Tracking Nutrition: Count Whole Foods, Not Calories, and Proverbs 23

Simplifying Nutrition: The Case for Whole, Raw Foods

When it comes to maintaining a healthy diet, one of the most tedious tasks of staying fit is tracking calories. Even more daunting is tracking nutrients on a standard American diet. I mean, how much magnesium or potassium can you extract from hot dogs, hamburgers, or French fries with ketchup? Or vitamin C from a heavily sweetened lemonade?

It may seem we would get far more nutrients from foods that pack a lot of calories.

But the truth is, we don't. Surprisingly, the opposite is true. Foods that are the lowest in calories pack the most nutrition. Meals that are prepared more simply optimize our nutrient intake.

It may sound illogical, but unadulterated, unpackaged, whole foods that come straight from the earth are the healthiest way to eat food. The bonus with eating more raw meals is it makes tracking nutrients far easier and corrects nutritional imbalances faster. It also frees us from having to track every single calorie and nutrient in the first place.

4 Reasons Why Tracking Nutrition is Better with Raw Foods

First, whole foods—fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and seeds— in their original state are more straightforward to measure than their processed or over heated counterparts. Most of the time, volume and nutritional values change dramatically when heated at high temperatures. Fresh truly is the best when it comes to nutrition. You simply won't get the same level of nutrients from frying, boiling, air frying, or microwaving.

When you cook your food, you've basically set it on a journey of becoming ash. That's why recipes must note maximum times and specific degrees of heat in order for the recipe to come out right. Just a little too long, the color begins to fade and the texture changes. Processed foods already have a headstart towards that transformation.

Secondly, cooking significantly alters the structure and quality of many nutrients in our food. For fruits and vegetables, the main reason for this is the depletion of water. Raw fruits and vegetables contain nutrients that are suspended in their proper chemistry arrangement through the water it contains. Foods that have been dried or cooked set us up for nutrient deficiencies and, dehydration. Subsequently, being dehydrated slows our metabolism, which exacerbates the situation. The nutrition and hydration in raw foods, however, remains consistent.

Raw foods actually decompose at a much slower rate than their cooked counterparts. Cooking speeds up that process. This is why processed food must be completly dried before being sold and sealed in airtight containers, with preservatives, in order to prevent spoiling too soon.

Take a simple potato. If it is baked, we can easily acquire its nutritional profile by its weight. When peeled and mashed with milk, butter, and cream, or anything else, it becomes a high-fat, high-calorie mash up. It also becomes more difficult to assess how much nutrition and calories come from each of those ingredients.

Thirdly, cooking changes the weight of food, but not the total calories. This is why most people on the standard American diet gain weight while at the same time, experiencing nutritional deficiencies. This is because the rapid breakdown of nutrients cause us to crave more food to feel satiated.

Another reason why tracking nutrition is better with raw foods is that many calorie-tracking books don't label food as raw or cooked by default. They simply list the measured portion (usually ounces or cups), its calories, and nutrients. The standard assumption is to list meat and grains as raw, and vegetables as either raw or cooked, depending on how their "usually" prepared. So unless it explicitly states steamed, boiled, or grilled, calorie books rarely list how foods are even cooked. Since steaming is far better than boiling in nutrient preservation, shouldn't those values be more transparent?

I'm not against using a nutrition tracker, especially for those wanting to create new habits, but I would recommend using an online version instead. Online trackers can be updated faster than a book. Cronometer is a great tool that I use because it allows you to add your own foods and recipes. By following the recipe, you save time in having to measure out ingredients and nutrients each and every time.

The Lord demands accurate scales and balances; he sets the standards for fairness. ~ Proverbs 16:11

In ancient times, merchants used scales and weights to measure goods. Dishonest people would purposely use inaccurate weights to cheat customers. True and honest measurements, whether from a moral standpoint or a physical one, makes no difference. God values honesty, accuracy, and fairness. Many food-safety and consumer protection laws have been enacted simply becasue food they've been found adulterating their products. They do this by deliberately hiding ingredients, promoting misleading nutrition claims, and adding cheap fillers. Some of these laws are as follows:

• The Pure Food and Drug Act from 1906

• The Federal Meat Inspection Act from 1906

• The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act from 1938

• Nutrition Labeling and Education Act 1990

• Food Safety Modernization Act 2011

These laws exist because some manufacturers historically, have decieved consumers about what is in their products and how they were made. Ultimately however, we cheat ourselves by allowing ourselves to continue trusting in them even if they claim their producst are healthy. Eating more of their packaged products will not provide us with optimal health. Eating more raw foods however, will.

Is Counting Calories Biblical?

Most diets these days call you to weigh, measure, track, and count your calories from all your meals. Many of them will even do it for you by offering ready to eat meals sent to your door, or packaging them as ready to make in the freezer aisles. The real question to ask, does God want us to weigh out every ounce and calorie of our food before eating it? Probably not lol. Don't we have enough "chains" to deal with in this life? He does however, want us to eat a balanced diet. The best way to do that is by eating food in its original state as often as we can as whole foods.

The Bible also says we should take extreme measures to avoid things we know can harm us. In this day and age, where processed and packaged foods seem to be the norm at every grocery store, getting back to the basics of eating more raw, whole fruit and vegetables may seem extreme. But is it?

When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you ~ Proverbs 23:1

Proverbs 23 in its biblical context, is about self control, discernment, and caution when dealing with people of power. In ancient times, dining with rulers, kings, or officials were often events where favors, obligations, and influences were exchanged. Sharing meals created alliances and expectations. That's why God strongly cautioned his people in this manner: 👉 Proverbs 2-3, "Put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite. Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food." This is a call to exercise strict self control and to not be seduced by luxury, wealth, or favor of someone in power. Food manufacturing companies may not be rulers or kings, but they do have wealth and exercise power over what we eat.

Profit seeking food manufacturers spend millions of dollars designing food to be addictive. Chips, crackers, candy, soda, cookies, ice cream, pastries, fast food, are all perfect examples. So wouldn't the best way to exert self-control be to avoid them in the first place? God knew the extreme measures these food giants would take in order to make money off our addictions. I think He would agree, that we too should take extreme measures to remove their unhealthy indulgences from our shopping lists in order to live a healthier, long life.

Nutritionally speaking, "noting well what is before you" still apply to us today, even after Jesus declared all foods clean. We see in Timothy 4:3-5 stating, everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving. This rests on the premise for obedience and holiness. But God didn't stop caring about our health. He still instructs us to be concerned about what we eat. The fact that we live in a time where the epidemic of disease has exploded, only highlights this fact. Now if there was nothing but a "donut" to eat, then yes be thankful! But if you have the luxury of choosing, what will you choose: Fast food or whole foods?

Dining with a "ruler" or someone of power, as it states in the Proverbs, can also be read as giving in to marketing gimmicks pushed onto our families by the food giants. If we are buying their products, it would be no different than eating at their "table." It is a warning against gluttony, which results in obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic health issues we see so prevalent today. Practicing self control aligns with taking responsibility for one’s health and well-being.

Open heart surgery is now a typical life experience for many people. Folks talk casually about having a stent put in, as if they've had their tires rotated. ~Roger Ebert

This is a wise quote from a movie critic. It proves a great point that what we view as extreme is all perspective. When we simplify our diet with whole, raw foods, not only do we kick out the "ruler" or food giants from our table as warned in Proverbs 23, we find it easier to keep track of what we're actually consuming. We also kick out the mood swings, the lack of energy, the anxiety, the worries, and the diseases that crumble our health, but the relational health of those around us. Because in a world where packaged and processed foods dominate the realm of food and diets, opting for simple, whole, raw foods is not only rebel wise, it also returns us to what God originally gave us and wants from us.

Eating more of that which is good for us, also works to produce more of that which is good for others!

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Written by Lupita Ronquillo for Vegan Health and Yoga