Is It More Important To Eat Enough Calories Or Get Enough Nutrients?

AnonE

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This is a really important question and something I'm trying to figure out, at least for myself. Right now I would say it is nutrients. But for sure calories matter if you're undergoing enough physical exertion that cause stress hormones to spike too high.

I find Weston Price's work really interesting - Weston Price - Wikipedia

"In the book, Price claimed that various diseases endemic to Western cultures of the 1920s and 1930s – from dental caries to tuberculosis – were rarely present in non-Western cultures. He argued that as non-Western groups abandoned indigenous diets and adopted Western patterns of living, they showed increases in typical Western diseases. He concluded that Western methods of commercially preparing and storing foods stripped away vitamins and minerals necessary to prevent these diseases."

The "Western Diseases" have only accelerated as far as I can tell, with various hair loss and fertility problems noticeably accelerating in the last few decades.
 

somuch4food

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"In the book, Price claimed that various diseases endemic to Western cultures of the 1920s and 1930s – from dental caries to tuberculosis – were rarely present in non-Western cultures. He argued that as non-Western groups abandoned indigenous diets and adopted Western patterns of living, they showed increases in typical Western diseases. He concluded that Western methods of commercially preparing and storing foods stripped away vitamins and minerals necessary to prevent these diseases."

I've found Weston Price's work interesting. I'm not advocating the Foundation after his name though. I think that his conclusion is flawed.

The more I research the more I'm finding that the problem is that we are slowly poisoning ourselves with shelf stable foods.
  • Cooling cooked starchy foods creates a new form of resistant starch that can have a bad impact on our body.
  • Vinegar and fermentation increase histamine and disturb gut biomes.
  • Refined and heated oils (PUFA) increase inflammation and damage the body.
As for the matter on hand, I'd say calories. I got into healthy eating this summer (almost no processed food, no added sugar, low starch, some meat, high colored fruits and vegetables) and it was the worst period of my life. I got insomnia and I was manic. With enough calories and not enough nutrients, your body will slowly breakdown over time, but without enough calories the breakdown is accelerated and more issues creep up.

When I eat foods that I tolerate well and I keep stress at bay, calories truly do not matter. I don't put on weight. If I eat foods that cause me issues over a sustained period, I will gain fat. That's why I think people put on weight over time, they don't realize that what they are eating/doing is putting a burden on their body.
 
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Well, eating a surplus of calories, especially if you have a background of undereating, will indicate to your cells that they are living in times of abundance. Since there is food available whenever you need it, they will realize there is no need to store a lot of those calories as fat, so you will actually have a increased metabolism, which will cause your cells to be constantly bathing in healing CO2 and ATP. Keeping degenerative diseases and infectious diseases at bay will be much more easily done and your stress hormones will be down. Calories are really important. If you don't ingest enough calories, your cells are gonna get them from some part of your body. Some of those calories will come from your fat tissue, but some will come from muscles and other organs, which means degeneration.

With that said, ingesting calories without enough micronutrients will make you waste calories, since you can't carry out oxidative metabolism correctly without things like thiamin and niacinamide and magnesium. That means you are going to increase your lactate levels, since the pyruvate dehydrogenase enzyme doesn't act without nutrientes and the pyruvate will be turned into lactate. Acidosis is a problem seen in diabetics due to lactate and probably ketones as well. Also, the electrons from your food won't be directed to the electron transport chain, which means oxidative stress. In addition, ingesting protein without vitamin B6 will increase your homocysteine levels, increasing inflammation in the body. Without potassium , your insulin levels are going to increase, since potassium is the main thing with insulin-like action in the blood.

So, in the end, one thing isn't more important than the other. You actually can't have just one of these things and be fine. If you only ingest calories, you will be sick; if you only ingest micronutrients, you will be sick. Calories need nutrients to be properly utilized and micronutrients won't work without calories. For example, potasium without carbohydrate causes hypoglycemia.
 

lampofred

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I miss being a kid when I could eat whatever I want and do whatever I want with 0 degeneration :(
 
B

Braveheart

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Well, eating a surplus of calories, especially if you have a background of undereating, will indicate to your cells that they are living in times of abundance. Since there is food available whenever you need it, they will realize there is no need to store a lot of those calories as fat, so you will actually have a increased metabolism, which will cause your cells to be constantly bathing in healing CO2 and ATP. Keeping degenerative diseases and infectious diseases at bay will be much more easily done and your stress hormones will be down. Calories are really important. If you don't ingest enough calories, your cells are gonna get them from some part of your body. Some of those calories will come from your fat tissue, but some will come from muscles and other organs, which means degeneration.

With that said, ingesting calories without enough micronutrients will make you waste calories, since you can't carry out oxidative metabolism correctly without things like thiamin and niacinamide and magnesium. That means you are going to increase your lactate levels, since the pyruvate dehydrogenase enzyme doesn't act without nutrientes and the pyruvate will be turned into lactate. Acidosis is a problem seen in diabetics due to lactate and probably ketones as well. Also, the electrons from your food won't be directed to the electron transport chain, which means oxidative stress. In addition, ingesting protein without vitamin B6 will increase your homocysteine levels, increasing inflammation in the body. Without potassium , your insulin levels are going to increase, since potassium is the main thing with insulin-like action in the blood.

So, in the end, one thing isn't more important than the other. You actually can't have just one of these things and be fine. If you only ingest calories, you will be sick; if you only ingest micronutrients, you will be sick. Calories need nutrients to be properly utilized and micronutrients won't work without calories. For example, potasium without carbohydrate causes hypoglycemia.
It's not how much or how little you eat...it's how well you eat.
 

somuch4food

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It's not how much or how little you eat...it's how well you eat.

Ok, but what's eating well for you?

Calories do matter, but it's not as simple as calories in calories out.

You certainly need micronutrients, but requirements vary widely depending on an individual's circumstances.
 
B

Braveheart

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Ok, but what's eating well for you?

Calories do matter, but it's not as simple as calories in calories out.

You certainly need micronutrients, but requirements vary widely depending on an individual's circumstances.
working for me?
skim milk
coffee
orange juice
olive oil
egg yolks
sardines
beef/pork/turkey
cabbage
cheese
salmon
coconut water
green tea
pineapple
grapes etc
prunes
almonds
dark chocolate
spinach
small 200 gr salad tomato cucumber onion garlic sweet pepper cilantro chickpea w my seafood...albacore/salmon
 
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It's not how much or how little you eat...it's how well you eat.
What does that mean though? If by eating well you mean eating quality foods with a natural balance of calories and nutrients, then yeah I agree, but maybe you mean't something else?
 
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working for me?
skim milk
coffee
orange juice
olive oil
egg yolks
sardines
beef/pork/turkey
cabbage
cheese
salmon
coconut water
green tea
pineapple
grapes etc
prunes
almonds
dark chocolate
spinach
small 200 gr salad tomato cucumber onion garlic sweet pepper cilantro chickpea w my seafood...albacore/salmon
Interesting diet!
 
B

Braveheart

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This, after much study of nutritional biology and learning from this forum...not following only one lone guru...and with special emphasis on CVD/longevity and anti cancer.
Not locked into anything...Constantly evolving as I learn more....
 

somuch4food

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Not locked into anything...Constantly evolving as I learn more....

That's the spirit everyone should have regarding their own health. Often though, people can get stubborn when they're convinced of something either by authorities or beliefs.
 

Peatful

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TeaRex14

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A diet abundant in micro nutrients, with a slight caloric deficit, is the safest way to lose weight. So I would say nutrients are more important, to an extent anyways. You never really want to eat less than about 300-400 calories below your maintenance level, it'll just lower your basal metabolic rate and you'll retain fat instead of lose it.
 
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I found this thread quite informative, than you all.
 

Andman

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You never really want to eat less than about 300-400 calories below your maintenance level, it'll just lower your basal metabolic rate and you'll retain fat instead of lose it.

retain fat in a caloric deficit?
 

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