I recently read a short e-book, “Talking Back to Diet Gurus” by Mike Howard, who is an online fitness guy. I like the way he expressed his point of view on the Calorie issue in the article below, which was posted at Tom Venturo’s website, burnthefatblog.com.

Calorie Denialism: Why It’s Hurting Your Fat Loss Efforts 
             by Mike Howard

Calories have become a perfect target for diet book authors and gurus alike to play on the emotions of those who struggle with weight. In the typical diet book and health blog world, calorie (and any mention of counting them) is met with an illogical amount of hostility. It has become one of the greatest sources of confusion in the world of fat loss and has undoubtedly led to much frustration for those looking to shed pounds. Rest assured you are not alone if you are befuddled by the whole thing…

My aim here is to untangle some of the misconceptions regarding calories, food and eating for fat loss. I wish to arm you with the best knowledge we have regarding fat loss to make the best decision for YOU.

The Anti-calorie Arguments

There are a number of different ways people will try dismiss or at least downplay the importance of calories when it comes to fat loss. How many of these have you heard before?

• Advice to eat less and move more implies that you are calling people gluttons and sloths.
  
  
• Overweight people eat no more than do skinny people.
  
  
• Counting calories doesn’t work.
  
  
• Counting calories is obsessive (extreme, OCD, orthorexic, etc)
  
  
• It’s the carbs/insulin that increases fat – not calories.
   
• Focus on the QUALITY of food because QUANTITY is less relevant/irrelevant
  

In essence, counting calories is responsible for the obesity epidemic, obsessive compulsive disorder and The Kardashians.

Is a Calorie a Calorie?

The answer to this question is a resounding …“kind of”. I’m going to make this as mercifully short and un-nerdy as possible. The calories in/calories out model is an imperfect one due mostly to the differing affects carbohydrates, proteins and fats have on the body during processing. In this case, protein is more metabolically costly to handle than carbs or fats. This renders the model imperfect but not incorrect.

My thesi...

 "Eating Healthy"  - What does that mean?

Health:
  the state of being free from illness or injury.

Healthy:
in good health. "I feel fit and healthy."

Eating:
taking into the mouth, chewing and swallowing food.

Most everyone believes that it's good for people to follow a “healthy diet”. There are many different opinions on what specific foods constitute "healthy eating", but, what does "healthy eating" really mean?

Healthy eating means eating a variety of food that gives one's body the nutrients it needs to maintain its health. (Nutrients are protein, carbohydrates, fat, water, vitamins, and minerals.)

Most people have a basic knowledge of what foods work for them, and naturally eat accordingly. What about getting more knowledge about food, would that make us more free of illness or injury? How much of our attention do we need to focus on how "healthy" our eating is? Too much focus on how to eat healthy is now labeled as an "eating disorder", Orthorexia, which is characterized by an extreme or excessive preoccupation with avoiding foods perceived to be "unhealthy".

Those who advocate "healthy eating" primarily focus on eating "correctly" to  AVOID the future consequence of becoming sick, developing disease, and death. But can ANY eating behavior REALLY give one a GUARANTEE of future good health?

No it can't. The reality is that we are all going to die. The bodies of those of us who live long enough to become old will wear out. Many of us will get injured, become ill, or develop disease before that happens … no matter how "healthy" our eating is. My personal opinion is that we need to lighten up, and stop taking the issue of "Eating Healthy" so seriously.

Below is a video of comedian, Lewis Black, ranting about milk and water in our "Health" conscious Culture. Warning: It contains Profanity. 

                    
By this definition, I am clearly insane.

Today is Day One of an experiment involving a rather extreme food plan which, in the past, proved to be unsuccessful for me.

I've made a few changes, individualizing it a bit, but the main thing that is really different is my current mindset. Perhaps that will be enough to provide me with positive results.

No diet is for everyone, but every diet works for someone. If I find it effective, sometime this year I'll post more details.