By: Joann Bally CSCS
The other day, circumstances led me to buy a pre-packaged muffin from a convenience store. My breakfast plans had fallen through, I was in a hurry to make it to a meeting on time, and I don’t feel well if I skip breakfast. I didn’t bother to read the ingredients list for the muffin, as the company who makes it is rumored to have products with shelf lives of hundreds of years, making them of interest to future archeologists. I did check the number of calories, though: 750. I ate half of it, threw the rest away, had some juice, and made it through to when I could have a healthful lunch.
Now if you need 2000 calories to maintain your weight and you had one of these for each meal, that is, 3 a day, and ate nothing else, you would exceed that calorie threshold, and you would gain weight. You would have other health problems, too, but let’s just look at weight here. If you care about your weight, whether it’s to lose, gain, or stay the same, you really have to pay attention to calories. None of the various points, exchanges, or servings in popular diets is going to work unless they are designed to manipulate calories in some way.
The food industry in the U.S. produces 3800 calories per day for every individual, although the average person only requires 2000. Like any industry, they must try to sell their product. Some high calorie foods, like my muffin, are inexpensive, so you are not paying per calorie. You have to pay attention and do a little work to find out for yourself what is healthful and what is junk. Start by reading the labels.
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