Are all calories the same?

I hope you are having a great and healthy day.  After Thanksgiving last week I think we are all trying to get back on track with our diet programs.  We are just about finished with all of our leftovers.  I cannot wait to get rid of all this food (although it is delicious).  I thought I would put up a quick nutrition post for you to read through.

For years we have been told weight loss is simple.  Calories in vs. Calories out.  Basically if you eat least and move more you will lose weight.  Now I believe this for the most part is true.  If you, in general, just eat less than you usually do and move more you will probably lose some weight.  This formula may not work forever though.  You might have started a diet and lost some weight but then saw a plateau.  While this formula is a great start, we should look at what type of calories and food we are consuming to help us lose weight faster and stay healthier.

I found three studies from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that look at this topic.  Are all calories created equally?  Here is what they found.

In the first study, they followed subject for 5 years to see the relationship between the types of calories we consume and waist circumference.  We already know that increased waist circumference leads to a number of health related problems.  After 5 years they found that those who consumed a high protein diet (especially animal protein) saw a decrease in waist circumference.  Also those who's carb consumption was mainly fruits and vegetables.  There was an increase in waist circumference with those who consumed more refined grains, potatoes, vegetable fat, and alcohol from spirits.

In the next study they compared four popular diet programs.  They used Atkins for a low carb diet, the LEARN program for low fat, high carb, and exercise, the Ornish diet for a low fat diet, and the Zone diet for balanced macro nutrients of 40% carbs, 30% protein, and 30% fat.  All diets allowed the same number of calories, just different ratios of macronutritients.  For all programs there was about a 500cal decrease in total calories for the day.  They found that all participants reduced fat over an 8 weeks period.  The interesting part of this study was that they found each program resulted in deficiencies in critical vitamins and minerals.  Below are the defeciencies for each plan:

Atkins- Thiamin, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Iron, and Magnesium
LEARN- Vitamin E, Thiamine, Magnesium
Ornish- Vitamin E, B-12, and Zinc
Zone- Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, and Vitamin C

So this brings up a completely different issue that changing what type of calories we eat leads to vitamin and mineral deficiencies.  If you know you have a problem with any of the above already you will want to avoid these specific diet plans.

And our final study, simply compared a high protein vs a high fat diet using the same overall calories.  In this study they found that the high protein diet resulted in greater fat loss, greater decrease in triglyceride levels, LDL, HDL, glucose levels, insulin, free fatty acids, and C-reactive proteins.  B-12 also increased while those following a high fat diet saw a decrease in B-12.  The high protein diet also resulted in better bone regeneration.

So what these studies show us that decreasing your calories overall will probably result in some weight loss, but we are not seeing the whole picture.  Manipulating the amount of fat, carbs, and proteins you are consuming will also make a huge difference in weight and overall health.  My main recommendations would be to consume a variety of whole foods, avoid refine grains, and increase Omega 3 consumption.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training
My Workout Creator