New Study: Calorie counting doesn’t help with weight loss after all
updated the 28 February 2018 à 14:55
Calorie counting leaving you miserable and inconsistent in weight loss? Here’s good news.
Granted, there is a study for every kind of weight loss these days, but here’s one that might make you rethink how you view your diet and daily calorie intake. It might just be time to put down those calculators, and jump for joy because those days of calorie counting is over, ladies.
A new study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), simply encourages people to eat foods with less added sugar and less refined grains such as whole foods, rather than restrict carbohydrates, fats or caloric limits at all.
The findings? Participants lost 11 to 13 pounds within a year of this lifestyle change. That’s right, without calorie limits or targets; just eating good wholesome food – and plenty of it.
Participants were encouraged to eat foods with minimum processing, refinement, or additives, whether it be vegetables, meat or carbs. They were divided into two groups that were eating lower fat or lower carbohydrates, both showed positive weight loss results irrespective of their genetics or predisposition to foods. And no – diet cokes or low-fat desserts do not count as whole foods or good foods – they are still heavily processed to taste that way.
The new approach to food intake has been described by researchers as a “high quality diet.” Eating food that is high in nutritional value because it hasn’t been tampered with much was the aim of the game. They highlighted this proved the need to focus on quality rather than quantity of food eaten.
The cyclical system of counting calories, losing weight, then gaining weight when you gain old habits, is one that can make many of us miserable. Thanks to this research, the emphasis on eating high quality food means that we can enjoy good food as well as lose weight. Finally!
Shelina Assomull
Photos: Getty Images
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