A Balanced Diet - Calorie Counting Or Nutritional Density?

Nutrient density means how many nutrients you get from a food, given the number of calories it contains. Nutrient-dense foods give you the most nutrients for the fewest number of calories. No principle is more likely to support healthy eating than that of nutrient density, because it gives you concentrated amounts of valuable nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, fibre, essential fatty acids and phytonutrients, to name just a few.

- Stefan Maritz

I once did what I’m sure every person who is seriously concerned about their health has done or is planning – a juice fast (living on freshly squeezed and extracted fruit and vegetable juices only). My calorie intake was seriously low for my work as a trainer, but I was stunned by how good I felt. My skin and sinuses cleared, my joints felt smooth and I managed with less sleep than usual. I also became aware of how nearly everyone around me lived on ‘dead food’, food that’s calorie dense but nutritionally void, and I was once again amazed at the amount of abuse the human body can handle.

In his book Detoxification and Healing Dr Sydney Baker comments that our generation is probably the most overfed and most undernourished ever to live on this planet. 1 One look at the people around you will confirm this. Obesity and morbid obesity are increasing relentlessly, and people’s health is going downhill faster than a speeding bullet. This is happening despite all our medical advances and a world obsessed with diets, calorie counting and six-pack abdominals. We must be doing something seriously wrong.

COUNTING CALORIES 

The majority of diets today focus on one aspect – counting calories. This approach is based on the theory that for a person’s weight to remain constant, energy intake should equal energy expenditure. To lose weight, you have to take in less energy than you burn, or burn more energy than you eat. But is it really that simple?