The Daily Dispatch E-Edition

I’m not losing weight. Is clean eating a myth?

It’s all about being mindful: how you eat is as important as what you eat

DEVLIN BROWN

As a South African you should be well capable of understanding the concept of calories in versus calories out. We are in a perpetual state of deficit.

When the country’s total electricity demand is 32,271MW, let’s say, and there is only 26,404MW available, expect load-shedding between stage 5 and stage 6. If the demand is greater than the supply, which is our state of normal, something needs to be shed. In our case it is a combination of any prospects of economic recovery, patience and actually giving a damn.

I would hazard a guess that the average citizen of almost any other country in the world won’t have the foggiest comprehension of how their power is generated, the state of diesel reserves and how many — and which — units at each power station is either on routine maintenance or has blown a gasket. We’re blessed.

Eating, while also complicated by nuances and other factors, is fairly similar. Food is energy. When you eat, the potential energy stored in the meat, legumes, fruits and muffins is miraculously brought to life. A bit like the magic that happens when the sun’s rays collide with solar panels, if you’re forward-thinking, or when you burn coal, if you’re stuck in the previous century.

If you don’t do enough to use all this energy you are consuming, your body has no choice but to store it. This wonderful evolutionary trait can be seen daily along the waistlines of most South Africans.

Now, before we exclusively blame calories in versus calories out, let’s face reality: most in this country do not roll in cash like irritating billionaires on Cape Town stages or beneficiaries of outrageous tenders. Something else is at play. You guessed it — it’s the type of food being eaten. Hormones matter, and what you eat affects various hormones, the most infamous being insulin.

A total 1,000 calories from freshly caught hake is quite different from 1,000 calories obtained from amagwinya or vetkoek, which is appreciably more affordable than lean cuts of protein. If you have R5 you’re not buying tuna.

Now that we’ve covered the basics, you’re probably still wondering what you are doing wrong. By way of analogy, I will refer to a very good friend who shall not be named. Let’s call her Hope.

Hope embarked on a health and exercise craze a few years ago. She proudly bought all the gym clothes, scales to weigh food and spent her afternoons browsing Woolworths’ wonderful fresh food section.

The days turned into months and Hope was becoming frustrated. While she noticed muscles starting to appear in her upper arms and thighs, the scale weight gradually crept up, as did her waist size.

Everything in her diet appeared to be geared towards weight loss except that she changed her behaviour. Whereas before she would eat twice a day, she was now eating all the time. When not eating her prepared meals she was snacking on nuts, yoghurt, protein bars and more. She had read that you need “healthy” snacks.

Unscientifically, and without any study to back this up, in my lifetime this is the most common mistake made by people who switch to “healthy eating”. Just because something is good for you, doesn’t mean you have to eat it.

She had increased her calories, while she did not do enough exercise to justify that increase. According to various calorie calculators she needed to eat about 1,880 calories a day for slow, safe and sustainable weight loss. One handful of mixed nuts packs about 200 calories.

Yes, she probably controlled her insulin spikes, unlike another friend who we shall call Hopeless. He spent his money on processed takeaways, sending his hormones into a feast-mode frenzy.

Change how you see your diet. How you eat is as important as what you eat. Be mindful of what you need to consume to achieve your goals, as opposed to just lapping up what you read. This column included.

Weekender

en-za

2022-10-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-10-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://dispatch.pressreader.com/article/282179359965990

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