When Low Calorie Foods Actually Screw Your Diet

"Low calorie" foods are all the rage these days. Sure, they may seem like a good idea on the surface, but sometimes they're as silly as thinking "if I cut this cake in half, I can eat twice the amount." Here's how to tell when the lower-calorie option is the right decision.

First, realize that food marketers don't always have your best interest in mind. Creating a "lower calorie" alternative is more about sales than the consumer's health. When you're counting calories, there's something even more important than a food's absolute number—something I call the calorie-satiety ratio.

A Primer on the Calorie-Satiety Ratio

You've probably seen "100-calorie" pack versions of popular foods. Sure they're fewer in calories, but they don't necessarily increase your "satiety" (or fullness). In fact, eat one of those packs and tell me that you're not actually hungrier afterwards. On the contrary, an eight-ounce chicken breast is more than twice the amount of calories, yet you may feel full even before you finish.

When you're on a diet, think of calories like a budget, where your goal is to maximize fullness at the end of the day. You should go with the lower calorie option only if it maximizes your satiety or "fullness." Sure, foods like olive oil may contain a lot of calories pound-for-pound but greatly increase your satiety, thereby causing you to eat less overall calories.

Satiety isn't just physical, however; there is a mental component as well. After all, you can't be "satiated" if you feel like you're constantly deprived by your food selection.

Mental Satiety vs. Physical Satiety

Even if you're not physically hungry, you may still have certain cravings. For example, you may be craving something sweet to eat, even if you're already full. In this case, sugar-free jello might be a great option, because you'll be fulfilling your desire for something sweet while saving hundreds of calories.

This is a case where the lower calorie option is a good choice. In fact, if you drink four or more full-calorie sodas per day in order to calm your sweet tooth, you can lose almost one pound every single week with no other change in your diet simply by satisfying your cravings through a calorie-free option.

This may also be a case where the 100-calorie option might actually be helpful. For example, let's say you're craving a small taste "taste" of Oreos more than anything else. If a 100-calorie pack of Oreos creates this mental satiety, then it too can be a smart decision. Everything depends on context.

Be forewarned. Sometimes a decision like this can actually decrease overall satiety. For example, perhaps eating the 100-calorie pack of Oreos increases your appetite because you feel "unfulfilled" afterwards, or it acts like an appetizer and flips a switch in your brain where you start craving more things. It's important to be mindful and understand the contexts where eating a lower-calorie option seems beneficial.

Where to Go From Here

Understanding that a food's calorie total isn't necessarily the most important factor when making decisions, here's some things to keep in mind when deciding how to spend your caloric budget:

• More important than calories is the macronutrient ratio of your meals. There's research to suggest that raising protein and lowering carbohydrates will make you more satiated on a diet. While everyone on a diet will benefit from higher protein, you'll probably want to play around with these ratios a bit.

• There's an adage called "never trust the salesman," and nowhere is it more applicable than in the food industry. Always keep this adage in mind when making decisions based on food labels. People who create lower-calorie versions are marketers, not nutritionists. Their primary goal is for you to buy their product—not help you lose weight.

• Never label food as "good or bad" and instead, think about food with the concept of ROI in mind. There's a context where the lower-calorie option can be good, but that's dependent on the person, situation, environment, craving, and a myriad of other factors. The only way that you can know for sure is by learning about yourself and practicing mindfulness.

That last point is especially important. Many reading this article will intuitively throw their hands up in the air and say "zomg diet soda and Oreos are super unhealthy and you just shouldn't eat them." But this is a recipe for diet failure. Instead, keep your decision making and food choices flexible through "flexible dieting." From Evidence Magazine's article on flexible dieting:

Lyle McDonald was probably the first person to popularize the concept of flexible dieting. McDonald lays out what he believes are the two main reasons dieters fail:

• Being too absolute and expecting perfection.
• Focusing only on the short-term.

Flexible dieting is basically the opposite — not being as absolute and focusing on the long-term as well as the short-term.

By using the decision-making guidelines above, you'll know exactly when to make the wise decision of going with a lower-calorie option, or mindfully indulge with a full-calorie treat instead.

Images by Aniwhite, Geoff LMV, Ben Sutherland, and Bruce Stockwell.

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