As much as we wish that calories wouldn’t matter; the fact is that our bodies are very effective at sucking the energy out of most of them. (Yes, I’m aware that calories are a measurement of energy.) When headlines are splashed across the newspapers or magazines that say something like: “The Key to Weight Loss Is Diet Quality, Not Quantity” we tend to think that if we just eat healthily, we can ignore how much food we eat or how many calories we’re consuming. Certainly, the headlines are designed to make us think that. The recent New York Times headline, above, was based upon a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

The JAMA study was a yearlong trial, involving 609 people lead by Christopher Gardner, the Director of Nutrition Studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center and professor of medicine at Stanford University. His recently published JAMA study was designed to learn if people lost more weight on a healthy low-fat diet or a healthy low-carb diet. Note the term ‘healthy’ in both types of diets. Both groups were advised to eat as little white flour and sugar and as many higher-fiber vegetables as possible. Both groups were told to eat healthy foods. They were not told specifically to restrict calories; but they were told to eat as low as they could on both types of diets without being hungry.

The results of the study were that the participants lost weight on either a healthy low-fat or a healthy low-carb diet and in the study it didn’t matter what their genotype or their insulin sensitivity was, they lost weight either way. The fact is that when the subjects went on either diet, on average they netted a 500-calorie reduction and after about a year each group lost an average of about 12 pounds. When people cut out some of the calories that they’re presently consuming (In this case, white flour and sugar, in addition to some of the fat or carbs, depending upon the group they were in.) they lost weight. Cutting out higher calorie foods (fat and carbs) and eating more lower calorie veggies nets a lower calorie intake. It’s a way of consuming fewer calories without thinking much about calories themselves.

I have very close family that has been extremely successful with the latest fad, the Ketogenic or Keto Diet. There are benefits and there are difficulties with the Keto diet. Among the benefits is the fact that if a person strictly adheres to the eating plan, appetite is diminished - hunger is not an issue. Because they have lost their appetite; they easily are able to fast numerous meals. Ultimately, it’s another way of cutting calories. I’m not convinced that the Keto diet doesn’t impact cholesterol and limit the number of phytonutrients that protect cells from damage. It is known that the keto diet is associated with more kidney stones, in addition. Also, it’s very restrictive; socially complicated and difficult to adhere to in the long term.

The Mediterranean Diet is another way of cutting calories, if it’s carefully followed. The bottom line is that more complex carbohydrates, and lower calorie vegetables and fruit are consumed; and at the end of the day fewer calories are consumed. What I like about the Mediterranean style of eating is that it benefits from low saturated fat, whole grains and a large proportion of low calorie vegetables and fruit – all healthy foods. In addition, it can be maintained for your entire life. It’s not an “on and off” style of eating.

I have a cup on my desk that a patient once gave me; it says; “God must have loved calories, because he made so many of them.” I say, “That was nice of God; but now days we need to be careful that too many don’t get into our mouth.” Maintaining a healthy weight in our culture is not an easy task; but it is possible. Ultimately, you will probably have to eat healthily and exercise to manage a healthy weigh by whatever method works the best for you.