I count calories. I read food labels, and I weigh and measure my food. My calorie counting method is to record all of food in a computer food journal, which provides me with nutritional values for that food, and does the daily calorie math for me. The food journal that I use, DietPower, has an enormous food dictionary, and it also allows me to input food information from the labels of the food I actually use.

However, all of this carefully calculated calorie number is only an estimate.

We cannot be exactly certain of the amount of calories contained in the food we eat. This is partially because of labeling inaccuracies, partially because of measuring inaccuracies, and partially because of other things affecting calories, such as the the fact that even two pieces of the same fruit which are exactly the same size, can have small calorie differences due to the fruit’s ripeness etc.

Calories In:
      The amount of calories going into a body are estimates, 
                                 
Calories Out: 
       How many calories a body burns once those foods are inside that body is also an estimate.

It is an undisputed fact that different bodies burn different amounts of calories. All of the charts and graphs and formulas for BMR and RMR, are merely based on AVERAGES. Different people, even those who are the same sex, the same age and the same size, with similar activity levels, will burn calories at a lower level or a higher level than the BMR and RMR average calculations which these formulas provide.

We cannot exactly KNOW how many calories we are taking in, or how many calories our bodies are using. However, even though this information is inaccurate, It provides us with useful Guidelines, which makes it well worth the effort. Calorie Counting has helped me achieve a large weight-loss, and it is helping me to maintain that weight-loss.

Many long-term, Low-Carb people seem to be coming around to an understanding that Calorie Intake matters. Although the Low-carb position continues to be “that it’s not a simple matter of calories in, calories out”, many long-term low-carb “experts” are now speaking out in support of the fact that calories do matter -- in that calories have a strong influence within a carbohydrate restricted context, and that low-carb eating is not a license for eating large and unlimited amounts of food.

This is based on the position that although “a calorie is a calorie” going into the body, calories are handled differently within a body, “downstream”, and while the basic process is the same for everyone, not all bodies handle the same number of calories in exactly the same way.

Regina Wilshire of Weight of the Evidence Blog, who defines herself as “Low-Carb Health Examiner”, states this position in the following way.

“while those who initially follow a low-carb diet do not need to count calories, calories do count - in context. The context is physiology, the chemistry within our metabolism which is driven by our endocrine system. It isn't simply a math problem to calculate input of calories and output of energy expenditure - it requires actual nutrients within the context of those calories because a calorie is not a calorie in our body - a sugar calorie acts differently in our body than a fat calorie. Context.”

I recently ran across a video about calories by Barry Groves, Oxford, United Kingdom, who holds himself out as a Nutritional author, lecturer and journalist; with a doctorate in nutrional science.

Dr. Groves is a well-known low-carb guy, and the author of books: Natural Health & Weight Loss (2007) and Trick or Treat (2008), and he blogs at Second Opinion. I’ve purchased and read both his books, as well as his blog, and found them interesting and informative with regard to providing support for the Theory that a low-carb diet should be high-fat, and not high protein.

I find this video posted below, “Why You Can’t Count Calories”, to be an interesting analysis of the calorie counting process.
A Note of Caution about inaccurate statements within this video about Protein calories and Protein requirements. People have a maximum and a minimum requirement for Protein. The official protein requirement is between 0.8 and 1.2 grams per kilogram (2.2 lbs) of Ideal Body Weight.  Very few people have a 300 lb ideal body weight ... but if someone does, their protein requirement would be around 110 to 135 grams of protein daily.  A generally accepted explanation regarding excess protein (and fat) is set forth below.

"So, what happens if you consume too many calories and/or too much protein? Basically, when energy sources are high, both glucogenic and ketogenic amino acids are converted to fatty acids through the intermediate acetyl CoA. Other amino acids that are degraded to intermediates in the Krebs Cycle are siphoned off into the production of urea, a nitrogenous carboxyl compound that is filtered through the kidneys and secreted in the urine.

Put another way, you now have fatty acids that can store as body fat.

It is for this reason one should not consider a low-carb diet as an all-you-can-eat buffet, just hold the carbs. Whether you're new to carbohydrate restriction, or a long-term veteran, you need to know how much protein you need at minimum, and also understand where the maximum is for weight loss and weight maintenance." ....... Regina Wilshire, Weight of the Evidence Blog.

While researching some recent history on the timeline of food events,
I ran across the fact that the Food Pyramid wasn’t even created until 1992.

 This surprised me, because somehow in the vague recesses of my mind, it was something taught to me during the early 1950s in the lower grades of elementry school, and I thought I recalled it being the subject of discussion in an undergraduate sociology college class in the late 1970s. However, after a bit more research I learned the following information.

USDA Food Pyramid History

The USDA Food Pyramid has its origins in the practice of agricultural chemistry in the late 1800s. Wilbur Olin Atwater, Ph.D., an agricultural chemist who founded and directed the Office of Experiment Stations (OES) for the USDA, wrote the first dietary guideline,

Atwater was a researcher, and received government funds to build a large respiration calorimeter for studying human metabolism,

In 1902, Atwater published a USDA Farmer’s Bulletin which emphasized the importance of variety, proportionality, and moderation in healthful eating in the diets of American males. In his research, he determined that the calorie was a means to measure the efficiency of a diet. He calculated that different types of food produced different amounts of energy, and he stressed the importance of a cheap and efficient diet that included more proteins, beans, and vegetables, and to limit the intake of fat, sugar and other starchy carbohydrates.

1917, the first USDA food guide appeared. It was titled How to Select Foods and was written by Caroline Hunt, a nutritionist for the USDA. It ignored Dr. Atwater’s advice to limit fat and sugar intake, and instead emphasized newly discovered vitamins and minerals. Foods recommended came in 5 groups:

milk and meat
cereals
vegetables and fruit
fats and fatty foods
sugars and sugary foods

There were changes to this basic guide to help families during the wartime rationing, but it wasn’t until 1940, when the first "Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA)" was released from the National Academy of Sciences, that the USDA changed its recommendations again.

In 1943, it created the National Wartime Nutrition Guide, and then revised it in 1946 as the National Nutrition Guide. This guide offered 7 food groups which supported the RDA requirements:

Milk and milk products
Meat, poultry, fish, eggs, beans, peas and nuts
Bread, flour and cereals
Leafy green and yellow vegetables
Potatoes and sweet potatoes
Citrus, tomato, cabbage, salad greens
Butter, fortified margarine

During this time, many other guides were issued with contradictory advice. In 1956, because of the confusion, the multiple food group recommendations were revised to the "Basic Four" recommendation. Serving size recommendations were also added and the revisions were published in a booklet titled Essentials of an Adequate Diet..Facts for Nutrition Programs. The 4 food groups in this document included:

Milk
Meat
Fruits and vegetables
Grain products

In 1967, CBS aired a documentary on TV, Hunger in America which reported the extent of hunger and malnutrition among low income groups in the United States. This show galvanized the American people into demanding the expansion of federal food assistance programs. In 1968, the Senate appointed Senator George McGovern to chair the "Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs" with the goal of wiping out hunger and malnutrition in the US.

By 1969, the committee had succeeded in wiping out the US malnutrition issue, but wanting to secure further funding, it began expanding into other areas of health and nutrition.

McGovern and several members of his staff had become familiar with the Ancel Keys' influence on the American Heart Association, which was proposing that fat and cholesterol consumption should be lowered for better heart health, even though the link between the two had never been proven in any scientific study. With this focus, the creation of today's USDA Food Pyramid began.

As Gary Taubes writes in his article The Soft Science of Dietary Fat:

"It was Senator George McGovern's bipartisan, nonlegislative Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs--and, to be precise, a handful of McGovern's staff members--that almost single-handedly changed nutritional policy in this country and initiated the process of turning the dietary fat hypothesis into dogma.”

In January 1977, after listening to the testimony of Ancel Keys and other doctors and scientists intent on promoting the unsupported Dietary Fat-Heart hypothesis, the Committee published the "Dietary Goals for the United States" recommending that all Americans reduce their fat, saturated fat and cholesterol consumption, and increase their carbohydrate consumption to 55-60% of daily calories."

Gary Taubes writes about this historic event:

“Then resident wordsmith Nick Mottern, a former labor reporter for The Providence Journal, was assigned the task of researching and writing the first "Dietary Goals for the United States." Mottern, who had no scientific background and no experience writing about science, nutrition, or health, believed his Dietary Goals would launch a "revolution in diet and agriculture in this country." He avoided the scientific and medical controversy by relying almost exclusively on Harvard School of Public Health nutritionist Mark Hegsted for input on dietary fat. Hegsted had studied fat and cholesterol metabolism in the early 1960s, and he believed unconditionally in the benefits of restricting fat intake..”

Upon release of the guidelines, the cattle, egg, and dairy industries went ballistic. Congress was telling people that animal products were bad for health!

The intense pressure from these industries forced the committee into revising the report in late 1977. But the damage had been done, and American meat, egg and milk consumption continued to fall.

Because the goals of this document were so different, the USDA did not adopt them at first. In 1980, the USDA partnered with the Health and Human Services department to issue the first edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which eventually became the USDA Food Pyramid.

During the 1980s, several other guidelines and reports were issued by various agencies. These included the Surgeon General’s Report on Nutrition and Health, and the National Research Council’s Diet and Health Report. Both reports were heavily influenced by the low fat proponents.

The USDA leaned heavily on these reports in the revision of its USDA Food Pyramid guidelines in the early 1990s. Interestingly, the actual graphic for the USDA food pyramid came from Sweden.  In 1988, several USDA scientists obtained copies of Sweden’s food pyramid at an international conference, and used it as a graphical basis for a new guideline in the US.

The result was the 1992 USDA Food Pyramid. This graphical depiction of the USDA’s guidelines has been the source of government food advice since then.

The USDA revised the food pyramid in 2010. The panel of "experts" advising the USDA were all proponents of the low fat, high carb diet. The research supporting a lower carb diet and reduced grain consumption was not reviewed, and the pyramid continues to recommend the products that benefit agricultural and food processing interests.

The latest development in the USDA Food Pyramid history saw the pyramid dismantled in favor of the new and "easier" to understand USDA "My Plate”

Although the graphic has changed, the same dietary advice is still being offered.

FOOD HISTORY TIMELINE

Here’s more history of food events between 1950 and 1982.

1951 The first Jack-in-the-Box opens in San Diego

1951 Swanson introduces beef, chicken, turkey pot pies.

1952 The first sugar free no calorie soft drinks are introduced.

1952 Lipton's dry Onion Soup Mix is introduced.

1952 Sugar Frosted Flakes, 29 percent sugar, are introduced by Kelloggs.

1952 Clarence Birdseye introduces the first frozen peas.

1952 Mrs. Paul's introduces frozen fish sticks.

1952 Colonel Harland Sanders begins to franchise KFC restaurants. Pete Harman of Salt Lake City gets the first franchise, and agrees to pay 5 cents for each chicken sold.

1953 USDA Agricultural Research Service created.

1953 John H. Kraft received a patent for the manufacture of soft surface cured cheese.

1953 Dow Chemical creates Saran Wrap

1953 The French Sardine Co. (since 1917) becomes Star-Kist Foods. Charlie the Tuna comes on board in 1961.

1953 Kraft Cheez Whiz is introduced. Originally created as an easy way to make Welsh rarebit, this stable cheese sauce comes in a jar with Worcestershire sauce, mustard flour and orange coloring added. A survey of American housewives reveals more than 1,300 possible uses for the product.

1953 Kellogg’s Sugar Smacks are introduced - they contained 56% sugar.

1953 Simplot introduced frozen french-fried potatoes on a commercial basis.

1953 There were more than 15,000 pizzerias in the U.S.

1953 The first Danny's Donuts opened in Lakewood California. The name will change to Danny's Coffee Shops, and finally in 1959 to Denny's Restaurants.

1954 TV dinners are introduced. C.A. Swanson & Sons introduced the first TV dinner: roast turkey with stuffing and gravy, sweet potatoes and peas. It sold for 98 cents and came in an aluminum tray, so you could just open the box and heat the dinner in the oven. (No microwave ovens back then). Supposedly executive Gerald Thomas came up with the idea when the company had tons of leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. The idea for the aluminum trays came from the trays used for airline food.. They were an immediate success, and Turkey dinners are still the most popular Swanson frozen dinner. Swanson stopped calling them TV dinners in 1962.

1954 Carnation introduced instant nonfat dry milk.

1954 Kraft introduced Cracker Barrel brand natural cheese.

1954 Process for making instant potato flakes developed.

1954 The Butterball brand and the self-basting turkey are introduced. Through genetics, Swift develops a broad-breasted bird without the tough tendons and uses a hot-water bath to remove feathers.

1954 M&M's Peanut Chocolate Candies were introduced. Also, the the famous slogan, 'The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hand,' slogan is introduced.

1954 Trix cereal is introduced by General Mills. It is more than 46% sugar.

1955 First franchised McDonald's was opened in Des Plaines, Illinois, by Ray Kroc, who bought the hamburger restaurant owned by the McDonald brothers. On opening day a 2 patty hamburger was 15 cents and French Fries were 10 cents.

1955 Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California.

1955 The U.S. minimum wage was raised from 75 cents to $1.00

1955 The first microwave oven for home use was introduced by the Tappan Stove Company. It cost about $1,300.

1955 Kellogg introduced Special K breakfast cereal, with only 4.5% sugar.

1956 80% of U.S. households now have a refrigerator.

1957 Burger King introduced the Whopper burger.

1957 Better Homes & Gardens prints its first microwave-cooking article.

1957 Margarine sales exceed butter sales for the first time.

1957 General Foods Corp. introduces TANG breakfast beverage crystals.

1957 Kentucky Fried Chicken begins selling chicken in buckets.

1958 Friskees introduced the first dry cat food

1958 Rice-A-Roni goes on sale.

1958 Cocoa Puffs cereal is introduced by General Mills; it contains 43% sugar.

1958 Cocoa Krispies is introduced by Kellogg’s - it's 45.9% sugar.

1958 Jolly Green Giant was born. He appears on TV, but he looks like a monster and scares kids. So they lighten him up a bit, added 'Ho, ho, ho' and and a catchy jingle.

1958 Sweet n' Low was introduced as an artificial sweetener.

1958 McDonald's sold its 100 millionth hamburger.

1958 Jif peanut butter was introduced (creamy).

1958 Royal Crown Cola begins test marketing Diet Rite Cola, the first diet cola. It goes national in 1962.

1959 The one billionth can of Spam was sold

1959 Polish born New York businessman Reuben Mattus created a premium ice cream. He gave it the Danish sounding name, Haagan Dazs.

1959 Mike Ilitch opened the first 'Little Caesars Pizza'

1960 Frozen bagels were introduced.

1960 Instant potatoes developed.

1960 Aluminum cans were first used commercially for food and beverages.

1960 Domino's Pizza was founded.

1961 'Boiling Bags' were introduced - frozen plastic packages of food that can be dropped in boiling water to heat them for serving.

1961 Teflon coated frying pans were introduced.

1961 General Mills introduced 'Total' breakfast cereal.

1961 Unilever introduced 'Mrs. Butterworth's Syrup.

1961 Green Giant entered the frozen food business with peas, corn, green beans and baby Lima beans in pouches with butter sauce.

1961 Coca-Cola Co. introduced 'Sprite' lemon-lime soft drink to compete with 7-Up.

1961 Carnation introduced 'Coffee-Mate' nondairy creamer.

1962 The pull tab for beverage cans is introduced.

1962 Planters introduced dry roasted peanuts.

1963 Maxwell House introduced the first freeze-dried instant coffee.

1963 Jean Nidetch founded Weight Watchers.

1963 Fruit Loops breakfast cereal is introduced.

1963 ChipsAhoy! chocolate chip cookies are introduced.

1963 The one billionth McDonald's hamburger was served by Ray Kroc on the Art Linkletter Show.

1963 Coca Cola introduced TaB, its new diet cola.

1964 St. Paul, Minnesota gets its first McDonald's Restaurant. Burgers are 15 cents each.

1964 The first 12 oz aluminum can was introduced by Royal Crown Cola. It wasn't until 3 years later that Coke started using the aluminum can.

1964 Pepsi Cola introduced Diet Pepsi.

1965 Cool Whip, a whipped cream substitute, was introduced by General Foods. Within 3 months it is the top selling whipped topping product.

1965 The first Subway sandwich shop opens in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

1965 Campbell Soup Company introduces Franco-American Spaghetti-O's.

1965 The Pillsbury Doughboy, 'Poppin' Fresh,' was born. He made his debut in a commercial for crescent rolls.

1966 McDonald's begins using frozen french fries.

1966 Ingredients are required to be listed on food packages. The first Truth in packaging law.

1966 American Roman Catholics are no longer required to abstain from eating meat on Fridays.

1967 Gatorade, the original sports drink, is developed by the University of Florida for their football team.

1967 Plastic milk bottles are introduced.

1967 A gallon of milk cost $1.03, but in 2006 dollars that would be $6.24

1967 Wholesome Meat Act passed

1968 The Big Mac was introduced at McDonalds for 49 cents

1968 The first Red Lobster restaurant opened in Lakeland, Florida.

1969 Pringles potato chips were introduced - made from dehydrated, mashed potatoes.

1969 The last issue of the Saturday Evening Post was published. 1821-1969

1969 The 3 day Woodstock Music and Arts Fair began on a dairy farm in Upstate New York.

1969 Cyclamate, a non-caloric sweetener, was banned. Discovered in 1937, and widely used in the food industry, gigantic amounts of cyclamate were found to cause cancer in laboratory rats. Cyclamate is still used in many countries around the world.

1970 Hamburger Helper was introduced.

1970 The Red Lobster restaurant chain was acquired by General Mills.

1971 The Quarter Pounder was introduced at McDonald's for 53 cents.

1971 The first Starbucks opened in Seattle.

1971 Coca Cola introduces the plastic bottle.

1971 Disney World opened at Orlando, Florida.

1972 The McDonald's Egg McMuffin breakfast sandwich was created.

1972 The first Ruby Tuesday restaurant was opened near the Knoxville campus of the University of Tennessee.

1973 'Promise' brand margarine was introduced.

1973 'Stove Top Dressing' was introduced by General Foods.

1973 'Cup o'Noodles' was introduced in the U.S. by Nissin Foods.

1973 Coleman's Mustard celebrates its 150th anniversary.

1974 Nutrition labeling of fluid milk products begins.

1976 There are no red M&Ms from 1976 to 1987. The popular food coloring, Red Dye No. 2, was banned by the FDA because studies had shown it might cause cancer. Red M&Ms disappeared for 11 years because of the ban.

1976 Pierrier water was introduced in the U.S.

1978 Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream and Crepes opened in a former gas station in Vermont.

1979 Pillsbury acquires the Green Giant Company.

1979 McDonald's introduced the Happy Meal for kids.

1979 General Mills introduced 'Honey Nut Cheerioes'

1979 There are about 6,000 KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) restaurants, and they sell 2.7 billion pieces of chicken.

1980 Due to record high sugar prices, Coca Cola begins substituting high fructose corn syrup for half of the sucrose (sugar) used in Coca Cola.

1980 McDonald's test marketed Chicken McNuggets in Knoxville, Tennessee. They are so popular that they have to look for a second supplier.

1981 Lean Cuisine frozen dinners were introduced.

1981 The USDA announced that ketchup could be counted as a vegetable in the school lunch program.

1981 The FDA approved the artificial sweetener Aspartame (NutraSweet) for tabletop use.

1982 Diet Coke was introduced.

Check out McDonald's original prices.



Here are a few food-related-events occuring over a past 50 year period.

1950’s – USDA creates four basic food groups: milk, meat, fruits and vegetables, and breads and cereals.

1954 – Swanson unveils the first TV dinners.

1955 – Ray Kroc opens his first McDonald’s franchise.

1963 – Weight Watchers is incorporated and the first public meeting is held in a loft in Queens.

1967 – Amana introduces the first domestic Radarange microwave oven.

1977 – Portion sizes start to swell. Hamburgers expand by 23% in the next 20 years; a plate of Mexican food gets 27% bigger; soft drinks increase by 52%; snacks (potato chips, pretzels, crackers) grow 60%.

1989 – February is declared National Snack Food Month by the Snack Food Association. A month-long campaign results in a 41% increase in snack food consumption.

1990s – Foods labeled “Low-Fat” and “Lite” hit their stride.

1991 – The World Wide Web is born.

1992 – USDA Food Pyramid is created.

1998 – Olestra, a non-digestible, nutritionless fat substitute is approved by the FDA for use in no-fat snacks.

What IS a good Diet (or Lifestyle or Way-of-Eating)?
What’s the criteria we use when making this judgment call?

Is it the amount of weight we lose, when we’re following it?
Is it the amount or the kind of food we eat, when we’re following it?
Is it the physical feeling our body has, when we’re following it?
Is it the emotional satisfaction we feel, when we’re following it?
Is it the length of time we can follow it?

 Here’s one answer:

How do you know you're on a "good" diet?

Simple. You like it.

What do I mean?

Tolerating a diet's not good enough.
If you're only tolerating your new lifestyle you're certainly not likely to keep living it.

Food wise - you can't be regularly battling hunger, it can't be making you feel unwell
and your life has to be "normal" meaning you should be able to include food
for comfort, food for celebration, with no forbidden foods.

Fitness wise -
you can't be running out of time, running out of energy, hurting yourself, or hating it.

Ultimately you're aiming for a lifestyle where you can't happily eat any less
and you can't happily exercise any more.

Sure we can all improve our lifestyles but to use an extreme example,
... do you really think you can be a tee-totaling vegan, shut-in, marathon runner forever?

If you can't happily eat less, you're not going to eat less.
If you can't happily exercise more, you're not going to exercise more.

Your goal should be your personal best
recognizing that the best lifestyle you can enjoy
and the best lifestyle that you can tolerate
are two very different things.

            Yoni Freedhoff, MD, Canadian obesity doctor, weightymatters .com