Calories and Christmas

The overweight problem and obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States, as well as worldwide. Prevalence has increased from 12.8% in 1976-1980 to 22.5% in 1988-1994 and 30% in 1999-2000.

In obesity studies, we learned that there are a variety of factors that play a role in obesity. Body weight is the result of genes, metabolism, behavior, environment, culture and socioeconomic studies. This makes it a complex health issue to address. It results from energy imbalance. That is when one eats too many calories but does not get enough physical activity then one starts to gain weight. The good news is that behavior and environment plays a large, crucial role in causing people to be overweight and obese and these are two areas for prevention and treatment.

During Christmas the tradition of preparing for the season centers on food preparation. Usually the food served consists of a great deal of fat, sugar and carbohydrates. We should emphasize that when it comes to maintaining a healthy weight CALORIES count! That is balancing the number of calories you consume with the number of calories your body uses or “burns off” is the key factor.

But what is a calorie? It is defined as a unit of energy supplied by food. A calorie is a calorie regardless of its source. That is whether you are eating carbohydrate, fat, sugar, or protein, all of them contain calories. Caloric balance is like a scale. To remain in balance and maintain your body weight, the calories consumed (from foods) must be balanced by the calories used (in normal body functions, daily activities, and exercise).

The key here is when you are trying to maintain your weight “in balance” eat roughly the same number of calories that your body is using and your weight will remain stable. To gain weight you should go into “caloric excess” that is eating more calories than your body is using. You will start storing the extra calories as fat and thus gain weight. To lose weight one should go into “caloric deficit”. That is eating fewer calories than what you are using. Your body pulls from the fat storage cells for energy thus using it up and making you lose weight.

Most food labels list calories by the amount in each serving size. Serving sizes differ from one food to the next, so to figure out how many calories you are eating, you will need to look at the serving size, see how many calories there are in one serving, multiply the number of calories by the number of servings you are going to eat. As I mentioned earlier calories comes from all four sources that is from carbohydrates, sugar,, proteins and fats. A gram of carbohydrate contains 4 calories, a gram of protein also has 4 calories but a gram of fat, contains 9 calories (more than twice the amount of the other two). This is why food with same serving size does not necessarily mean they contain the same amount of calories. A high fat food has more calories. So avoid fatty foods!

All types of fat have the same amount of calories; however some fats are more harmful. The two most harmful fats are saturated fat and transfat, both of which increase a person’s risk of heart disease. These fats are solid at room temperature, like butter, shortening, or the fat on meat. Saturated fat comes mostly from animal products, others come from palm kernel oil, coconut oil. Trans fat are found also in whole dairy and meat products, in some cookies or crackers, fried foods like French fries, doughnuts. Go for sources of unsaturated fats (soybean oil, corn oil, sesame, sunflower and fish oils).

This Christmas season emphasize on fruits, vegetables, whole grains. Whole grains are better as they contain more fibers and more micro nutrients like folic acid, magnesium and vitamins. Refined grains have been milled, removing the dietary fiber, iron and many B vitamins. Choose a fat free or low fat milk labels (not reduced fat or lite fat labels), lean meat, poultry (minus the skin) fish, beans, eggs and nuts. Choose foods low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt (sodium) and added sugars.

Although science tells us that genetics plays a role in obesity, the genetic composition of the population does not change rapidly, therefore the large increase in the number of obese people must reflect major changes in non-genetic factors.