Quality vs. Quantity of Calories. Which is More Important?

I listened to a podcast the other day while I was driving for work. Jimmy Moore's Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show featured fitness expert Sam Feltham and Sam's 5,000 calorie experiment. Sam's hypothesis is that when it comes to weight and health, counting calories isn't as important as the type of calories consumed.

Sam spent 21 days eating over 5,000 calories a day. The diet was made up of mostly protein, healthy fats and hardly any carbohydrates. He gained around 3 pounds on this diet.

Then he did another 21 day diet of the same amount of calories a day made up of the average American diet - things like pizza, soda, bread, pasta, cereal, hamburgers, etc. On this diet, he gained over 16 pounds. In addition to the weight gain, he felt sick.

On the podcast interview and in these articles, Sam describes the way his body responded to each of these diets: the way he felt, the cravings he had, his energy levels... He goes into a lot of detail that was very convincing. I recommend listening to the podcast when you have a chance, and you can see examples of a day in the life of this experiment on Sam's blog.

Tuckered-out dogs!

These first two days of the week I've been pretty good at sticking with my lower-carb, quality food efforts. Tonight I made turkey meatballs with onion, garlic, coconut flakes and flax seed simmered in tomatoes, broccoli and kale with apple cider vinegar and olive oil.

Tomorrow is going to be a challenge because I'll be in training all day at work, and they always order pizza, bread sticks and desert for lunch on training days. It's tough to be around it and not partake. I might be better off allowing myself to eat it and keep my portions small. Maybe if I read some of my favorite fitness blogs just before lunch I'll be motivated to stick with it...