Prioritizing Calorie Information Over Nutritional Information

While sufficient nutrition is of vital importance, the focus of much teaching and learning in diet is about calories because of the epidemic levels of obesity. To maintain your health, use the information below to incorporate weight management goals into your decisions regarding nutrition.

If you are concerned about your nutrition, consider what’s creating your concern such as whether you’ve been diagnosed with a particular deficiency or you believe you’re missing something. Instead of trying to become an amateur dietitian, address the specific nutrition elements you’re concerned with such as calcium or vitamin D and learn what you can about those.

If you’re considering a change in diet read about the nutritional impact from such changes and determine how you intend to meet nutritional requirements with your new diet. Always consider the number of calories the new foods have compared to foods you formerly ate.

Be aware that changing your diet can result in weight gain as well as weight loss from your changed eating habits. During the first few weeks of a diet change, consider weighing yourself more frequently than you usually weigh yourself and counting calories a little more carefully than you normally do in order to get an idea of how your caloric intake has changed with your new diet.

Do not assume that you’re improperly nourished. The vast majority of dietitian advice indicates that a well-balanced diet is the best way to be confident that you are properly nourished.

Carefully measure portion sizes for your meals and snacks. If possible transfer food onto dishware that you normally use to see how your usual portions compare to recommended portion size.

If you aren’t eating as much because of increased inactivity or something as simple as aging, adjust your calorie intake to reflect your reduced activity. Consider trying to incorporate more exercise into your routine for overall health rather than permanently incorporating a more sedentary lifestyle. While reducing calories is an effective way to maintain your healthy weight when you are inactive, strength and endurance as well as benefits to bones and organ function are lost when you stop exercising.

Choose to dine at restaurants that provide nutritional and calorie information. Currently calorie information is easier to obtain than nutritional information because there are more laws mandating the disclosure of calorie information.

Beware of common pitfalls with labeled calories on food. This includes calorie counts that apply to single portions when the package states it contains more than one serving and instances where calories are listed without including calories from common condiments like dressing or mayonnaise.

If you believe you are missing something nutritionally in your diet, make every effort to substitute foods rather than merely adding foods to your diet to accommodate the deficiency. For instance if you decide to add three glasses of milk a day for calcium and vitamin D, be certain you reduce the number of calories you’re taking in somewhere else so that your commitment to calcium and vitamin D doesn’t result in you gaining weight.

Balancing your need to maintain good nutrition and a healthy weight can be difficult. Use the above suggestions to focus on your calories while preserving good nutrition in your diet.