Calories, calories, calories. As a girl in college, try to think about the last time you went a day without talking about or hearing about calories. I know for me it’s almost impossible. Somehow I feel like the word slips its way effortlessly into every single conversation that I have. The other day when I was innocently pregaming for Wednesday night Shooters I thought it was safe to assume I was in the clear when it came to calorie talk for the day. Well, I soon found out I was wrong. All of a sudden the conversation switched to talking about the calories in alcohol. It was decided that during pregames, Bacardi should be the exclusive alcohol, because you got drunk for the lowest amount of calories (and Diet Coke was the obvious choice as a chaser because what’s the point of drinking low-cal alcohol after all if you are racking up calories in the chaser?)
Constantly thinking about calories and calorie-counting is in no way a normal and acceptable practice for anyone to be doing, especially in college when eating disorders and disordered eating run much more rampant that one would ever imagine. The exact reason why they are so common is because talking about calories has become a normalized part of everyday conversation. If your friends are all talking about it and worrying about it and you aren’t, chances are you are going to start because if everyone else is doing it and worrying about it then why shouldn’t you?
Nutritionally speaking, the amount of calories you eat isn’t even what’s important when it comes to staying healthy or losing weight. What’s important is the type of calories that you are eating. Here’s a good example: what do you think is better for you eating 200 calories of a donut or eating 200 calories of plain Greek Yogurt and a piece of fruit?
Not only is calorie counting useless in terms of being healthy and having a balanced diet, but it also teaches you that you should feel guilty about eating the foods you love. With so much focus on how many calories your cookie has, I guarantee it will taste significantly worse with a side of guilt rather than a side of happiness you get from letting yourself shamelessly enjoy it.
So, I beg you, stop it with the calorie talk. If you want the cookie, eat the cookie, but don’t go overboard. Chances are if you label a food as off-limits and deny yourself from enjoying it, the minute you get slammed by midterms and become stressed, all self-control will go out the window and you will end up eating way more than you would have if you always let yourself indulge when it calls your name.
Photo Source: http://www.health.com/health/article/0,,20436972,00.html