Does healthy eating = low-calorie eating?
It can… but it depends a great deal on the individual person. In many cases, I’d argue that a low-calorie diet is not ideal for optimum health (such as the case of an athlete, a growing child or teen, an underweight or healthy-weight adult, etc.).
Today’s post is going to be a little different.
It’s a topic about which I’ve been meaning to write for quite a while; ever since there was a bit of drama and confusion over it in the comment section of this post.
You see, I don’t want to send out the wrong message or give people the impression that I only eat low-calorie foods… or that anyone else should only eat low-calorie foods if he/she doesn’t medically need to do so. My website is not a “this is what I ate today” food blog, and the photos you see on this site are usually just of the recipes (as opposed to the entire meal I might’ve eaten along with the recipe. I can tell you I hardly ever eat just a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast!).
Due to the fact that healthier foods are often lower in calories, and because I know a large number of my blog’s readers are watching their weights, many of the recipes on this blog are—or can be—quite low in calories.
In the photo above: Low-Calorie Peanut Butter Ice Cream
To help the large percentage of my readership that doesn’t want the extra calories, I try to always point out when lower-calorie options exist in my recipes (such as when one can sub applesauce, how to make a recipe lower in fat, etc.).
However, the cool thing is that many of my recipes are easily adaptable to almost any diet. Perhaps I need to pay better attention to the other portion of my readers; those who do not have weight to lose?
It’s a common (and dangerous) misconception that a person who needs to gain weight or eat a high-calorie diet must consume exorbitant amounts of junk food in order to meet this goal. You can meet your nutritional needs without downing milkshakes at every meal, and you’ll probably feel much less sluggish.
Today, I thought I’d highlight a few of the tricks I use to calorically bulk up my food while still being healthy.
In the above picture: Chocolate-Strawberry Truffle Pie.
1. Focus on calorie-dense foods.
Eat these first at a meal, so you don’t feel too full before you’ve gotten in enough calories. Here are some calorie-dense, yet healthy, foods:
- all nuts and nut butters
- oils (such as olive, sesame, or coconut) in their pure form (not the hydrogenated stuff they put in packaged goods!)
- avocados
- Thai coconut meat (really good in smoothies, pies, or puddings)
- dried fruit
- canned coconut milk
- giant bowls of pasta (my favorite!)
- dark chocolate (oh wait, that’s my favorite!)
Raw recipes are often calorie-dense. Here are my favorites.
2. Don’t skip the veggies
…because you’re afraid they’re too low-cal. But do be sure to not just eat them plain and steamed. Try sautéing or roasting with a generous drizzle of olive or coconut oil (so so good).
3. Bigger portions.
For example, I post oatmeal recipes that are for one serving. But when I make them for myself, I always times the recipe by 1.5. Try it sometime… you probably won’t even notice you’re taking in more calories!
4. And eating more often.
Instead of three huge meals per day, space it out with 5-6 smaller meals and snacks throughout the day, giving your stomach a chance to digest. Personally, my job as a recipe developer means I never stop snacking! Chocolate is always close to my heart greedy fingers.
5. Non-healthy treats… sometimes.
I’d say I probably eat healthy foods 80% of the time. But does that mean I’ll turn down a friend’s cookies that she veganized just for me? Or Hangawi’s incredible cheesecake in NYC? No, it does not. (I probably should get a post up about this topic, too… but not today. I think I’ve already talked your ears off enough for one day!)
Do you eat a high-calorie diet? A low-calorie diet?
Or maybe you have absolutely no idea how many calories you consume! Please take an introspective look at your life and make responsible food decisions for you. If that means eating a low-calorie diet, my recipes are here to help. But if that means not eating a low-calorie diet, please take advantage of some of the higher-calorie options listed both in this post and in my recipe posts!
For more, see the following: High Calorie Recipes.
great post! It’s a hard part of having a blog, but people will always judge by little snippets of what they see. Just because I eat healthy (And often lower calorie) foods and meals does NOT mean I’m disordered or trying to lose weight. I eat more often than most people and am maintaining my weight in a way that works for me..just like you!
I don’t know what kind of caloric diet I eat but whatever it is feels right to me and contains plenty of those higher calorie foods you mentioned. I appreciate you being so open and honest with this topic, its tough to put yourself and views out there to so many people.
Good post to re-address the balance as it’s so easy for things to be misunderstood. I personally have no idea how many calories i consume but work on a similar consense to you with a minimum 80-20 healthy-naughty perspective. If i’m eating a healthy vegan diet the majority of the time, with enough good fats and proteins along with all the veggies and my body ‘feels’ good in itself … well then that’s good enough for me!
Great post. People should eat when hungry, but the right food, not counting calories. 😉 I eat high carb, low fat, low protein and I am too skinny for most of the people.
Really good to see. I follow a low calorie diet but when I cook it’s hard to know how to bulk things up for my husband who needs a high calorie diet to gain weight. He sometimes resorts to junk food even though he would much prefer healthy, high-calorie foods. Thanks for the tips and keep them coming!
Oh Jesus freaking tap dancing Christ! I just read all of that scuffle from last year. My question is this. Have you actually seen someone with an eating disorder who is GENUINELY smiling in all of her photos and has hair that flipping shiny????? I used to work out at a gym in my city, and there was this girl who came in every single day and did about 2 hours of cardio and then another hour of strength training. Now I’m not one to judge (or at least I TRY not to, I’m only human…), but we ALL wondered if she might have had some internal issues. Her skin was that of a vampire’s, her hair very thin and stringy, and she had very deep dark circles underneath her eyes. Then I saw her at a Wal-Mart one day, was behind her in the check-out line, and saw what she had in her basket. All fruits and veggies, which is cool…but the other miniscule amounts of food she had were fat-free yogurt, fat-free milk, and NO starches, no grains, no protein sources whatsoever. Perhaps that was not a big shopping trip but a filler, but I can tell you that she never smiled and always wore very baggy clothes, like things to cover her elbows and knees. These are tell-tale signs, although I still can’t be sure. I am looking at Katie and then remembering this other girl–absolutely no comparison. And maybe the other girl from my gym just had some tough stuff going on in her life, and that’s the only way she knew how to cope. But she definitely was NOT healthy. Katie on the other hand is bright and glowing and smiling and just REEKS of enthusiasm for life and for this blog.
I am a ‘newbie’ on your blog, less than a month of reading and I’ve gained a MOUNTAIN of ideas for my own baking. I am a pastry chef by profession (well, currently unemployed, but I still bake and keep my own blog!) and a cake decorator of ten years, and when you are someone like me who has dealt with the non-existent metabolism that comes with a hypothyroidism auto-immune disorder it is a GOD-SEND to find inspiration for desserts that ARE low in calories and sugar but that still taste great. Sugar is NOT my friend. My body reacts so terribly to it. But I still bake super rich and sweet cakes for the few people who pop in by my blog for recipes, and I do it for others because I’m really, really good at what I do. That doesn’t mean that’s my personal lifestyle. It definitely is NOT. I bake a cake, I taste it myself, give a piece to my husband, then it gets delivered to a neighbor, take to his work, or I donate it.
What I find astounding is that in this society we want to defend overweight women, and if you are overweight I’m NOT, repeat NOT picking at you–I completely understand…I’ve had 15 extra lbs. for several years now and although it’s not a truckload of weight, it weighs me down and makes me feel sluggish…I completely empathize with you…food/sugar cravings are nearly always emotional (and can be from unresolved things that even happened in your early childhood, your subconscious brain stores the darndest things!)–but as SOON as we see someone who is thin we want to bash her head in and accuse her throwing up her food or not eating and running 20 miles every day (and God bless you if you can that!). I have very thin girls that used to approach me at my gym all the time a few years back and say they wished they had my booty, or my hips, or my thighs (I have a small waist so I was blessed with some curves…but they can most certainly grow and get out of hand…), and it would baffle me because most women, most caucasian women at least, were striving to be thin like models or at least like fitness models, and by thin I don’t mean sickly, but just thin and fit in general.. (Now this is totally different when you start crossing cultural lines, and that was purely evident at my gym which was very multi-cultural.) So I know that skinny women have feelings and emotions, just like curvier and especially heavy women, and they do not appreciate being labeled as having a disorder when they simply find it difficult to put on weight. And I was sitting here reading these comments like ‘Oh, you are putting this out on a public forum, we have a right to our opinions…blah, blah, blah’. Please. Let me get out my violin and play you a sad song. No. You are trying to justify your rude and spiteful attitude. I said this last time. This isn’t a political debate forum. I could then understand then people getting their panties all bundled up in a tight place. This isn’t a religious views forum, it’s not a Yankees vs. Red Sox forum, or any of that. Wow. It’s a happy food blog. So if you aren’t happy, instead of bashing Katie’s head in with her own wooden spoon, why don’t you try making her deep dish cookie pie, which I proudly polished off in three days (I used healthier sweeteners!), or some of that fabulous baked oatmeal, which I like to bake off in mini fluted tube pans and eat like little cakes. They sure make ME happy.
Katie, you do not need to justify WHY you have your blog up and or WHY you write about dessert. I can understand how people are curious about how you don’t really have a sweet tooth but write about desserts. Okay, I get that. But even I figured out that 2 days into reading your blog that you choose to leave most of the sweetener out, and then you give options for the rest of us who probably SHOULD be leaving out the sugars but we just can’t. 🙂 And holy cupcakes, Katie. You handle yourself so well! I would have flipped on some of those people. I’m German, I’m a Leo, I’m a hot-head, I couldn’t lie about my feelings even if I tried, AND I’m a thyroidal mess a few days out of each month. Katie, you are so gentle and sweet and full of cupcake sprinkles. The world will be a better place with more Katie’s and more chocolate!
Now let the hate commence…hahaha.
xoxo
Wow, thank you, Trish! And lol about the cupcake sprinkles. Yes, I do so like those sprinkles ;).
What upsets me is when they say “Real women have curves.” So… naturally skinny woman aren’t women? And even people with eating disorders… just because they’re suffering, that means they’re not still real women, worthy of being loved and respected? I understand the intent of the movement, but it is hurtful nonetheless! And it still focuses on an “ideal” shape for women, when really our ideal shape is that at which we (as individuals) are healthiest and happiest.
I think this is the first time I’ve commented on your blog, though I’ve been following it – and enjoying your amazing recipes – for months! So first off, thanks for creating and sharing them. My favorite is still cookie dough dip. Hmm, maybe I should start soaking a bowl of chick peas…
Anyway, I agree with you about the “real women have curves” thing. I was anorexic as a teenager, 30-40 pounds overweight for most of my 20s, and now have a very athletic build. Not once have I ever been curvy, as I just don’t have the “right” skeletal structure.
To answer the question at the end of this post, I eat a fairly high-calorie, 95% vegan diet. I run, hike, and do Crossfit and yoga, so I have to eat quite a lot to keep myself going. While I’d probably stick to your recipes as they are, I’m definitely interested in learning more about increasing the calories in some of them.
Thanks again!
i agree with you Katie, about the comment “real women have curves.” I suffered from an ED for 8 years. it didn’t take away my womanhood, it just took away my happiness. women, at any weight, body type, suffering from any disease, disorder, etc… are still women who deserve respect and love.
PS: i love your blog so much! it is such an inspiration to us little bloggers. i’m looking to make your single lady funfetti cupcake this weekend and do a blog post about it soon. 🙂
Yes, this ‘real women have curves’ movement…I completely understand where it comes from, but it has grown into something that now has women pegged against each other. And mainstream society just LOVES to do this to us. No, I do not think that runway models should be the face of what is considered to be fit and beautiful. But while I understand it’s is so very important for curvier women to love and respect their bodies, it’s also important to recognize when you might be carrying a little too much curve. As I mentioned above, I’m curvy. I look like a stretched out Jennifer Lopez at 5’9″. But trust me, that gets out of hand quickly. Real women have VAGINAS.
I’ve got a friend who has an 18-year old daughter who is also naturally thin like you. I promise she could put down a million cheeseburgers a day, and the scale wouldn’t budge. Most of her friends are girls who have big boobs or other curves, and they always tease her about being flat or not having a butt. I’ve always told her that comments like do NOT come from women who are secure in their own skin. I don’t care…you can have the body of a goddess, the most perfect hourglass shape in the world. If you are still making petty comments like ‘real women have curves’, then you are not happy and comfortable with what you have. Yes, I’m happy that the world is recognizing that by being mean to overweight people, we are not going to convince them to lose weight. But this whole thing about bullying skinny people because you are insecure…it’s just as bad and it’s incredible that we’ve made it justifiable somehow.
Anyway…again, awesome blog. I love it. I’m actually starting to shed some weight and my sugar cravings are actually DECREASING, and I give credit to the wonderful many options you give for each recipe. I’m having chocolate oatmeal this morning…can’t wait!!
xoxo
I just hae to say to Trish~You are hysterical! You made my morning with this post. I was cracking up at all the “sweet” sayings thrown in! And the thyroidal mess…I totally relate! I have Hashimoto’s Disease and a few days out of the month I totally say it like it is. I love the recipes on this blog b/c they are made with REAL food and have REAL people in mind. Whether we need to gain/lose weight is neither here nor there….we can all benefit from eating more natural food! Thanks Katie for sharing all of your wonderfully fantastic creations and ideas! You’re definitely helping people who are not creative in the kitchen find healthy ways to LIVE!
Hi Katie!
As a newbie vegan I want to say your blog has been so helpful in the transition. Your recipes are delicious, so simple, and fun! And I find that as a vegan, I don’t have to worry so much about calories. I just listen to my body and eat what I want- as long as I limit the processed stuff!
I don’t have much to contribute to this post specifically, I just wanted to say thank you 🙂
Aww you are so welcome!
Thank you so much for adding hints to your recipes so that everyone can try them! We all really appreciate it! 🙂
I enjoyed this post, as it’s a common misconception that low calorie = healthy and high calorie = unhealthy. As an athlete I have to eat a high calorie diet just to maintain my weight, and I mostly do this by focusing on higher calorie, nutrient-dense foods. My favorites lately are giant smoothies with greens, fruit, and coconut milk; and big bowls of quinoa with sliced avocado.
More than anything I have had to learn to listen to my eating and nutritional needs as I have aged. I have probably experienced two pretty noticeable digestive/metabolism changes that required some adjusting. It is kind of exciting actually to be that in tune and learn what I need.
The rest is usually based on activity level and whatever else is going on at that time. To be honest stress in my life is doing far more damage. But I have a lot of years on as a vegan and consider myself a generally healthy eater.
It has been interesting to me as I have gotten more into scanning vegan blogs and recipes blogs to see the emphasis on weight loss, but I have also learned a lot too and a little education isn’t a bad thing either because we all have very different dietary needs.
I will say you and I are 100% aligned in the fats department. I highly value the healthy fats and find they are very important to my health and balance. I can almost always tell when my fat consumption is off.
I did go and read some of the comments and found them interesting because having seen some truly disheartening unhealthy dieting blogs I never considered yours one of them.
I come to this blog in large part because I truly enjoy YOU. We aren’t built the same and that is the way it is, but many of your values and your energy is what I identify with and enjoy.
Have a great day.