Cuckoo for Calories

Have you ever picked up a food item and immediately looked to see how many calories it has?
I know so many people who have!

I’d say about 98% of my clients have tried to count and *restrict* their calories at some point or another, in order to slim down.

I think it’s very interesting that so many people have bought into the idea that eating fewer calories will help you shed weight. This phenomenon makes me wonder:

Have you ever questioned the usefulness of calorie-counting?
What on earth is a calorie supposed to be, anyway?
What do calories have to do with shedding extra weight anyway?

In today’s blog, we’re boldly going where no weight management paradigm has gone before, to answer the question: “To Count, or Not to Count?”

It’s about time we demystified the truth about calories once and for all!

A Calorie? What is that?

A calorie is a measure of energy that is released when a substance is burned. Scientists in laboratories love to measure calories, because they can use the units to precisely measure energies in the field of chemistry.

However, caloric measurements, here in the world of slimming down, are not as useful. This is because of 2 main reasons:

1. It is not necessarily healthy to restrict your calorie intake–consuming too few calories can actually hurt your efforts to slim down. What’s frequently overlooked is that your body requires a certain amount of calories just to exist, even if you stayed in bed all day long, snoozing. Calories provide valuable energy for your body to perform its health-preserving functions, and to keep you alive and well.  Blindly restricting them as a weight loss strategy is naive and can damage your body, making it harder to reach your weight loss goal.
2. Not all calories are created equal!  I know you’ve heard that “a calorie is a calorie is a calorie,” but this is simply not true. There are calories that are rich in nutrients, and those that are sorely lacking them.

Let’s take your newfound calorie savvy to the market, shall we?

Let’s say you’re shopping for oil in aisle 3. You look up and notice that 1 tablespoon of soybean oil has 103 calories, whereas 1 tsp. of extra virgin coconut oil has 120 calories.

Whoa! If you looked solely at the calories, you’d reach right for the soybean oil, right?

Exactly. But now you know that not all calories are created equal. There are nutritious ones, and crappy empty ones.
Basically, a simple calorie inventory will not provide you with the whole picture of that food. There’s more to consider.

Calories: Not the Whole Picture

Calories don’t tell you that soybean oil is really hard for your body to digest. It’s highly refined, usually hydrogenated and more like a synthetic plastic when it interfaces with the cellular level of your body. Yuck.

Calories also don’t tell you that extra virgin coconut oil is a totally natural product that is very beneficial for your body, and has inherently nourishing properties. To boot, the fat in coconut oil is quickly and easily absorbed by your gastrointestinal tract, and metabolized into energy.

In sum, calories do not tell you about nutritional content and the quality of your food. This is what slimming down is really about!

Darling, put the extra virgin coconut oil in your basket, and open your eyes to nutrition, tapping into your body’s messages and improving the quality of your eating experiences–-3 key components of a successfully slimming experience.

The Pleasurable Alternative to Calorie-Counting

You already know that calorie counting and restricting will turn you into a human calculator. It is unhealthy, overly simplistic and a purely mental process that’ll disconnect you from the inherent wisdom of your body.

Your body wisdom will tell you what your unique, female body needs to consume, and in what amount, in order to slim down for good. Not all women need to eat the same things, in the same amounts, in order for their bodies to perform slimming functions, you know!

Here are 3 tips to releasing calorie-counting, and embracing a more pleasurable route to slimming down:

1. Trust your body. Your body has a built-in wisdom, one that contains valuable information about what to eat, when and how much of it. In this culture, the intellect is considered smarter than the body, but this is not so – both are equally brilliant, and important to use! Trust that your brilliant body is designed to guide you to what to eat in order for you to slim down, if only you’ll listen. Speaking of listening…
2. Listen to your body. If you slow down, breathe and eliminate distractions from your eating experiences, you’ll realize that your body will communicate everything you need to know. It might sound like, “This bite is good. This bite is good. This bite is good. This bite is too much. This is enough.” Focusing on the quality of your eating experience will eliminate distractions from the important feedback your body is providing. This will soothe any overeating in a powerful way.
3. Nourish your body. Instead of looking for calories, look for foods that are high in vitamins, minerals, zinc and other goodies that your body thrives on. Have you ever noticed that nature-made foods like bananas and kale don’t have a nutritional label? That’s because they are so good for you, it doesn’t matter what the calories are! Nutrient-rich foods are easily digestible, nourishing and naturally slimming.You know, your female body doesn’t want to be overweight – she‘s only overweight because she hasn’t had the environment and tools to become slim. Nourish her with the right stuff, and she’ll know what to do to drop your extra pounds.

Kudos, darling – you’ve successfully addressed this whole calorie-counting madness, understood its inefficiency and embraced a richer, more pleasurable paradigm. Tell me:

• Which pleasurable step will you start to research, today?
• If you’ve tried it: What does listening to your body feel like to you?
• What are some of your favorite nutrient-rich, slimming foods? Share your tasty wisdom!

If you know of a woman who’s gone a little cuckoo with calorie-counting, and maybe hired a bookkeeper to track her caloric intake, please send her this post!

With love,
xo Jena

P.S. Do you want to start slimming down, in a healthy and feminine way, this holiday season?

Then join me at Pleasure Camp NYC. I’ll be teaching some amazing life-changing information about foods, exercise and pleasure that is intensely delicious, and will help your body release extra pounds in an organic, natural way.

It’s November 30 – December 2, and slots are filling fast. Click over to learn more about how you can savor a slimmer you, sooner than later!