400: The Ridiculous Way to Lose Weight: Calorie Counting

Speaker 2 0:00

And then there's the whole thing of what is a calorie, Jarrod? Is it actually an accurate way to measure things? Because when you're eating the right foods, what we know and what Dr. Greger has shown through the research, and looking at it, and diving deep into it, is a calorie's not a calorie. So a calorie of a whole plant food is not the same thing as a calorie of an animal product. We know this because when you're eating things like nuts and seeds, over time those calories

Speaker 1:28

Think about all you've accomplished in life. What if you could 10X that because your body's finally backing you up 100%? That's what we help Christian entrepreneurs do. Welcome to Power On Plants, the podcast where we harness the incredible power of whole plant foods and God's Word to optimize your energy and productivity so you can maximize your revenue, reach, and impact. I'm Jarrod Roussel, a physician assistant certified in lifestyle medicine.

Speaker 2 1:53

And I'm Anita Roussel, a nurse and certified integrative nutrition health coach.

Speaker 1:57

As the plant-based productivity experts, executive performance coaches to purpose-driven Christian entrepreneurs, we show you the exciting way to fuel your body the way it was perfectly designed to thrive so inflammation naturally fades away and your energy skyrockets, and you can finally have the body that fully backs you in living your God-given dreams without any exhausting dieting methods like a stacking list of meds to manage symptoms or keeping up with numbers, small portions, or willpowering through your meals you don't even like in another attempt to get healthy.

Speaker 2 2:28

We know there's so much confusing information out there about how to heal your body that it can wear you out. If you're thinking, "I just wish someone would walk me through the exact system to finally feeling good in the way that's enjoyable so it lasts," that's exactly what we do inside the Accelerator Experience. Join the waitlist to find out when applications for the next cohort become available at poweronplants.com/accelerator. Today, we're taking a topic that normally is exhausting and making it fun. What is the right way to count calories? And you're gonna wanna stick with us throughout this entire episode because we're gonna touch on some things that can really change life for you. The best way to count calories-

Speaker 3:11

Well, before we go there- I mean, the,

Speaker 2 3:15

there are

Speaker 3:15

different methods- We're gonna make 'em wait different formulas, different ways to calculate it. I mean, it's, a never-ending list,

Speaker 2 3:21

it's exhausting. And absolutely, I mean, it's painstaking to listen to all the different ways that men can come up with man-made ways to try to get healthy, to lose weight, to reverse disease. It is exhausting. And why do you think it is that calorie counting in general just does not work? Can it get people some results?

Speaker 3:42

It can. It comes at a price, though.

Speaker 2 3:44

Do some people lose weight counting calories?

Speaker 3:46

They do. Now, whether or not they enjoy it, that's a whole different question.

Speaker 2 3:50

That's the big thing. It's like the question is what's the problem with counting calories? What do you think the main problems are, Jarrod, as far as counting calories? I

Speaker 3:58

mean, the number one problem with it is just sticking to it.

Speaker 2 4:02

Yeah.

Speaker 4:02

Do it and sticking to it.

Speaker 2 4:04

Yeah, it's so not enjoyable. So we ask ourselves, why is it hard to stick to counting calories? It's difficult because we hate it. No one wants to be sitting at dinner with family and friends, or even business partners or clients, where you're meant to have relationships. Even when you're doing business, you wanna have relationship with the people you're sitting at the table with, and instead, you're having to sit there and trying to figure out in your mind doing the dieting math- What is going to be within my range here? And if it's not calories, maybe you're doing Weight Watchers, maybe it's points, maybe it's something like that. Keeping up with all those numbers is not only exhausting, you hate it. It's stealing your life. It's stealing your time. It is a manmade way, and I'm convinced it's used by our enemy. Yes, you can get some results doing this, but when you pick up a way of living that is going to help you heal, you have to ask yourself, "Am I going to be able to sustain this?" And the answer with calorie counting comes when you ask the question, "Am I going to want to count calories for the rest of my life, or keep up with points, or macros, or micros?" All these things we've been convinced by the health gurus that we need to keep up with. It doesn't even make sense.

Speaker 5:25

And another huge challenge, too, and many people probably don't even think of it in these terms, is how many calories are in the plate that's in front of me? I mean, the amount of food that's there obviously is going to determine it, but then is it six leaves of lettuce? Is it eight leaves of lettuce? Is it three tomatoes versus five tomatoes? You don't know. You can't really know just looking at it, and you're certainly not gonna weigh the food. I mean, I guess you could ask the waiter, "Hey, before you bring that out, would you put that on a scale? Measure each of the ingredients so I can get a little more accurate count of this."

Speaker 2 5:55

And how much oil is actually in there. That's 120 calories per tablespoon, right? Are you

Speaker 3 5:59

adding

Speaker 2 5:59

in all the oil? Are you sure you're down to the last drop getting the calories right? And then there's the whole thing of what is a calorie, Jarrod? Is it actually an accurate way to measure things? Because when you're eating the right foods, what we know and what Dr. Greger has shown through the research, and looking at it, and diving deep into it, is a calorie's not a calorie. So a calorie of a whole plant food is not the same thing as a calorie of an animal product. We know this because when you're eating things like nuts and seeds, over time those calories disappear. Because when you add more calories, when you should have gained weight eating these foods, they actually found you maintain weight or you lose weight eating these foods. They've also found out- So

Speaker 6:36

a

Speaker 2 6:36

calorie's not a calorie. So you're driving yourself crazy doing something that isn't even necessary. That's insanity.

Speaker 6:44

They found that with beans also. That in doing studies- Yes where they added beans, where they added a few hundred extra calories, it made no weight difference.

Speaker 2 6:51

But yeah, it's not just one food product. The whole plant foods, your body just processes them differently, and so we're using a manmade number. And how they even came up with the calorie, it's not actually how our body burns the food.

Speaker 7:03

Right. They measure calories by incinerating food. They burn the food, measure the heat that comes off of it, and then they determine this is how many calories. And I could understand to some degree that a food that's got more oil in it, it's going to generate more heat, so it has more calories in it, but our bodies are not incinerators. We don't burn food. We metabolize it. Not everything that's in the food gets metabolized. Some of it's structural, like the proteins in there. We're not burning the proteins. Sure, in some circumstances we can make energy from proteins, but that's not their original intended purpose. They're structural. Then we get into plant-based foods, and I talk to my patients about this all the time, that I feel like the calorie count for plant-based foods is actually less than what's reported. Why is that, Jarrod? It's that the fiber in there we don't digest, and some of the starches and fibers the bacteria in our gut digest, so we never see those calories. So really, what's in plant foods is less than what you would see on the label.

Speaker 2 8:07

That's so good.

Speaker 8:08

So good. So when you have a better understanding of what a calorie is, where it was derived from, and what the inherent flaws in that system are.

Speaker 2 8:16

Yes, and so you can limit yourself. You can Restrict your portions, therefore restricting your calories, and lose some weight. But we have to ask what is going on on the inside of the body. These are the better questions to be asking. So you can eat foods that are bad for you, restrict your calories, possibly even lose some weight doing that, but then number one, are you healthy on the inside? Number two, even if you were eating the healthier foods, restricting your calories and you lost some weight, are you going to want to do that, live that way, for the rest of your life? And so it's not sustainable, 'cause then we know this as a fact because you're building in cheat days. Cheat days. Building them in now to certain systems. Well, if you got the right system, you don't even think about cheat days. They don't exist in your mind. I only know about them and think about them because we have clients that are dealing with this stuff because they've come to believe they're gonna want cheat days. When, when you have the right foods and you feed your body the right things, then the cravings are gone, and food no longer has a hold on you, there's no need for cheat days. So there's no need for counting calories. And now you add on top of that you're eating the lowest calorie by nature foods on the planet that God originally intended for you to eat according to Genesis 1:29. Oh, they just happen to be the lowest calorie foods on the planet. Wow. And they also happen to have fiber, like Jarrod's saying, these things that don't even really count as calories, that bulk up, that make you feel full. You know what's not in animal products? Fiber. There's zero fiber in animal products. And then we end up with digestive issues because we don't have fiber, and now there's colon cancer, and now there's all these different things that happen because the garbage sits in your body 'cause it can't get out 'cause you're not getting the fiber, which is the food your good gut bacteria eat. Now you have leaky gut. I'm going in so many different directions here, but you have to understand this is a multifaceted conversation that all goes back to you don't need to count calories. The right way to count a calorie is to not count calories. Just don't

Speaker 10:15

do

Speaker 2 10:16

it. Don't do it. Escape the insanity. That woman, Susan, used to say, "Stop the insanity."

Speaker 10:21

Yes.

Speaker 2 10:22

Right. Stop the insanity. When it comes to calories, it's time to stop the insanity. You can jump off that train when you are naturally eating foods you love that are the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet and the lowest calorie by nature foods on the planet, the lowest calorie density in these foods. I mean, you could have this huge bowl filled with whole plant foods when you could have a tiny portion of something with cheese and oil and dairy and animal products, and it's just, it's insanity. But yet you can still have ice cream. You can still have some of these things, and it can be lower calorie, but even if it was the same calorie, your body handles the calories differently when it comes to certain foods, like the whole nuts that you might use in making our very quick ice cream. These are the things that you have to wrap your mind around that we aren't being told, and I'm so glad we're able to share these with you, because there's one thing we want you to walk away from today is understanding that there is a different way of doing things, and you've been stuck in this cycle of thinking, "Oh, I just have a food problem. Oh, I just have this. Oh, I just can't do it. I don't have enough willpower to keep pushing through." No one in their right mind wants to eat that way. Did Adam and Eve whip out their app and start counting calories? Did God say, "Hey, Adam, hey, Eve, you know, we need to have this dietary meeting today because you're gonna need to count your calories, because if you don't, you're gonna get fat"? No. Why did they not need that rule? Because they ate whole plant foods, Genesis 1:29. They're naturally the lowest calorie foods on the planet. Imagine... Does that seem insane to you? I mean, just think about how ridiculous. Did you actually chuckle or just think that is absolutely ridiculous when I said that? When you get that mental imagery of God walking with Adam and Eve in the garden, explaining to them exactly how they're gonna need to count their calories or keep up with points or macros or micros. That is a man-made way of doing things. How do you know that? Because it's crazy. Nobody ever wants to do it. God didn't instruct us to do it. So sometimes the gurus aren't the best source of the information that you need to break free.

Speaker 12:30

And if you're hearing us today and you've never really taken a moment to think about it, do so. And I talk about this as well with my patients when we're talking about things like protein. Where are cows getting their protein? Where are gorillas and giraffes and all that? Take a step back, look at the bigger picture. Many times a lot of us are reacting to information that we've heard, never really questioning it, and now we end up with our modern dietary habits. But any time I walk somebody through, "Well, where are cows getting their protein?" They don't eat meat There's this aha moment. Now, whether or not they change what they're eating, I don't ever truly know that because I don't live with them, but I see that aha moment of, "Oh, you're right. I've never thought about that." So think about the things that we've mentioned today as far as calorie counting. "Oh, my goodness. You're right. There are aspects of plant-based foods where it may be even a lower calorie count than what's on the package. I had no idea that they burn the food to measure the calories. Jared's right. We metabolize food. We're not a little incinerator in our belly doing this kind of stuff." And then that gives you that aha moment where you have a much better understanding, and you're making better decisions coming from a better starting point.

Speaker 2 13:45

And this helps you understand why so many people start eating whole plant foods and start losing weight, and they're not counting calories or keeping up and tracking portions. Now, there are some ways to dial in weight loss. Maybe you've tried whole food plant-based, and you didn't know how to stick with it, how to make it so enjoyable, or make it simple to work with your schedule. We have a lot of people come to us that couldn't make it stick before, and it absolutely works once they plug into our system. But what I realize is that this method of calorie counting is never going to work because you've been plugged into a system that is man-made, and it's exhausting, and you hate it. I grew up in Nutrisystem appointments, in Weight Watchers meetings, because my mom struggled with her weight her entire life. She didn't know these things about whole plant foods. She didn't know that she could break free out of the matrix of dieting and the way we do healthcare today, and actually prevent and reverse disease with the lowest calorie dense foods on the planet. Jared and I lost 75 pounds. Did we ever count a calorie?

Speaker 14:49

Never.

Speaker 2 14:49

Never. Do we count cal- And

Speaker 14:50

we didn't really try to lose weight.

Speaker 2 14:52

No. It

Speaker 14:52

just happened.

Speaker 2 14:52

We didn't even... We didn't even realize we were overweight, I mean, think about that. How many pounds did you lose?

Speaker 14:58

I lost about 35.

Speaker 2 15:01

Yeah. 35

Speaker 15:01

to 40, I believe.

Speaker 2 15:03

And I lost the same. And so imagine both of us with that much extra weight on us, imagine what we looked like. And you can see the pictures. We posted pictures in PPN. So come into PPN at poweronplants.com/ppn. That's Peak Performance Network, our community service group where we serve you in there, and you learn things together, and you can get in there and start getting results. But sitting in those meetings with my mother, I know how exhausting that way of living can be, and I absolutely hated diets. I wanted nothing to do with them as a result because I saw what it did to her, how miserable it made her, how it made her feel like she was doing something wrong 'cause she couldn't maintain this weight and maintain these ways of doing things. And it's the same thing with GLP-1. People are taking these injections. Are you gonna inject yourself the rest of your life? Then what are you gonna do when you get to the end of those injections? What if there was a way that you could have GLP-1 naturally every single day that lasts the right amount of time in your body so it didn't cause any of the harmful side effects? What if you could have that? Well, that's what whole plant foods do. We can show you how to do that. These are the things that just will blow your mind when you understand you can break free from that cycle. But no, we never counted a calorie. Do we count calories today to maintain our weight? No, we don't count calories today.

Speaker 16:25

I don't even know where to find it on the package. I'm kidding. I know it's over by the ingredients, but we never look at 'em.

Speaker 2 16:30

We don't eat that many packaged foods. We do eat some packaged foods, but it's very rare, and when we do, we do not look at the calories. We teach you to look at the right things on the package if you have a package. But the big takeaway today is you can be free from dieting mentality. Once you learn this system and you plug into it, life becomes so simple for you, and you can get back to living life instead of trying to manage all these disease processes or the extra pounds that make you feel sluggish and exhausted all the time, or just the low energy. Maybe you've somehow been able to maintain your girlish figure all these years by just monitoring your portions and your calories and those kind of things, but you're just tired of doing that, and you just wanna eat food and enjoy it and be able to live life the way you were created to live it. So the big takeaway here is today, with all these things we've shared with you about calories, there's no need to count calories, especially if you want to maintain results. If you want to have optimal health, optimizing your energy and your productivity to maximize your revenue, reach, and impact, it is just not necessary to count calories. If you want it to work, if you want it to last, the better way is to learn the system for eating whole plant foods that is going to fuel your body for success in the way you're actually gonna be excited about. We show you how to do that inside our accelerator experience. It opens up a couple of times a year, and we accept applications for it. This is going to be absolutely perfect for some of you, but we do require application for the program each cohort number is limited. So if you're excited about the possibility of us walking you through this step by step so you can finally be free from the lies of the enemy and the things that keep holding you back so that you can get out there and fully live your calling 'cause your body is finally backing you 100%, go right now to poweronplants.com/accelerator. Get your name on the wait list if it's wait list time so that we can let you know when the application's open. If the applications are open, don't wait. Get your application in so we can see if you're the right fit for the program and it's a right fit for you. Again, that's poweronplants.com/accelerator. We have loved sharing this life-changing information with you today. If this has shifted your thoughts in some way, go right now and let us know. Jarrod and I read all the comments on your favorite podcast app. Give us a rating and a written review. We would really appreciate it because it helps us to keep bringing you more of this life-changing information. Know that you are loved, you are prayed for, and we will see you soon