What You Aren’t Being Told Is That All Calories Are Not Created Equal

When it comes to weight loss you need to understand that all calories are not created equal.  The chicken breast and sweet potato meal is a usable and healthy meal.  It entails quality carbohydrates that nourish the body. The fat content is low, allowing you to eat more carbohydrates without devastating effects. With smaller portions of calories and macronutrients, the meal is better digested and utilized as opposed to a burger and fries from the fast food joint which get stored as fat.  This is why all calories are not created equal.

If you are guilty of cutting calories that come from healthy food and increasing cardio to more than is actually needed.  STOP NOW!  As long as you are eating healthy and natural meals, excess cardio will do more harm than good.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, many people are under the impression that you need a lot of calories to burn body fat.  The newest fad is to eat more to speed up the metabolism.  Yes, you do need calories in small portions throughout the day to speed up your metabolism, but too many people go to the extremes.  If you eat more than your body can use you will gain weight, no matter what the form the calorie comes in (processed or natural).  It’s important to understand that all calories are not created equal.

Processing the Lowdown

Many people don’t realize that processed food hinders fat loss.  Processed food contains absolutely zero nutrients and it literally strips the body of nutrients.  Nutrients are what allow you to lose fat and build muscle so it’s critically important to eat quality food since all calories are not created equal.

Man-made food items such as frozen meals, prepackaged mashed potatoes, deli meats, etc. contain fillers, sodium, additives, artificial flavorings, preservatives, coloring agents, emulsifiers, sweeteners, stabilizers, nitrites, etc.  Your body cannot process or digest these foreign elements.

Most of the processed food you eat stays in your stomach because your body is not able to produce enough Hydrochloric Acid (HCI) to breakdown and remove it.  It simply just sits in your stomach and builds up toxins.

An easy way to look at it is like this.  If you put water in your car’s gas tank it will destroy the working mechanisms.  That’s exactly what processed food does to your body in the long run.  While you may not notice its devastating effects now, next week, or even next year,  I can assure you that you will feels it’s effects ten years down the road.

Mother Nature’s Recipe

All calories are not created equal and if you want to lose fat you must get back to the basics.  If you can hunt it, gather it, pick it, or grow it, you can eat it safely within reason; use it because it is natural food doesn’t mean that calories don’t count. MotherNatureNutrition.com tells us, “eating what Mother Nature provides: fresh fruits and vegetables, organically-raised meats and raw dairy, whole grains and nothing processed or altered.”

Cardio, Calories, and Burning Fat

Now that we understand that all calories are not created equal, let’s look at how cardio and calories work together in burning excess body fat.  If your diet contains a lot of processed food items, you can bet you need a good bit of cardio to burn the heavy calories and hidden fats.  If your diet consists of natural foods such as fresh chicken breasts, turkey, lean cuts of steak, potatoes, oatmeal, a wide range of non-starchy vegetables, you won’t need to kill yourself with cardio.  Your body is able to use natural foods readily, in turn, increasing the metabolism naturally.

If you stack excess cardio on a clean diet of natural foods prescribed for what your body needs, you will only destroy your own fat loss efforts.  Cardio on a natural eating plan is a back up method to aid in fat loss, not the working factor.

1.)  What Doesn’t Work – “Healthy” processed foods combined with excess cardio

2.)  What Does Work – Natural foods and a Progressive Cardio Program

Now, I don’t expect you to make all the changes overnight, but you do need to work on reprogramming your mind.  Learn and understand that natural food is

what your body is meant to use and that anything man-made can stall and even destroy your fat loss endeavors.

Now that you understand better that all calories are not created equal, you should really implement the next tactic below…