Today, Indigo Nutritionist @carolynbrownie is talking Quality > Calories! 👩🏼‍🌾

Not all calories are created equal. 200 calories from broccoli will make you feel very different from 200 calories of brownies. And while there’s a time and place for brownies, today we’re letting you in on our nutrition philosophy of why calorie counting is not the most important — or the most precise — tool, even if weight loss is your goal.

Calories on labels

Calories on labels have a 20% margin of error. So if a nutrition bar says it has 250 calories, it might actually have 200 — or 300! On that note, research was done on almonds recently that found they actually have 20% less calories than previously thought. So calorie counting is NOT exact. And we don’t want our friends, clients, or ourselves spending time calculating all day long. Imagine what you could do with all that energy & brainpower!

Our bodies are chemistry experiments not calculators

There is so much more to food than calories, grams of protein or fiber. We want to eat really nutrient-dense, whole foods at most of our meals, that are full of phytonutrients and macronutrients that work together in ways we are only at the cusp of fully understanding. (Did you know, the science of nutrition is not even a century old?!).

And calories are definitely not a thing in eastern / Chinese medicine either. We want to give our bodies the right ingredients to optimize our energy, mood, hormones, focus, & weight.

How to focus on quality not calories

If you’re eating high quality, whole foods, calories really aren’t going to matter as much as you previously thought! Our bodies know what to do with this fuel, how to use it, and how to get rid of excess.

A few tips:

• Try to eat veggies at 2+ meals per day

• Aim for 3+ colors of veggies per day

• Have at least 2 meals with quality protein per day (wild fish, pasture eggs, organic chicken/meat, organic tofu)

• Include whole grains like quinoa, brown rice, amaranth, and complex carbs like sweet potatoes and winter squash

• Try to go package free a few days a week

• Go as homemade as possible, for as many meals as possible!