Have you noticed all those numbers on the food you buy?

For as long as I can remember calories have been an issue. Too many above what we burn off and we get fat.

So does it matter where the calories come from? If we were calorie counting, and a lot of people still do, we should be able to make up our daily allowance 2500 for men and 2000 for women out of whatever foods add up to that amount. Right?

Wrong.

If calorie counting mattered I could make up my 2000 calories by eating 2 and half bags of Kettle Chips (mmmm my favourite!) But I think I would be missing a fair few important factors. Namely the vitamins and minerals and entire food groups required for my body to function properly.

And the key word is properly. Because we must all know people who live on junk food. People who never eat a single lettuce leaf or piece of fruit and somehow keep going. The body is a remarkable thing. It triages, in other words it uses what it can for it’s immediate requirements. It does not look to the future. It does not anticipate what it will need when you get to 70.

So what you find is that the person eating the junk right now is the person who ends up with cancer, diabetes and dementia later on. We are seeing these more and more. And not necessarily in people who are overweight. Looking overweight is just another symptom, there are plenty of people eating the wrong calories and ending up with these illnesses but look to be a ‘normal’ weight. The body only goes so far fighting the fires that the poor diet creates.

It is so much nicer to not have to look at the numbers. I now live by simple rules. I never eat processed food. I avoid all sugar (but not all sweet things) and gluten and eat foods that contain good fats, protein and carbohydrate. And above all else it all tastes good!

I cannot imagine ever going back to the days of looking at calories on a tasteless low fat ready meal and wondering if I can work in a rich tea finger if I’m really good. Check out the kinds of foods I eat here

So counting calories, as far as I’m concerned, should be consigned to the history bin.