Voor je gewicht maakt het waarschijnlijk niet zoveel verschil. Voor je gezondheid wel degelijk. Zie onderstaand artikel.
If you've tried to lose weight, you've probably heard "calories in, calories out" (CICO). But does a CICO diet work for weight loss? This article explains what the CICO diet is and if it's effective.
www.healthline.com
Health is more than just ‘calories in vs. calories out’
While the “calories in versus calories out” model matters for weight loss, not all calories are created equal when it comes to your health.
That’s because different foods have different effects on various processes in your body, regardless of calorie contents.
The source of calories impacts your hormones and health differently
Different foods can affect your hormone levels in different ways.
The differing effects of glucose and fructose serve as a good example. These two
simple sugars provide the same number of calories per gram, but your body metabolizes them in completely different ways (
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A diet too rich in added fructose is linked to
insulin resistance, increased blood sugar levels, and higher triglyceride and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels than a diet providing the same number of calories from glucose (
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That said, fruit, which contains natural fructose along with fiber and water, does not have the same negative effects.
What’s more, the type of fat present in your diet can have different effects on your reproductive hormone levels. For instance, diets rich in polyunsaturated fats appear to boost fertility in healthy women (
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What’s more, replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats in your diet may further lower your risk of heart disease, even though both types provide the same number of calories per gram (
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The types of food you eat affect how full you feel
Your nutrient intake impacts your hunger and feelings of fullness.
For instance, eating a 100-calorie serving of beans will reduce your hunger much more effectively than eating a 100-calorie serving of candy.
That’s because foods rich in protein or fiber are more filling than foods containing lower amounts of these nutrients (
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The candy, which is low in fiber and protein, is much more likely to lead you to overeat later in the day, reducing the likelihood that your “calories in” will match your “calories out.”
Similarly,
fructose tends to increase levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin more than glucose does.
It also doesn’t stimulate the fullness centers in your brain in the same way as glucose, so you won’t feel as full after eating fructose as you would after eating glucose (
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This is why most processed foods that are rich in fructose but devoid of protein or fiber generally make it more difficult for you to maintain an energy balance.
The source of calories has different effects on your metabolism
Foods affect your metabolism differently. For instance, some require more work to digest, absorb, or metabolize than others. The measure used to quantify this work is called the thermic effect of food (TEF).
The higher the TEF, the more energy a food requires to be metabolized.
Protein has the highest TEF, while fat has the lowest. This means that a high-protein diet requires more calories to be metabolized than a lower-protein diet does (
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This is why eating protein is often said to
boost your metabolism to a greater extent than eating carbs or fat. That said, when it comes to weight loss, the TEF of foods appears to have only a small effect on your calorie balance (
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SUMMARY
Different foods can impact your hormones, hunger, feelings of fullness, and metabolism differently, regardless of the number of calories they contain. Thus, when it comes to your health, not all calories are created equal.
Why nutrient density matters
The amount of nutrients a food contains per calorie can vary greatly.
Nutrient-dense foods provide higher amounts of vitamins, minerals, and beneficial compounds per gram compared with less nutrient-dense foods.
For instance, fruits are much more nutrient-dense than donuts. Calorie for calorie,
fruit will provide a much larger dose of vitamins, minerals, and beneficial plant compounds.
Other examples of
nutrient-dense foods include vegetables, whole grains, legumes, meat, fish, poultry, dairy products, and unsalted nuts and seeds.
On the other hand, processed foods, including white pasta, soda, cookies, chips, ice cream, and alcohol are considered to have a low nutrient density.
Diets rich in nutrient-dense foods are consistently linked to a lower risk of chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease, and may even help you live longer (
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The “calories in versus calories out” model fails to take nutrient density into account, which is a good reason to doubt its relevance when it comes to your health.
SUMMARY
Calorie for calorie, nutrient-dense foods benefit your health much more than nutrient-poor ones. The “calories in versus calories out” model fails to take this into account, reducing its relevance when it comes to your health.
The bottom line
From a strictly biological perspective, the “calories in versus calories out” model matters for weight loss.
You will only lose weight if you consume fewer calories than you burn, regardless of the types of food you eat.
However, this model fails to take nutrient density into account, which is highly relevant to your health. Moreover, different foods can impact your hormones, metabolism, hunger, and feelings of fullness differently, in turn influencing your calorie intake.
Practically speaking,
some foods can make it easier for you to remain at a healthy weight, all while optimizing your overall health. Focusing solely on calories may cause you to miss the big picture.
