Why I don’t like food tracking

When it comes to weight loss, two of the most common strategies are calorie counting and limiting food choices. Both methods can be effective, but they approach the goal of reducing calorie intake in very different ways:

• Calorie counting involves tracking the number of calories you consume daily to ensure you’re eating fewer calories than your body uses. This creates a calorie deficit, which is essential for weight loss. This method involves setting a calorie goal and then tracking your intake with a food journal or app. Many programs, like Weight Watchers, use this approach. The benefits of this method is that it allows you to eat all foods as long as you limit portion size to stay within your goal.
• Limiting food choices involves restricting certain foods to simplify eating decisions, reduce triggers, and naturally lower calorie intake. This way of eating generally focuses on a core set of foods, like lean proteins and vegetables. Many programs, like Atkins, Paleo, Keto and plant-based, use this approach. The benefits of this method is that it simplifies mental effort and generally emphasizes whole, nutrient-dense foods.

The choice between calorie counting and limiting food choices depends on your personality, lifestyle, and preferences. If you want to enjoy all your favorite foods and are able to eat them in moderation, calorie counting might work best. On the other hand, if you struggle with tracking and portion control, limiting food choices could be more effective.

After a lifetime of dieting, I have found that calorie counting does not work for me. Tracking foods makes me spend way to much time thinking about food and obsessing about what I will and won’t eat next. At first I eat normally, but as the program goes on I develop a pattern of hoarding my calories. I worry about the possibility of running out and being hungry, and begin to save them for later in the day which leads to evening bingeing. I also struggle with the emphasis these programs have on “diet” foods. You are rewarded for eating more artificial, low-calorie, food-like products over real whole food.

A famous study from the 1950’s showed that men who were put on a restricted eating diet for 6 months became abnormally preoccupied with food even after returning to normal eating. Many of the men had abnormal eating habits and continued to be preoccupied with food for months and even years after the study ended. They also landed at higher than normal weight. Learning about this study has haunted me for most of my life, thinking about almost every woman who has put herself on a restricted eating diet.

This way of eating also decreases variety, automatically triggering us to eat less. People eat more when given more variety, despite hunger. Subjects ate 33% more when when offered sandwiches with four different fillings than when just one filling was offered. Another study showed subjects ate significantly more when three flavors of yogurt were offered compared to just one flavor. Eating a filling tomato soup before the meal did not make any difference – subjects still ate more when given more variety.

I don’t want to think about food. After a lifetime of obsessing, I don’t want to track my food, think about eating tiny portions, or worry about running out. This means that I do not eat some foods. While this may not appeal to everyone, the mental freedom of no longer thinking about food has been life-changing. All that new mental bandwidth has freed me for so many other things!

A thirty-day food challenge elimination protocol can help you discover your personal best-eating plan:

Elimination Diet for Food Triggers

This program involves giving up potential trigger foods, while emphasizing whole foods and plants, allowing you to reset your cravings and identify food triggers. You will give them up for 30-days, and then add them back one at a time to see how you feel.

You are likely asking if you can just cut back on potentially triggering foods? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Your body needs time to recover so you can identify the true culprits. You will need to cut everything out to really get an understanding of which foods are problematic and the symptoms they cause. The good news is that after thirty days, you add the foods back one at a time and see how you feel.

As we mentioned above, this reset does not focus on calories or restriction. Instead, you are lowering your insulin response and retraining your body to appreciate whole foods. The rules are simple:

• Include high-quality protein at every meal – poultry, fish, eggs, grass-fed beef, lamb, pork, etc
• Enjoy healthy fats in moderation – avocado, coconut oil, butter, ghee, olive oil, avocado oil

Protein and fat both help maintain the feeling of fullness. They are harder to digest so sit in the stomach for a longer time helping us feel full. Fat also makes food delicious and will keep you from feeling deprived.

• Emphasize vegetables from a range of colors

You will be amazed how your body starts to appreciate the flavors in vegetables. Rather than focusing on what you are giving up, focus instead on plant variety and abundance. Play with exotic spices – they are rich in phytonutrients, so food is both more delicious and nutritious!

• No sweets – including sugar, artificial or natural sweeteners, and fruit
• No processed foods
• No gluten – wheat, wheat flour, barley, rye, oats

Gluten-containing grains (wheat, barley, rye, and oats) are a double-whammy. Not only are many gluten-containing foods processed, but gluten protein can be difficult to digest and/or cause an inflammatory reaction in some people. This may or may not be you. You will find out in week four reintroduction, but in the meantime, avoid gluten because these grains are high in carbohydrates and will increase insulin and cravings, and because avoiding them will also limit a large amount of processed foods. (Do not replace your regular processed foods with gluten-free alternatives!)

• No nuts, cheese, and alcohol – these foods are high in calories per ounce and can trigger eating larger amounts unconsciously
• Limit dairy – 0-2 servings daily of whole milk, full-fat plain yogurt (ideally Greek), cottage cheese, or a small amount of parmesan (if you suspect dairy may be a trigger, avoid it until re-introductions)

Dairy can be a inflammatory food for many people. Because of the limitations of the diet, it can be an option. However, you may wish to avoid it for the first two weeks to make sure it is not a trigger.

• Limit whole grains – 0-2 servings daily of brown rice, organic corn, millet, buckwheat, quinoa, teff

Be cautious also with whole grains. Depending on your particular metabolism, eating pattern, and microbiome, these foods can cause increased food cravings and appetite. This can be due to the insulin spike they trigger, or it could even be your gut microflora craving sugar. If you find your eating is difficult to control, I would recommend you pause them for three weeks or longer.

This diet is naturally low in carbohydrate and designed to both limit triggers and put you in a fat-burning state called ketosis [see previous post]. When we limit carbohydrates (either through fasting or restriction) our brain and body start burning fat for fuel. This is the state we have been storing calories for! In it not harmful as long as it is not maintained indefinitely. And in fact, it is associated with more energy, decreased hunger, lower inflammation, better lipid and glucose markers, and weight loss.

For some people, the first week on a limited carbohydrate diet can be excruciating. Be aware of this and know that it is just a short period of time to push through. Once you have made it to the other side, you will almost always find a dramatic decrease in food cravings. When we eat minimal carbohydrates, our body turns to burning fat after 2-7 days.For the first few days, you may have cravings as your body attempts to demand more glucose, but it created those stores just for this purpose and your cravings will settle down after a few days. If you are struggling with the adjustment, taking a supplement of C8-MCT oil or ketone (BHB) supplement can help by offering some additional energy for your brain.

After thirty days, you can continue for up to 6 months or you can start the re-introduction phase. For re-introduction, you will eat add a single new food 1-2 times daily for three days while watching for symptoms. Foods or food ingredients can cause physical or emotional reactions in some people. Common food triggers include gluten, sugar, caffeine, alcohol, dairy, and processed foods. Symptoms can include:

• Food cravings, irritability, mood swings, depression, anxiety, fatigue, changes in breathing, bloating, stomach cramps, changes in bowel habits, rashes and skin changes, joint pain, headaches or migraines, difficulty sleeping

Be sure to add only one single type of new food each three days. Re-introducing foods too quickly is where people run into trouble. You did the hard part so go slow and don’t waste your effort!

If you do experience symptoms, then you have identified a trigger food and should remove it from your diet. If you do not experience symptoms, you can assume that the food is acceptable and move on to the next food. You will want to keep a food diary to identify which foods cause specific reactions. This can help you begin to identify patterns and make connections between your diet and symptoms. You will likely find you can bring back some foods without any issues.

People ask me sometimes if I miss certain foods. The answer is “no”. I have found that these foods change my personality (potato chips makes me irritable), cause me physical pain (gluten gives me painful joint inflammation), or change my behavior (white rice makes me insatiable). After some experimentation and recognizing what these foods did to my body, I no longer even see them as food. They look like pain. I traded cupcakes for a whole new life of adventure, excitement, and personal growth. Seriously, which do you think sounds better?

References

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• Rolls BJ, Rowe EA, Rolls ET, et al., “Variety in a meal enhances food intake in man,” Physiol Behav. 1981 Feb;26(2):215-21. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(81)90014-7.
• Norton GN, Anderson AS, Hetherington MM, “Volume and variety: relative effects on food intake,” Physiol Behav. 2006 Apr 15;87(4):714-22. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2006.01.010.
• Antoinette Savil and Antony Haynes, The food intolerance bible : a nutritionist’s plan to beat food cravings, fatigue, mood swings, celiac disease, headaches, IBS, and deal with food allergies (San Francisco: Conari Press, 2008).
• Dowis K, Banga S., The Potential Health Benefits of the Ketogenic Diet: A Narrative Review. Nutrients. 2021; 13(5):1654.
• G Reichard, O Owen, A Haff, P Paul, W Bortz, “Ketone-body production and oxidation in fasting obese humans,“ Journal of Clinical Investigations 53, no. 2 (February 1974): 508–515, https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI107584.
• Briana Stubbs, Pete Cox, Rhys Evans, Malgorzata Cyranka, Kieran Clarke, Heidi de Wet, “A Ketone Ester Drink Lowers Human Ghrelin and Appetite,“ Obesity (Silver Spring) 26, no. 2 (February 2018): 269-273, https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.22051.
• Tyler Maher, Alistair Sampson, Magdalena Goslawska, Cristina Pangua-Irigaraym, Amir Shafat, and Miriam Clegg, “Food Intake and Satiety Response after Medium-Chain Triglycerides Ingested as Solid or Liquid,” Nutrients 11, no. 7 (July 2019): 1638, https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11071638.