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Calories Aren’t the Enemy · The Road Doc Podcast

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Hello everyone, welcome back to the Road Talk podcast.
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I hope everyone is having a good day.
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So let's dive into episode 2. Calories are in the enemy in my
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Eat Smart series. So let's get this straight.
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Calories don't make you fat, exactly, but confusion, fear,
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and ignorance about food does. Let's just take a moment, pause
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for a while, and think about this.
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OK what I mean by this is simple but you need to understand
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something. Calories alone won't make you
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fat. Timing of your food consumption,
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amount of rest you have, amount of stress you deal and bunch of
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other factors all come together that dictates may be lack of
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movement, no exercise, stuff like that adds up and whole
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things mess up that will end up storing unnecessary fat in the
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body. So let's just I will give a
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little input about what's a calorie.
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Calorie is just a unit of energy.
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That's it. Your body burn calories even
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while you are sleeping, even while you are breathing.
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Thinking may be healing, moving, training and for all the basic
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functions. So calling calories bad is like,
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you know, blaming fuel for the motorcycle crash, right?
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Yeah, it sounds funny now, right?
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Exactly. Some people blame calories for
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everything, you know, because I am eating this many calories,
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that many calories, that is why I am getting fat, This that.
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No, it is just a unit of energy to calculate, that is all.
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It is not. You need certain level of
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calories, yes, but the problem is calories are just a fuel.
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The problem comes with the way we use those calories.
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That's where the problem actually lies.
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Not so just stop blaming calories and check up on how we
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are using our calories. That makes total sense for
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everyone. Let me give you an example so
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that we all can understand in a very, very simple way.
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Let's just say not all calories are created equal.
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You know that big surprise, isn't it?
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Yeah, Example, 100 calories of chips won't fuel you the same
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way 100 calories of almonds or oats are nuts.
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Well, yeah, two different numbers are same, 100 calories,
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100 calories, but the effects are very different when you
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consume chips verses when you consume some oats, almonds or
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nuts. I will give you more even more
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examples so that you can understand a little bit more
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what I am trying to say. For example, you had a cup of
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sugary drink, let us just say any beverage that is available
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in the market, what happens? You will have quick insulin
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spike and then after sometime you will experience fast energy
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crashes with absolutely 0 nutrients, right?
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We all experience right? Everybody who is listening now
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can relate this because most people drink sugary drinks.
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I don't know why they drink, but they drink it.
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And this is what instantly they feel very happy.
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And after that they feel very, very drowsy.
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They feel like numb, they feel like they are tired.
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Exactly. And now let's just say the same
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amount you had a bowl of lentils or soup, something which has,
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you know, steady energy, good amount of protein, fiber, a real
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value and your gut loves it. Now you compare with yourself
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what you prefer more. And when you when you consume
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sugary drink and then a bowl of lentils, how does your body
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respond? Right now, I think most people
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understood why the problem is in calories.
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It is the calorie quality, not the quantity.
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It is always about the quality of it.
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That is where the problem is. So let us say you are very very
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thirsty and instead of drinking water most people prefer sugary
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drinks. And you know what happens when
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you are thirsty and when you drink water and sugary drinks?
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I will give small explanation for it.
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When you drink water you just feel good.
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After drinking sufficient, your brain functions good, your body
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recovers good, you feel good, everything is good.
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But it occurs very very slowly, not just like sugary drinks.
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When you consume sugary drinks, what happens is you instantly
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feel happy, you instantly feel satisfied, you instantly feel
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everything is good. But guess what, after few
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minutes or hours you will feel the energy crash, you feel even
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more tired, you feel even more brain foggy, you feel low on
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energy, you feel like you need to take rest.
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Exactly. That's the problem.
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So yeah. And next one will be like so
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many people fears about calories, like some people are
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like this. Oh, this one, this is too much
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calories. I can't eat this.
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If this is too less calories, I can't eat this.
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I think many of them, many of us heard this in our lifetime even
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at least once. Some people, you know, they just
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starve themselves or obsess over calories and eat nothing.
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Yeah, and whenever they eat, they eat all sorts of wrong
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foods and then guess what, they eat nothing for long period of
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time and then eat wrong foods, cravings increases.
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They binge eat after that a lot of unnecessary food.
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And after that they feel guilty and the cycle repeats.
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Yeah, because they are scared of Oh my God, lots of calories, Oh
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my God, lots of. No, no, no, don't get me wrong.
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You eat a real food right amount of food and do good amount of
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physical activity. The amount of work you do in a
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24 hours and the amount of food you eat balances out for
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everything. But you have to eat real food,
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good food, even if it is very less.
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In that way, you don't need to worry about calories.
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But you know, I will give you one more example on this.
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Let's just take chicken, right? I think most people eat chicken,
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right? Yeah.
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If you boil the chicken, like just take 100 grams of chicken,
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you boil it and eat boiled chicken with some basic
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turmeric, some chili powder, salt, basic stuff.
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You eat 100 grams of it, you feel great.
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You eat it slowly, mindfully. You take your time.
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No distractions, no cell phones, no mobiles, no television, any
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distractions. You eat it slowly, you feel
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good. Now the same thing, eat fried
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chicken with all the colors, added flavors, all these things
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you eat that after eating, after few minutes you feel like your
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gut is on fire. You do not feel great, you feel
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something uneasy, you feel something is wrong, you feel
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your mood is crappy. You feel like Oh my God why did
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I eat this food? You feel all those things.
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Your gut is like crying for help at that point.
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Same thing, 100 calories, 100 grams, 100 grams.
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But see the way we do it is pretty much playing a
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significant role and everything we add and also does.
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And worst case scenario, if you eat this fried kind of foods at
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night, I guarantee you most people won't even sleep.
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And if some people get sleep, trust me, they are, they are
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already numb in many, many levels.
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They do not even understand their body at that point of
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time. They are so numb that they do
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not even notice that their gut is having an issue.
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You can, how can you distinguish those people is simple.
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You look at their belly, you can tell and you ask them, are you
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always hungry? They will be like, not really,
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but I eat a lot. And you, you give them food that
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at any point of time they eat, no matter what, they just eat.
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And they will say I am perfectly fine.
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I feel good, nothing else. They are not perfectly fine.
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They are perfectly numb. They are so numb that they don't
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even realize the fact that their gut stops screaming at that
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point of time. And it became so sensitive to
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everything and so irrelevant. It doesn't even stops reacting
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the way it's supposed to be. And that person won't even
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understand what is right and what is wrong at that point of
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time. So anyways, leave them leave
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about that. But yeah, that's why the calorie
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fear always backfires. You, you know, but not every
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time it screams. But you will understand slowly
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some people will. I mean I heard like many many
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people saying stuff like I only eat this, I only eat that
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especially wrong wrong foods and fried foods on a consistent
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basis saying it only have like 100 calories or 200 calories or
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300 calories and eat that. You do not need to actually
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count everything whenever you eat to be honest.
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If you eat real food handful is more than enough.
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And if you try to move your body at least two hours in a 24 hours
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is good enough. And if you have good mindful
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mind that is enough you can take care on role of your life.
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But most people focus on numbers like I need to eat 100 calories
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of this I need to eat 200 calories of this I need to here.
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No need to worry that much to be honest.
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Just eat good food and observe yourself.
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And whenever you eating trashy food also observe yourself how
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you are feeling. It says everything.
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Your gut acts as a radar for almost everything.
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So be mindful. You need to change your mindset
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on this. So definitely mindset shift is
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very necessary towards this calories thing because you have
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to use food for like a fuel type, not to punish it by eating
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whatever you want at abnormal times and unnecessary loading of
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food into your body thinking it will give energy.
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No, not really. If you really deal the food as a
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fuel and you only eat when you absolutely necessary, then you
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do not need to fear about calories at all.
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You just need to learn and master them.
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If necessary track them with we have all the necessary apps you
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just need to be more aware. But never obsess about this
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calorie thing because there is a growing fear these days.
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I am seeing and looking at every people and they are taking it in
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a very very wrong way and they are messing up.
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You can enjoy everything but limited quantity will be nice.
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The quality of it also determines so many things.
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Timing as well, so yes. So next time you look at a
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plate, don't ask how many calories.
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Ask this question to yourself. Is this going to fuel me or
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drain me? Based on your answer and your
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observations towards your body after consuming each meal, if
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you are mindful enough to observe your own gut, you get
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the answer. Simple.
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So don't worry about calories, alright?
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Because calories aren't your enemy, they are your energy
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actually. But how you use it matters a
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lot. I hope you people understood a
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little bit at least. So there is also another type of
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thing, like now we have gallery tracking apps.
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Yeah, I saw it in my doctor's circle as well.
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People use calorie tracking apps and all these things.
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These are not really, you know, these are just tools to, you
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know, take control of your life, that's all.
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Using them like a tool like that, not like relentlessly
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focusing on, Oh my God, I had like 500 calories today.
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I need to have next meal. I need to have 200.
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No, not necessary because your body needs certain amount of
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calories to fight environment. Your basic necessities like
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breathing, thinking, all the basic functions that your body
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needs to go even when you are sleeping, all those things.
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Your body needs certain amount of calories but it should be
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nutrient dense. Alright, if they are nutrient
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dense kind of a foods, then definitely no need to worry
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about calorie tracking. All these things will not be
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that important. Focus on eating good food, right
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amount of food, eat slowly and mindfully.
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You will understand how much is enough for your body on each
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meals. So yeah, I hope everybody got a
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glimpse of this. So no need to worry about your
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calories because they are not your enemy.
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The way you use it actually determines everything.
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So worry about way you are using it.
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Alright. I hope you gain some knowledge
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by listening to this podcast, this episode.
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Thank you so much for tuning in and I appreciate your time you
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are investing in listening to this podcast, the Road of
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Podcast. Thank you so much.
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And I will see you in next episode, or I will drop the next
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episode of Eat Smart Series episode #3 on next Saturday
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around 6:00 PM IST. See you there.
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Until then, eat smart. Take care.
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This is Doctor Mokon. Bye.