Many people today look at calories as one of the criteria for selecting foods to consume. Although one should eat a well balanced diet, it is important to not consume more calories than the body can use. Unused calories are stored as fat and this visible storage of fat is something many people want to reduce in order to enhance their appearance and health.
From my observations, although two foods might have the same energy potential for the body (calories), the effect they have on our desire to eat more may vary greatly. Some foods may contain for example 300 calories per 100 grams and if I eat this 100 grams portion I am feeling full for a few hours. For other foods that contain 300 calories per 100 grams I am only momentarily pleased but I could continue eating 100 grams more without feeling full.
Realizing this I cannot use calories alone as a criterion for determining if a certain food is good for a reduced calorie diet or not. The missing information is how full I will feel after consuming it. I could eat a 800 calorie meal if I know it will keep me full for most of the day but If I suspect that I will be hungry again in an hour I would think about it differently.
My new proposed Nutritional index will include a factor that can be multiplied by the caloric value to represent its true effect on my diet.
For example:
Food 1 - 500 calories per serving includes fibers and proteins that make me feel stuffed for 5-6 hours.
Food 2 – 500 calories per serving including a sugar coated desert that will only fill me up for 20 minutes or less and might actually make me more hungry than I was before I ate it.
The multiplication factor can be based on various factors but one of my initial ideas is to divide the needed calorie intake for 24 hours in the time that this meal will satisfy us and note the ratio. For example in a diet of 2400 calories, we should on average consume 100 calories per hour.
Food 1 – will give us 500 calories and last for 5 hours so it averages 100 calories per hour. Factor multiple can be 1.
Food 2 – Will give us 500 calories and last for 20 minutes (1/3 an hour) so it averages 1500 calories per hour. Factor multiple of 15!!!
In the final adjusted table of nutritional values the two foods would display on their labels:
Food 1 – 500 Calories Total – Diet factor of 1
Food 2 – 500 Calories Total – Diet factor of 15!!!
This is still a rough idea and I am not an expert in nutrition. I would love to see someone that will take this idea and implement it or derive a better idea from it.
Feel free to contact me if interested to discuss further.
