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.
What a great post, Katie! My family is also tiny so I understand exactly where you are coming from. I know from experience how frustrating it is to have your health or diet questioned because of your weight. While many may refer to me as skinny, I refer to myself as healthy. I eat healthy and don’t deprive myself of anything. I don’t track my calories, but know that I’m eating healthy, balanced meals and exercising (because we should, not because I need to loose weight). I also indulge when I want to. While I indulge in “regular” desserts, I love your blog because you share “healthy” desserts. I have a HUGE sweet tooth and I don’t want to even think about what it would do to my health if I ate “regular” desserts everytime my sweet tooth kicked in (multiple times, daily). Balancing “regular” and “healthy” desserts allows me to indulge without depriving myself (or my taste buds) of anything!
I’d keep doing what you’re doing with your blog. It’s obviously working! 🙂
“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.”
Katie, this is really beautiful and so true. I’m sorry you are constantly being attacked on here.
I have always been small (4’11” and 120 lbs) but have always felt 120 was too much weight. summer 2010 I dropped 20lbs and felt amazing. It was my first time ever succeeding after many trialls since high school to lose weight. I used to starve and sometimes even purge.
I think I was a bit restrictive and I also was in a very abusive controlling relationship in 2010. I am sure that helped me to lose weight because it was the only thing I had control over and it was something I was accomplishing and I felt great, I walked a lot and ate pretty healthfully though I do remember skipping lots of meals, or eating like a bird in addition to taking xanax and valium recreationally (exbf liked to pill me up)
I’ve since gained back the weight, and it makes me severly depressed. I feel like a complete failure and I have 0 willpower. I don’t get why I can’t do it this time around. I don’t feel quite as fat as I used to feel, but idk if I’m just blinded. The other day I went to the doctor and weighed in at 120 and it nearly broke my heart. I have such a pudgy middle.
this was probably too forward of a post/tmi, but whatever. Maybe I can get back on the wagon after getting it out and hearing other people.
I have been up and down so many times! There have been times i just stepped on the scale and cried. I didn’t feel fat, but my middle was still fat! Now, it is flatter! One helpful thing, juicing! Juice your favorite fruits. You may just have water weight. In that case drink a lot of water and eat fibrous foods. Celery, onions, garlic- all of these help with losing weight. I t also helps to know your target and make a gameplan! Team up with friends for support. Hope this helps!!
thanks girl, I was actually going to try juicing this week, but I am sick and it just didn;t work out.
Losing weight doesn’t equate happiness, and gaining weight definitely doesn’t make you a failure or equate to lack of willpower. If you didn’t have willpower you wouldn’t have made it through that relationship or gone to such extremes to lose weight.
I’m about your height and I’ve been at 120 and 100 too. I wasn’t happier at my lower weight than I was at my higher – I was probably more carefree when I weighed more because I didn’t give really give two shits at the time.
I can understand the triumph at seeing the numbers drop but that sort of feeling will never be enough because your problems won’t disappear with your weight. It’s a band-aid for a bullet wound. I mean, it sounds like you’ve been through some really rough times.
I don’t want to sound preachy, but please try not to beat yourself up too much. Just be kind to yourself. Maybe try not to think of losing weight, taking care of yourself by gaining help. Taking a class (zumba or gymnastics etc) where you get to meet and bounce around with new, cool people is a great way to keep active and cheer yourself up (I’ve been in severe depression too). Please don’t feel like you have to diet or restrict to feel good about yourself. Eat regular, balanced meals and trust your body – it knows what it needs to stay healthy. I promise you.
I also promise you that life may seem completely bleak and meaningless right now, but things will get better.
I actually have no idea how many calories i consume. It never really struck me as important to count them. 5 years ago, my doc diagnosed me with obesity. As in I was 10 years old and 132 pounds! And short too. Throughout the years my diet has changed. Now I am at a healthy weight! I still have a little body fat I want to lose, but i’m not stressing over it. I’ve done enough stressing over my image to last a lifetime. Now i just eat healthy because it feels good. 75% of my diet is raw food. And not because I plan my day like that either. I am not a raw foodist, vegan, or even vegetarian. I like to say that i have a healthy lifestyle- i “listen” to my body. If I want something sweet, i make it something healthy and sweet. A milkshake? A healthy milkshake. Kinda like a game 🙂 Anyway, I try to talk to a lot of my body concious friends, who go on low calorie diets. Girls my age- never deprive yourself of the nutrients you need. We are growing and we need protien, iron, magnesium etc. Instead of a diet, change your lifestyle !
p.s.- sorry for the long comment… again
Such an excellent point that overweight people are not the only people who should be worried about eating healthfully. It’s that kind of thinking that causes people to fall into yo-yo dieting patterns.
I also find it fascinating that people are so accusatory of you because you are thin. Why is there so much suspicion about thinness? Like the only people who are thin have eating disorders? Crazy! I like your recipes because they are nutrient-rich and dairy-free. Keep up the good work!
Katie
It’s too bad so many people are judgmental. I am very underweight due to several digestive problems which make it difficult for me to want to eat enough. I continually count calories, fats etc and track my eating with software not to “diet”, but so I know where I am deficient and how much more I need to eat at the end of the day. So, while I enjoy plenty of calorie dense foods with good fats, such as nuts, I also eat many small meals and I get more satisfaction (and nutrition) from eating a plate full of low cal veggies (which I truly love) rather than smaller portions of simple carbs like rice (which my dietician promotes). Then I snack on lots of fun yummy bites, a lot of which are your recipes (or inspired by them). Looking forward to “treats” helps stimulate my appetite. My main point is that I use the nutrition info to help me keep up–it’s not just for those watching their weight. Thanks for providing it.
Finally, I want to say, for those of you checking out people at the gym/grocery store and making assumptions about their eating disorders, there are some of us who are struggling with health issues that are physical, not just emotional, and these judgements can be very hurtful. I still excersize daily for many reasons, such as improving my mental state and digestion, and I find myself shying away from the gym so as not to have to endure these judgements. I know I look too skinny and get tired of having to think and talk about it.
Katie–I love your ideas and I have a bowl full of choc fudge pie filling in the fridge calling to me… 😉
i’m REALLy struggling now because I have a lot of weight to gain ( well, about 15 lbs anyway), i’m not exercising (what a failure..i SHOULD), and have bad bad digestion…
if anyone can email me, please do …i need specific plans 🙁
You are wonderful just the way you are! Remember that 🙂
Katie,
Can’t tell you how happy I was to read this post. Due to health reasons that arose for me last march, I had no choice but to cut out all sugars and grains! Being gluten-free, almost vegan, and soy-free already, this narrowed my food options immensely and resulted in a high vegetable and VERY high fat diet (which ended up meaning higher calories, too!). Of course, it’s all very healthy fats – I eat a ton of soaked and sprouted nuts and seeds, oils, avocados, and coconut – and it usually amounts to a few hundred grams of fat per day! That also leaves me with 500-1000 more calories than I used to eat! Here is the most incredible discovery I’ve made on this diet: I’m thinner, lighter and more fit than I’ve ever been in my entire life. I’ve always been petite and thin, health conscious, and a daily exerciser and yet the moment I began this diet, stored fat quite literally melted off of me. I was never even trying to lose weight. It seemed like my body began working more efficiently than ever – actually USING everything I fuel my body with as quality energy.
I am living proof that eating a TON of fat and calories from whole food will NOT make you fat. In fact, it will probably make you look and feel better than ever. I now become so frustrated when I see how our culture has made people so afraid of fat and calories, because most of the information we’re bombarded with regarding maintaining “good health” is actually quite wrong… and the calories and fat with which we do fuel our bodies isn’t actually real “food” at all. No wonder we have such epidemics of obesity and disease today! Our bodies are completely stumped by what to do with the strange things we put in them! Hopefully, with posts like this one and more voices like ours speaking up, we’ll be able to erase so many of these lies and myths Americans have been fed for so long.
Thank you so much for this post and keep it up!
Much love,
Desi
Desi- this is so encouraging to me. I used to eat like 1000 calories and run 10 miles every day. And I would lose about 2 pounds per week. Well of course I got injured and now that I can’t workout, I have had to look at my diet. I will do the elliptical for 30 mins a day but I chase small children all day, so I am hungry all the time. To the point where I don’t even taste the food I eat, I just jam it in my mouth. Anyway, hiking my calories has also resulted in me losing weight, and it’s easy! Your weight should be easy to maintain, not difficult!
Hi Desi,
I too have had too cut out all sugars and (almost) all grains (and eat them in very small amounts). I am gluten- and wheat-free, soy free and almost vegan (all except eggs) also. Your diet sounds very similar to mine! I eat lots of nuts, seeds, coconut!, and vegetables prepared with olive oil. My fat intake is around 150-200g a day (when I count it up), but my energy intake is only a bit over what is recommended for me.
I know that even if a person doesn’t appear ‘fat’ on the outside, their internal organs can still be storing fat. Have you found anything about the long term effects of a diet like ours?
I love this post! As a new reader, I have been thoroughly enjoying all of your recipes and posts. I don’t eat a super low calorie diet but because of my activity level, most of my calories are focused on mini meals and I don’t have a lot to spare on nutritionally deficient desserts. Your blog has showed me that I can still have dessert and it can be healthy. Personally I don’t like a high calorie dessert anyways so I’m loving the lower calorie options and tend to go somewhere in the middle of the low and high calorie versions. I’d just say keep doin what your doing because people will always find fault with something but as long as you’re happy and healthy and encouraging that in your blog, that’s all that matters 🙂
also, I hope your blog will help me getting back down to where I was, I think I drank a lot of muscle milk for women, and ate a lot of almonds as well. I remember I wasn’t afraid of healthy fats, because I remember reading in order to lose weight one must take in good fats.
I recently lost my grandfather which I think is why I have been eating as much as I have, I just find comfort in food and baking.