If you want to eat healthy, stop counting calories

To ensure that we maintain our weight consistently, it seems logical to pay attention to the number of calories consumed on our daily plates. Bad idea, explains Claire Tromenschlager, dietician and author of the book Happy Diet (1), in an Instagram post from March 8. To prove it, she compares two types of snacks and explains that what matters in nutrition is not quantity but quality.

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Two meals, two atmospheres

Left: 5 pancakes, homemade cocoa sauce, blueberries and half a banana, all with a hot sugar-free drink. Right: 3 biscuits and 25 centiliters of orange juice. Here are two plates compared to a dietitian. Although the portion on the left is larger than the portion on the right, both snacks are equivalent to 380 kcal. A plate full of pancakes, however, is much healthier, with its “nutrient density (amount of vitamins and minerals per calorie)” being higher.

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And for good reason, “For the same number of calories, the breakfast on the left provides you with fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals-rich carbohydrates, as well as satiety and energy,” she explains. In contrast, fruit juices and ultra-processed biscuits are fast sugars, which will cause a spike and then a drop in blood sugar. In the morning, we risk feeling “cravings” and “crazes”, which will push us towards sweet cravings.

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The body is not designed to eat fast-absorbing sugars for breakfast, as we learned in the previous article. In the morning, “our body ideally needs protein (eggs, cheese, butter, etc.) because it needs dopamine, the neurotransmitter that “starts” the day, gives concentration and energy, dietitian nutritionist Isabelle Descamps tells us. If we consume sugar, it will sit on the dopamine receptors and stop the molecule from doing its job.

However, there is no need to completely ban fruit juices and biscuits from our diet. But these indulgent foods should be part of a balanced diet, the dietician concludes.

(1) Happy DietBy Claire Tromenschlager, Solar Editions, 240 pages, €21.90.