Low Calorie Diets for Weight Loss?

www.easywaytochange.co.uk Is eating a low calorie diet a good way to lose weight? Here I talk about what a calorie actually is and whether this type of diet is sustainable for weight loss. I have a background in nutrition and work as a hypnotherapist helping people to lose weight. Are you a calorie counter? Do you feel it's effective for weightloss? Do you know what a calorie is? It's the amount of energy it take to raise 1 gram of water by 1 degree C. How do they determine this? They... wait for it....Burn food underneath a container of water and notice the temperature change! As if the process of burning food in air is the same as our digestion and creation of energy from food. The theory of calories in, calories out, much beloved by the traditional weight management establishment, is so overly simplistic. It doesn't take into account the way fat, carbohydrate and protein are all used and turned into energy differently or the different speeds at which foods release sugar into the blood stream. During the second world war, an American scientist called Ancel Keyes carried out a study(2) whereby volunteers were put on a 'starvation diet' so that they could test the best way to rehabilitate POW's when they got out. Within a few weeks of the study, the healthy young participants were becoming mentally disturbed. Their ambition waned, self-discipline went out the window and their alertness and ability to focus dropped. Some were even hospitalised in a psychiatric ward. They were on a 1570 calorie a day diet. Clearly, this isn't a long term solution for anybody. So what is the answer? Change your relationship with food. Cook meals from scratch. Manage your stress levels and emotions in a way that doesn't involve food. Find some exercise that you love. Get 1) Keys, A., Brožek, J., Henschel, A., Mickelsen, O., & Taylor, H. L., The Biology of Human Starvation (2 volumes), University of Minnesota Press, 1950.