to
3500 calories. So if we want tolose one pound of body fat, we
have to create a 3500 caloriedeficit, or if we have a 3500
calorie surplus, we'll gain onepound of fat. Again. This is a
(13:19):
complete oversimplification ofwhat's going on, our bodies are
capable of handling a few extracalories now and then and
rerouting that energy tosomething other than fat stores.
Our bodies make energy in theform of ATP or adenosine
triphosphate from the food thatwe eat. That energy is used to
(13:39):
keep our hearts beating, tomaintain our body temperature
for muscle contraction and awhole lot more. Now, as I said
earlier, an important step inour metabolism is when our
bodies use the nutrients fromthe food we eat and make energy
out of it. Now, the generationof new cells and the elimination
of old, worn out ones, requiresenergy our bodies are also
(14:01):
capable of eliminating excesscalories as waste, feces, urine
and sweat have some caloricvalue. They've measured this
laboratories somewhere between2.1 and 9.2% of total calories
consumed is excreted in thestool. There's a little bit of a
tighter range in the urine,between 3.2 and 3.5% of calories
(14:24):
consumed are excreted in theurine. Now the reason for the
range is is that people aredifferent, and they're different
in terms of how efficient theyare at extracting energy from
the food or eliminating thatpotential energy from the food
in the form of feces and urineand sweat and even breath. We're
all different in terms of howefficient we are at extracting
(14:47):
and using or eliminating thoseexcess calories.
So we've also got to considerthe source of the calories. And
here's an article published inthe Journal of the International
Society of sports nutrition, andthey had. This to say it's
inappropriate to assume that theonly thing that counts in terms
of food consumption and energybalance is the intake of dietary
(15:08):
calories and weight storage.Well controlled studies suggest
that calorie content may not beas predictive of fat loss as is
reduced carbohydrateconsumption. Biologically
speaking, a calorie is certainlynot a calorie. Now, if you want
to read that article foryourself, you go to my website
and look at the show notesthere. But in other words, where
(15:31):
a calorie comes from, the sourceof those calories matters.
Whether those calories come fromprotein, carbohydrate or fat.
Matters carbohydrates from aglass of orange juice are
different from carbohydratesfrom a starchy potato for
instance. A protein from legumesis different than a protein from
(15:52):
a sirloin steak. Fat from anavocado is different from fat
from highly processed seed oils.Also, the macro nutrient ratio
has to be considered as well. Doyou see the complexity here?
Not only that, even if we wantedto embrace counting calories, we
could never actually do it herein the US, federal food labeling
(16:16):
laws allow the caloric estimateon the food label to be off by
as much as plus or minus 20% ascompared to the actual caloric
value. So even if we dutifullyread the labels and keep track
of all the information on thatthat label, we could be off by
as much as 20% plus or minus interms of balancing calories in
(16:39):
and calories out. That's amassive discrepancy. It leaves
us with, where do we turn? Wheredo we go from here? Why is the
law written that way? Well,because it's nearly impossible
to accurately measure the exactpotential energy that any given
food has. It's always anestimate. And with estimates,
(16:59):
you need ranges, so they allowfor ranges plus or minus 20%
And there's also somethingcalled the Atwater factors. The
Atwater factors is a formula,and that formula assumes that a
grammar carb and a grammarprotein both have four calories
and a gram of fat has ninecalories. Now here again, these
(17:19):
numbers are only estimates, andthose estimates have been shown
to be off by upwards of 32% lookat this article here, published
in the American Journal ofClinical Nutrition. It's
entitled, discrepancy betweenthe Atwater factor predicted and
empirically measured energyvalues of almonds in human
diets. Here's what they had tosay the Atwater factors, when
(17:41):
applied to almonds, resulted ina 32% overestimation of the
measured energy content. Again,you can find the links in my on
my website show notes. If we addin the Atwater factors, 32%
discrepancy to the alreadyallowed 20% discrepancy on the
food labeling, we see thatcaloric value stated on the food
(18:03):
label could be off by as much as52% and that's using legal,
customary and accepted standardsthat alone should be enough to
give up on the idea countingcalories. Now someone might be
thinking right about now, okay,maybe I can't count the calories
coming in, but I can certainlycount my calories going out,
(18:25):
because my Fitbit or my Applewatch or the machine at the gym
gives me a caloric readout.Well, once again, those numbers
are rough estimates at best.They're generic because they
don't accurately account formetabolic individuality.
All right, so that's somereasons why we should not put
too much weight on countingcalories on the next episode,
(18:47):
I'm going to be talking aboutwhy people have trouble losing
weight, and I want to give yousome alternatives to this,
calories in, calories out, eatless, exercise, more advice. I'm
going to give you some solidadvice that you can sink your
teeth into that help you keepthe weight off for a lifetime.
Now, I want to remind everyoneabout the opportunity available
right now with the newmembership club, my goal with
(19:09):
the club is to serve you thenatural nation better by
providing resources that guideyou in your healthy lifestyle
journey. I want to create acommunity of like minded people
where we can support oneanother, find accountability,
share resources and embrace theChristian healthy lifestyle.
together; we're better together.I encourage everyone listening
(19:30):
to become a founding member andbe involved in the process of
shaping what this membershipclub turns into. You can shoot
me an email atdavid@davidsandstrom.com, or you
can leave me a voicemail on myspeak pipe link on any of the
show notes pages, any of therecent show notes pages. This is
episode number 168, now, in thenext episode, as I just said,
(19:50):
I'm going to be covering whypeople struggle to lose weight,
and I'm going to be sharing someof the specific research in the
medical literature. Ah, and shedsome light on that topic, and
I'm going to be presenting amore excellent way to lose
weight, to lose weight and keepit off for life. That's it for
now. Thank you for listening. Iappreciate you. Go out there and
(20:12):
live abundantly. I'll talk withyou next time. Be blessed. You.
Perhaps the biggest, mostwidespread myth when it comes to
pursuing healthy lifestyle isthe idea that the best way to
lose weight is to eat less andexercise more, and that'll make
us healthy. If you've ever triedthat approach, you know that it
doesn't work, but because noone's ever offered any usable
alternative advice, you keepgoing back to that method, and
(00:23):
you find it more and moredifficult every single time you
try it. Now, Einstein said thedefinition of insanity is doing
the same thing over and over andexpecting a different result.
The truth of the matter is thatpractice works against our God
given natural design, and itsets us up to have a lifetime
(00:44):
struggle with our weight first,Corinthians, 12:31, says, But
earnestly desire the highergifts. And I will show you a
more excellent way. There is abetter way to weight management,
and I want to share that withyou in this episode. Let's talk
about it. Music.
(01:06):
Welcome to the Christian HealthyLifestyle podcast where I help
Christians over 40 maximizetheir health potential so they
can age gracefully and liveabundantly. I'm your host. David
Sandstrom, Naturopathic Doctorand Biblical Health Coach. And
this is episode number 168, thisis going to be a two episode
series. In this episode, I wantto put to rest the calories in
(01:28):
versus calories out myth. And inthe next episode, I'm going to
talk about why it is that somepeople, no matter what they seem
to do, they just can't seem tolose those stubborn pounds. And
I want to give you a moreproductive approach to weight
management.
Before we get started, I've gota couple of announcements for
you. The first one is, you canfind my website at a new URL.
(01:51):
I've secured the URLchlpodcast.com, it's a new URL.
My website is davidsandstrom.combut I find a lot of people have
trouble spelling my last name,and that's why I secured
christianhealthylifestyle.combut the feedback from that has
been it's a lot of typing, so Isecured CHL podcast. Stands for
(02:13):
Christian healthy lifestylechlpodcast.com it's a lot
shorter, it's easier to type,and if you go to any one of
those URLs, you're going to getthe same website. So now there's
three ways to access my website,but I recommend using
chlpodcast.com, that should bethe easiest way to go. Do you
like my new decor here in thebackground, I added some sound
(02:34):
panels. Hopefully that's goingto improve the sound quality a
little bit. I hope you cannotice that it adds a little bit
of a different look to thestudio here. I hope you like it.
I think it looks kind of cool.
So anyway, the second thing Iwant to share with you, and this
is huge, this is going to be thestart of something great. As
many of you know, I used to dohealth coaching in an office in
(02:56):
brick and mortar. I no longer dothat, because I'm focused here
on the podcast. But since I'vebeen podcasting, I've had quite
a few people reach out to me andask me to do private health
coaching with them, and theywant to pay me for it. But up
until now, I've had to tell themI don't do that anymore. My
focus is on the podcast now.Well, I'm ready to jump into the
(03:18):
health coaching arena again, butthis time, I want to do it at a
21st century level. My plan isto start an online membership
community that will complimentthe podcast and my book but
significantly expand thecontent. Right now, I'm in the
process of creating severalonline courses that'll be for
(03:40):
sale on my website as one offpurchases. Now feel free to do
that if you want. But in thecoming launch of the membership
club as a member of thecommunity, you can get access to
all those courses with yourmonthly membership fee, which
will be substantially discountedfor founding members. I would
also like to do regular live Qand A's with myself and some
(04:02):
interesting guests where you caninteract with me and the guest
and get your questions answered.Of course, we'll have a group of
like minded believers that wantto pursue graceful aging and
abundant living God's way. Ialso think it would be nice to
have a weekly newsletter that'sonly available to the members.
Maybe even have some officehours where members can schedule
(04:24):
an appointment with me and havea little one on one health
coaching time I can help youmove the needle on your health
building efforts. That's an ideaI have. But again, I want the
founding members to give meinput and feedback and let me
know what it is that you'd liketo see in the health club. So as
a founding member, you'll have achance to shape what's in there
(04:45):
and what the membership clubturns into, because I'll be
soliciting feedback from thefounders. If that sounds
intriguing to you, I invite youto reach out to me. Shoot me an
email atdavid@davidsandstrom.com, or you
can use my speak pipe voicemailso. Service that's on any of my
recent show notes pages. Thisepisode is CHLpodcast.com,
(05:06):
forward slash 168 and of course,you can find the Speak pipe
tool, force mail tool rightthere. Now I'm looking for
people to join as foundingmembers and get a substantial
discount off the regular pricingas I roll out the new content
and more and more features,including more and more online
courses, the price is going tohave to go up, but you'll be
(05:28):
locked in at the founding memberpricing. So don't miss out on
this opportunity to get in onthe ground floor and be a part
of something special. Reach outto me. I'd love to hear from
you, and I can give you somemore of the details. You have my
permission to pause this episodeand do it right now. I'll be
waiting here for you when youget back, I promise.
(05:48):
So let's talk about calories inversus calories out. Now we need
to start off by defining what isa calorie. A calorie is the heat
energy required to raise thetemperature of one gram of
water, one degree Celsius. Thatheat energy is measured in a
laboratory with a device calleda calorimeter. Now, proponents
(06:11):
of the calories in, calories outtheory believe that weight loss
is a simple linear equation.It's a matter of calories in
versus calories consumed, andthere's nothing else to it's a
straight line. People will pointto the first law of
thermodynamics, which is theconservation of energy, which
states that energy can neitherbe created nor lost. It simply
(06:32):
changes form. Now that's true,but if we believe in that
theory, if we consume more thanWe've burned, we gain fat, and
if we consume less than We'veburned, we lose fat. Now there
is some truth here. If weovereat enough, we will gain
weight, and if we starveourselves enough, we will lose
(06:53):
weight. But that process is nota simple linear equation or a
straight line on an XY graph.Our bodies are far more
complicated than that, strictlyapplying that first law of
thermodynamics in such a rigidfashion would be correct if
human beings were closedsystems. But human beings are
not closed systems. All livingorganisms, including human
(07:16):
beings, are open systems. Weexchange energy with our
environment. That's the reasonwhy calories in versus calories
out is not a simple linearequation. It's far more complex
than that.
Now we hear the word metabolismtossed around quite a bit, but
what does metabolism actuallymean? Well, your metabolism is
(07:37):
how your body takes upnutrients, how it makes energy
with those nutrients, and whatit does with that energy. Now,
that process is incrediblycomplex and unique to every
person. Now, remember theconcept of vitalism. We've
talked about this on previousepisodes. Our bodies have a God
given built in intelligence. Inour default setting is health.
(07:58):
Psalm 139:14, says, I praise youfor I am fearfully and
wonderfully made wonderful. Areyour works? My soul knows it
very well. God's design for ourmetabolism is absolutely
exquisite.
Again, a calorie is a measure ofenergy if we take in more energy
(08:18):
than the minimum required tokeep us alive, storing that
energy as body fat is not theonly option our bodies have. We
can think of this in terms ofcurrency or money. If a
corporation is making a profitand they have a good year and
they have some excess money tospend, saving that money in the
bank is not the only option thatcompany has. A prudent business
(08:41):
leader would use that moneywisely to maximize the wealth of
the firm. Now they have a lot ofoptions. They could create a
profit sharing program for theiremployees. They could do a stock
buyback. They could invest innew equipment or more efficient
manufacturing processes. Theycould expand their reach by
opening new stores or build newmanufacturing facilities, they
(09:04):
could spend more on marketing.Our bodies are also very smart,
and they have options as to whatto do with that excess currency
or energy. Saying that the onlything our bodies can do with
excess energy is stored as bodyfat is the equivalent of saying
that the only thing a profitablecorporation can do with their
extra money is save it in thebank. If our bodies find
(09:27):
themselves with excess energy,that energy can be used in all
kinds of different ways. Ourbodies may choose to spend some
of that currency or energy onboosting the immune system or
maybe on detoxification, andlet's not forget structure.
Structure is cells, tissues andorgans. Our bodies are in a
(09:47):
constant state of repair,replacing old, worn out cells.
The epithelial lining of our gutor our digestive tract, gets
replaced every seven to 10 days.Our skin gets replaced every 28
to 42 Days, our bodies areconstantly creating new cells
and recycling or eliminatingold, worn out ones, and that
(10:08):
requires energy. So if we'remetabolically healthy, our
bodies will spend that currencyor that excess energy on
efficiently making us strongerand producing more physical
vitality.
There's a term that's used todescribe a person that's not
metabolically healthy. We callit metabolic syndrome. What's
(10:30):
one symptom that everyone withmetabolic syndrome has excess
belly fat? So I would suggestthat most of the time that
excess fat is not because thatperson has no discipline or
can't control what they eat andis constantly over eating that
excess fat is a symptom of ametabolism that's not working
(10:50):
efficiently. That's why I oftensay we don't lose weight to get
healthy. We get healthy in orderto lose weight. If we pursue
health, we create an environmentwhere our bodies will use excess
energy efficiently and not storethat energy as body fat.
Now let me say that I don'trecommend regularly counting
(11:11):
calories for anyone, but thatdoesn't mean that there is no
value whatsoever to countingcalories. It can give us an
approximate measure of how muchfood we're consuming in a day,
but its usefulness pretty muchends there. We can lose weight
by restricting calories, but ifwe're gritting our teeth and
white knuckling our way throughthe process, and our willpower
(11:32):
is constantly battling againstour hunger, eventually, hunger
is going to win that battle,because our survival instincts
are stronger than our willpower.Eventually, our survival
instinct will kick in andoverwhelm our willpower.
Now it's important to understandthat food has potential energy,
but not all that energy getsextracted and used by the body.
(11:55):
For example, a liter of gasolinehas the same potential energy as
two pounds of body fat, but ifwe drank a liter of gasoline, it
will never turn into body fat.Our physiology must be taken
into consideration. Five poundsof grass has the potential
energy to create one pound ofmuscle. Now, ruminants like cows
(12:17):
or lambs or bison are capable ofdoing that, human beings are not
if we ate grass, we would notput on muscle like a cow does.
We don't have the physiology tomake that happen. We must take
our physiology into account.
Now there's a great deal ofshaming that goes on nutrition
and fitness worlds because ofthe belief that overweight
(12:38):
people are just gluttons. I'vehad a lot of practitioners tell
me they believe the reason whytheir clients aren't meeting
their weight loss goals isbecause they're not following
their trainers instructionscarefully enough. They say
things like, I don't know whatthese people are eating on the
weekends. Of course, that can betrue, but I would suggest that
(12:58):
most of the time it's not.
We're told by nutrition expertsthat a pound of fat is equal to
3500 calories. So if we want tolose one pound of body fat, we
have to create a 3500 caloriedeficit, or if we have a 3500
calorie surplus, we'll gain onepound of fat. Again. This is a
(13:19):
complete oversimplification ofwhat's going on, our bodies are
capable of handling a few extracalories now and then and
rerouting that energy tosomething other than fat stores.
Our bodies make energy in theform of ATP or adenosine
triphosphate from the food thatwe eat. That energy is used to
(13:39):
keep our hearts beating, tomaintain our body temperature
for muscle contraction and awhole lot more. Now, as I said
earlier, an important step inour metabolism is when our
bodies use the nutrients fromthe food we eat and make energy
out of it. Now, the generationof new cells and the elimination
of old, worn out ones, requiresenergy our bodies are also
(14:01):
capable of eliminating excesscalories as waste, feces, urine
and sweat have some caloricvalue. They've measured this
laboratories somewhere between2.1 and 9.2% of total calories
consumed is excreted in thestool. There's a little bit of a
tighter range in the urine,between 3.2 and 3.5% of calories
(14:24):
consumed are excreted in theurine. Now the reason for the
range is is that people aredifferent, and they're different
in terms of how efficient theyare at extracting energy from
the food or eliminating thatpotential energy from the food
in the form of feces and urineand sweat and even breath. We're
all different in terms of howefficient we are at extracting
(14:47):
and using or eliminating thoseexcess calories.
So we've also got to considerthe source of the calories. And
here's an article published inthe Journal of the International
Society of sports nutrition, andthey had. This to say it's
inappropriate to assume that theonly thing that counts in terms
of food consumption and energybalance is the intake of dietary
(15:08):
calories and weight storage.Well controlled studies suggest
that calorie content may not beas predictive of fat loss as is
reduced carbohydrateconsumption. Biologically
speaking, a calorie is certainlynot a calorie. Now, if you want
to read that article foryourself, you go to my website
and look at the show notesthere. But in other words, where
(15:31):
a calorie comes from, the sourceof those calories matters.
Whether those calories come fromprotein, carbohydrate or fat.
Matters carbohydrates from aglass of orange juice are
different from carbohydratesfrom a starchy potato for
instance. A protein from legumesis different than a protein from
(15:52):
a sirloin steak. Fat from anavocado is different from fat
from highly processed seed oils.Also, the macro nutrient ratio
has to be considered as well. Doyou see the complexity here?
Not only that, even if we wantedto embrace counting calories, we
could never actually do it herein the US, federal food labeling
(16:16):
laws allow the caloric estimateon the food label to be off by
as much as plus or minus 20% ascompared to the actual caloric
value. So even if we dutifullyread the labels and keep track
of all the information on thatthat label, we could be off by
as much as 20% plus or minus interms of balancing calories in
(16:39):
and calories out. That's amassive discrepancy. It leaves
us with, where do we turn? Wheredo we go from here? Why is the
law written that way? Well,because it's nearly impossible
to accurately measure the exactpotential energy that any given
food has. It's always anestimate. And with estimates,
(16:59):
you need ranges, so they allowfor ranges plus or minus 20%
And there's also somethingcalled the Atwater factors. The
Atwater factors is a formula,and that formula assumes that a
grammar carb and a grammarprotein both have four calories
and a gram of fat has ninecalories. Now here again, these
(17:19):
numbers are only estimates, andthose estimates have been shown
to be off by upwards of 32% lookat this article here, published
in the American Journal ofClinical Nutrition. It's
entitled, discrepancy betweenthe Atwater factor predicted and
empirically measured energyvalues of almonds in human
diets. Here's what they had tosay the Atwater factors, when
(17:41):
applied to almonds, resulted ina 32% overestimation of the
measured energy content. Again,you can find the links in my on
my website show notes. If we addin the Atwater factors, 32%
discrepancy to the alreadyallowed 20% discrepancy on the
food labeling, we see thatcaloric value stated on the food
(18:03):
label could be off by as much as52% and that's using legal,
customary and accepted standardsthat alone should be enough to
give up on the idea countingcalories. Now someone might be
thinking right about now, okay,maybe I can't count the calories
coming in, but I can certainlycount my calories going out,
(18:25):
because my Fitbit or my Applewatch or the machine at the gym
gives me a caloric readout.Well, once again, those numbers
are rough estimates at best.They're generic because they
don't accurately account formetabolic individuality.
All right, so that's somereasons why we should not put
too much weight on countingcalories on the next episode,
(18:47):
I'm going to be talking aboutwhy people have trouble losing
weight, and I want to give yousome alternatives to this,
calories in, calories out, eatless, exercise, more advice. I'm
going to give you some solidadvice that you can sink your
teeth into that help you keepthe weight off for a lifetime.
Now, I want to remind everyoneabout the opportunity available
right now with the newmembership club, my goal with
(19:09):
the club is to serve you thenatural nation better by
providing resources that guideyou in your healthy lifestyle
journey. I want to create acommunity of like minded people
where we can support oneanother, find accountability,
share resources and embrace theChristian healthy lifestyle.
together; we're better together.I encourage everyone listening
(19:30):
to become a founding member andbe involved in the process of
shaping what this membershipclub turns into. You can shoot
me an email atdavid@davidsandstrom.com, or you
can leave me a voicemail on myspeak pipe link on any of the
show notes pages, any of therecent show notes pages. This is
episode number 168, now, in thenext episode, as I just said,
(19:50):
I'm going to be covering whypeople struggle to lose weight,
and I'm going to be sharing someof the specific research in the
medical literature. Ah, and shedsome light on that topic, and
I'm going to be presenting amore excellent way to lose
weight, to lose weight and keepit off for life. That's it for
now. Thank you for listening. Iappreciate you. Go out there and
(20:12):
live abundantly. I'll talk withyou next time. Be blessed. You.
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