Is a Calorie just a Calorie?
I wasn’t originally going to answer this question, but as time went by, we found more and more people who still buy into this bizarre idea.
A local café that Steve and I frequent once a week even has a fucking ‘weight watchers club’, and I remember my Mum was a member of that lot when it kind of made sense, 35 years ago!
It was shoddy science even then, but in fairness, back when it started in 1963, the information and evidence that it was retarded, was nowhere near as easy to find as it is today.
Plus of course, we’ve discovered a hell of a lot since then, including the mega important hormone Leptin for example, which wasn’t discovered till 1993, and then Ghrelin, which came along in 1996.
So no, a calorie isn’t a calorie, and we have tons of evidence that this was well understood as far back as the 1860’s. Which is shocking isn’t it!
Someone must really want this nutritional myth to stay alive, and here’s why.
Imagine you sell some piece of shit candy bar, beer, burger or soft drink, and I come along and lay the blame for the increase in obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s, squarely at your doorstep.
Wouldn’t it be convenient if you had a bunch of (paid for) dumbass PhD’s, that were willing to testify that ‘a calorie is just a calorie’?
Because then you could conclude, and mass advertise the ‘fact’, that all those diseases and more, are simply down to calories in versus calories out.
Energy balance in other words, and the general public’s inability to manage it.
Therefore, no single foodstuff or product could ever be accountable, but the ‘great unwashed’ (public) are!
This would divert all attention off your crappy soda, biscuits, waffles, candy, bread, or whatever dogshit you push, and onto the ‘character defects’ of the public, who obviously have ‘eating disorders’ and need psychological help.
Then you, along with other junk food manufacturers, could all chip in a million apiece (small potatoes, if you’ll pardon the pun), and launch a massive public ‘Dietary Awareness’ campaign.
You could go into schools to educate kids on calories in v calories out, and even put bullshit ‘advice’ on your packaging, like you give a fuck about how your product might even be used as ‘part of a calorie controlled diet’, or how your soda only represents a small percentage of daily calories anyhow.
The fact that some people glug down 2 litres of it per day, of course, will be conveniently missed.
So, this is why we believe this myth still persists to this day, solely to protect the junk food industry, which is an absolute juggernaut in terms of political power, corruption, and manipulation of the data.
We also believe this answer wasn’t what you were looking for, and thankfully you didn’t ask ‘Why’ is a calorie, not just a calorie’, which frankly is a nightmare to explain in under 10,000 words.
But to give you some clues, just look deeply into ‘hormones’ for the answer.
You’ll discover real quick, that certain types of calories profoundly affect certain hormones, and not in a good way.
You’ll also discover that the timing of certain foods, breakfast cereals, for example, can completely trash and derail any ideas of burning body-fat you may have had, plus leave you hungry again in 2 hours’ time, which is still 2 hours before lunch, and after lunch you’ll feel like a fucking zombie, and soon need a coffee and cake!
No, a calorie is never just a calorie.
Hope that helps.
Blunt Coach Andy
