By Andrea Parkinson
NY Personal Trainer

A Calorie is Not A Calorie: A Continued Holiday Guide towards Healthy Habits!

Amid the endless concerns about body weight, losing it and keeping it off, one deep fallacy
maintains it’s stance: A calorie is a calorie. Weight loss requires a deficit of calories, weight gain
a surfeit. This is pretty clear. But which calories might be the ones that have the worse impact
on our cells’ fat making mechanisms? Old schools of thought argue that it really doesn’t matter
whether you ingest too many calories from soda or tofu, if there is too much, it all goes to fat,
right? So what does it matter what you eat, as long as you are watching the caloric equivalent?! !
It turns out, this has been wrong. Due to the omnipresence of fructose, It’s becoming more
wrong every year. Many processed foods on the market contain this palate enhancer that is
metabolized in much the same way alcohol is. A quick review of how alcohol is metabolized
shows that the biochemical process stimulates what’s called novo lipogenesis in the cells. The
latin translates to New Fat. A glass of wine, a bottle of Snapple, or a a bag of Skittles: None of
them have fat on the nutrition label, yet fat is what our body produces to handle them once
ingested. ! !
Keeping this in mind as we plunge deeper into the holiday season could very well ameliorate
some of the damage our gluttony might bring. Going to lots of events right now? Here are
some tips on what to eat, and what to avoid:! !
1. Go Paleo: When faced with a banquet, look for the least processed things on the table, and
load up there. This includes the usual salads and roasted veggies, but it also includes rich
meats like duck and turkey and ham. Avoid creamed vegetables that might include cans of
creamed soup that are loaded with sodium and fructose. Stay away from candied anything and
try to keep the extra starches to a minimum. The right foods will tell your body that you have
had enough. The wrong ones will demand that you keep eating.! !
2. Stick to seltzer, milk, or water. Coffee and tea is fine with milk and a tiny bit of sugar. A
starbucks Eggnog Latte is not ok. Stay away from juices and energy drinks. If you are craving
a soda, eat an orange. The fiber and nutrients in fruit are great ways to handle a sweet tooth.! !
3. Keep your cocktails simple and spare. Don’t drink before eating. Don’t drink too much. ! !
4. Take a look at some of your go to quick snacks and reconfigure them to eliminate as much
processed sugars as possible. Many so called energy or protein bars and shakes are filled with
them. Granola bars are often little than a well packaged set of bread and sugar that don’t have
enough fiber in them to make them worthwhile nutritionally. Raw nuts are a great thing to have
on hand, add a few bits of unsugared dried fruit, and you have a genuinely healthy alternative. ! !
5. Exercise as often as possible! Don’t try to calculate the amount of calories you might be
burning. Just work out and work hard for as short or as long a time as you can every day. The
gains that exercise brings will also assist in reversing some of the damages of
overconsumption.! !
6. Enjoy! Just remember that you are in control. Keep yourself armed with knowledge and
your commitment to remain lean and healthy.