Eat & move: Derval O'Rourke on why counting calories is overrated
This week is chatting about calories.
This is something I hear about and read about all the time. Recipe wise, it’s my cauliflower, apple, and blue cheese salad plus a delicious vegetarian moussaka.
People talk about calories all the time, ‘I’m on a low-calorie diet’ or ‘wow there’s a lot of calories in that’, but what are calories and do they really matter?
Simply put, a calorie is a measure of energy just like a centimetre is a measure of length or a kilogramme a measure of weight. For a long time, experts told us that counting calories was the best, if not the only, way to lose weight. They put across the message that if we ate less energy than we burned off we would lose weight and implied that low-calorie equalled healthy. And while I can’t argue with the laws of energy balance, I do believe there are points to be considered if you go down the road of simply counting calories to be ‘healthy’:
* It takes quite a bit of time to enter all your food details into a calorie tracker. I definitely don’t have time in my day to day life to track everything I eat.
* Just counting calories can lead to eating lots of low fat, yet highly processed foods.
* Many higher calorie foods are bursting with nutritional goodness such as avocado, nut butter, and oily fish! If you judged these simply by calories you would be missing out on their goodness.
* Breaking foods down into nothing more than numbers bypasses lots of the things which are important when it comes to having a good relationship with food. It may also lead to obsessive tendencies in people at increased risk of disordered eating patterns.
* ‘Diets’ have notoriously high failure rates. I’d advocate lifelong health changes.
So while yes, calories are important if you are trying to lose or gain weight, they do need to be considered in an overall context. Here are five tips to consider:
* If you really have no clue about what calories are in your foods consider doing a food diary or track your food on an app for a limited period of time — a few days. This will give you a good grasp on what you are consuming.
* Eat whole foods that nourish and satisfy you. You may lose weight on a 1,000kcal diet of biscuits but you’d be starving all the time and are not getting good nutrition.
* Aim for variety and colour. This ensures we are getting all the micro-nutrients our bodies need and is also good for our gut bacteria.
* Choose a variety of foods from each of the food groups. Aim for a mix of fruits and vegetables, a mixture of whole grains and legumes, some nuts and seeds, plus protein from good quality sources such as fish, lean meats or dairy.
* Look at your plate and use that as a guide: I aim for a half plate of vegetables, a quarter plate of carbohydrate and a quarter plate of protein plus some healthy fats to finish off. For example, I might have spinach/ mushrooms/roasted tomatoes with sourdough bread, poached eggs and avocado or stir-fried vegetables with rice, chicken, and some cashew nuts on top. That way I know I’m eating a balance of protein carbohydrates fats and veggies.
Fitspiration: @JoannaBlythman
This week I’m loving Joanna Blythman. She is a food writer, investigative journalist, author, and broadcaster. I love her approach to food and the fact she too is passionate about supporting independent shops and local producers wherever possible.
Follow me on Instagram or Facebook for more inspiration to keep you eating healthy and moving daily. Take control of your health with my free 10 food and fitness plan available on www.derval.ie.
Cauliflower, Blue Cheese and Apple Salad
This salad is a beautiful combination of flavours with the crunchy cauliflower, sweet apple and salty blue cheese. It’s delicious served as a side to chicken, fish or steak.
4
30minutes
15 minutes
Head of cauliflower, cut into small florets
Block of blue cheese, cut into small cubes
2 red eating apples, cored and diced
2 tbs rapeseed oil
Sea salt and
cracked black pepper
Juice of ½ a lemon
Heat the oven to 180 degrees.
Put cauliflower florets on a tray and toss in the oil salt and pepper then roast in the oven for 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Once cooled, toss together with the apple and lemon juice and crumble over the blue cheese to serve.
Eat!
Spiced Lentil and Tomato Moussaka
You don’t need to be vegetarian to eat this delicious dish. It’s rich in flavour and colourful too.
It’s great for entertaining as it can be prepped in advance and simply popped in the oven once your guests arrive.
It’s also perfect for making in bulk and freezing in individual portions for later in the week.
6 tbs olive oil
2 onions, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 red peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped
225g dried puy lentils
3 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
300ml vegetable stock
1-2 tbs mango chutney
Salt and pepper to taste
3 aubergines, thickly sliced (~5mm )
Cheese sauce
50g real butter
50g plain flour
600ml milk
225g mature cheddar, grated
2 tsp Dijon mustard
Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste (optional)
Heat the oven to 200 C/
gas 6.
Lightly grease a large, shallow, ovenproof dish.
Heat 2tbs of olive oil in a large pan. Add the onions, garlic and peppers and cook for 5 minutes, until gently softened.
Add the lentils, tomatoes, stock, chutney and seasoning. Cover and simmer for 40-60 minutes until the lentils are cooked.
Brush the aubergine slices with the remaining olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Arrange a single layer on a baking sheet and pop under a hot grill for 2-3 minutes each side, until golden brown. You can do this in batches if preferred.
To make the sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan, remove from the heat and stir in the flour. Return to a low heat, stirring for 2-3 minutes then gradually add the milk. Bring to the boil, stirring often and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add 175g cheese plus the nutmeg and some salt and pepper.
To assemble, spoon half the lentil mix into the dish, cover with half of the cheese sauce and layer half of the aubergine slices on top. Repeat this step again. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
Pop in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until the top is golden and the dish is piping hot. Serve with crusty bread and a simple green salad.
