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Calorie Counting App Has No Effect on Mental Health or Health Behaviors

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Re: Calorie Counting App Has No Effect on Mental Health or Health Behaviors

#71

Post by nisegami »

l33t2328 wrote: post #8
uninstantiated wrote: post #6

It's not surprising that merely counting calories has no effect. The idea that all calories are the same is flawed. In fact, obesity is the result of the wrong types of foods i.e. sugars which are metabolised differently by the body than other types. Sugar triggers the insulin response which leads to overeating and detrimental fluctuations in cognitive capacity and concentration. What would be more beneficial than ca…

It is not possible to gain weight by eating your total daily calorie expenditure in pure sugar. Yes, not all calories are metabolized the same, and sugar may lead to over eating, but at the end of the day, it’s a simple equation. You can’t gain weight without taking in more than you’re putting out.

You aren't wrong in a technical sense, but this is far too reductionist. The type of calories and the way you consume them can't change the thermodynamics, but they can and do change your hunger, satiation and other bodily sensations that feed back into the thermodynamics by affecting your calories in and calories out. The simplest example is not needing a mid-morning snack because your choice of calories led to you being satiated for longer.

Re: Calorie Counting App Has No Effect on Mental Health or Health Behaviors

#72

Post by Bancakes »

jjoonathan wrote: post #16
firecall wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think because it's a poor message to provide people who struggle with their weight and nutrition. In fact, CICO completely neglects the nutrition aspect of what you eat. So people tend to be somewhat cavalier and claim it's easy to lose weight, it's just CICO. But that really isn't the whole story. As any actual qualified scientist in the field of nutrition will tell you. Of course you absolutely would lose weight…

CICO != "Neglect Nutrition"

CICO = "eat 80% TDEE in hamburgers and birthday cakes and you'll be fine ;)"

Re: Calorie Counting App Has No Effect on Mental Health or Health Behaviors

#73

Post by derbOac »

Melatonic wrote: post #30

Is this something we need to prove a negative? Why do we assume counting calories and "dietary self monitoring" is a bad thing?

So I've worked on psychiatric units clinically, as well as in obesity-related clinics.

It's not uncommon to hear things from family and other social support figures along the lines of "if X starts weighing themselves or counting calories they'll develop an eating disorder". Or even, with individuals who are anorexic to the extent that it's life threatening, and they need to be weighed etc. to gain weight, family and support individuals say things like "so and so's eating disorder is caused by them weighing themselves and counting their calories. [The staff] should just stop that because it's making the problem worse."

This paper is providing some data pertaining to that.

I don't monitor this literature closely but last time I touched base with it these kinds of things (monitoring weight and calories) were associated with healthier outcomes. I think it depends on the context though a bit.

Re: Calorie Counting App Has No Effect on Mental Health or Health Behaviors

#74

Post by mrguyorama »

MrGilbert wrote: post #54
adrianN wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Germany we mass produce bread that essentially contains exactly the same things I'd put in it if I made it myself.

This. Even if something gets „mass-produced“, it doesn't mean it has to be bad. It just won't be the cheapest product on the market any longer.

Frozen vegetables are basically raw, untouched, pretty good for you food, and they are grown by pretty terrible corporations trying to make as much scummy money as possible, and it STILL only costs me about a buck a pound or less at the grocery store.

Re: Calorie Counting App Has No Effect on Mental Health or Health Behaviors

#75

Post by rimunroe »

rimunroe wrote: post #46
throw__away7391 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my whole life I've known like two people with eating disorders (the not eating enough kind). Almost every single other person aside from those two eat too much, and I'd say mostly they eat way, way too much. Now, those two people definitely had a problem, but knowing them it was one I knew couldn't begin to understand, and I can't imagine that any of the pithy things people say all they time to express concern abo…

> In my whole life I've known like two people with eating disorders (the not eating enough kind). I bet there were a lot more than two! Anorexia is extremely common. It’s also extremely easy to hide from friends and family (and to a lesser extent bulimia, at least for me). I’ve struggled with anorexia and bulimia for about 20 years (since I was 14 or 15). I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve said anything publ…

Also, if you’re really set on only focusing on one of these things (which I think this is a bad idea): the health impact of being anorexic is generally much worse than being overweight.

Re: Calorie Counting App Has No Effect on Mental Health or Health Behaviors

#77

Post by uninstantiated »

knaik94 wrote: post #13
uninstantiated wrote: post #6

It's not surprising that merely counting calories has no effect. The idea that all calories are the same is flawed. In fact, obesity is the result of the wrong types of foods i.e. sugars which are metabolised differently by the body than other types. Sugar triggers the insulin response which leads to overeating and detrimental fluctuations in cognitive capacity and concentration. What would be more beneficial than ca…

I think this would be too nuanced to think about while you're shopping at a grocery store, but every absorbed calorie is a calorie. Sugar is a very direct and easy source of energy that does not take much additional energy to be made into a usable form by the body. There's no additional food slowing or stopping the absorption of sugars. On the other hand, if you look at some complex fats and proteins, the body takes…

All calories aren't equal because of what happens next.

After consuming sugar, your insulin cycle leaves you wanting to consume more 20 minutes later.

After eating the calorific equivalent in an apple, your metabolic process is a smooth glide so you aren't triggered to consume more in the same way as sugar.

The mental health consequences are profound, because executive control of attention is a core component of self. Sugar interrupts concentration both on the high and the withdrawal.

Re: Calorie Counting App Has No Effect on Mental Health or Health Behaviors

#78

Post by bluecalm »

DanBC wrote: post #69
bluecalm wrote: post #43

Why would it? Most people eat too much or way too much. Eating disorders resulting in eating too little are rare in comparison and they stem from well known mental issues. Like, I don't even know how you could come up with a hypothesis that counting calories increases risk of eating disorder. The argument that most anorectic people count calories so there is correlation doesn't even work because most obese people don…

> Like, I don't even know how you could come up with a hypothesis that counting calories increases risk of eating disorder. You've said that the weight loss is caused by the mental illness. You're ignoring all the research showing that weight loss that precedes mental illness can then cause that mental illness. The causation is complex, certainly more complex than your post suggests, and is self-reinforcing. This is…

I am not ignoring it. I just don't see how counting calories can cause any of that. If you want to lose weight in obsessive way you will do so with or without counting. Knowing how much you actually it is just a useful piece of information.
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