Eat More, Get Ripped

Normal weight people eat more food than obese people. However, they eat fewer calories. So what gives. Energy density.

“We found that those whose diet had a low energy density had the lowest total intakes of energy, even though they consumed the greatest amount of food by weight”(A)

Normal weight people eat more fruits and vegetables which allows them to eat more volume, but at a lower caloric intake. This also may allow someone to view their diet in a more positive light, allowing them to eat a larger volume of food, while still keeping caloric intake in check. You also don’t need a restrictive diet to be lean, you just have to eat more low energy-dense foods (fruits, vegetables, soups, meat, eggs, yogurt) while eating less high-energy dense foods (added oil, butter, nuts, dessert, etc). If you play this right, you can actually eat more food volume, but at a lower caloric load.

Although the expression “eat more, get ripped” is misleading in terms of calories, it’s accurate in terms of food volume. Leaner people eat more food, it’s just not as dense.

“Men and women with a low-energy-dense diet had lower energy intakes (≈425 and 275 kcal/d less, respectively) than did those with a high-energy-dense diet, even though they consumed more food (≈400 and 300 g/d more, respectively)(A).

As a small side note (Although this doesn’t apply to most people)… if you’re a super active athlete you may need to eat a more dense diet to eat enough calories. Foods like nuts, olive oil, even crushing some slices or burgers after the game may be helpful if you’re not getting enough food to sustain your workload. I know for me personally on days when I skimboard for over 2 hours, I can’t eat enough food if it’s all lower energy density food.

However, if weight loss is a goal (like it is for most people in America), concentrate more so on fruits, vegetables, soups, meat, fish, yogurt, while minimizing added oils, butter, nuts, and moderating fun foods (pizza, burgers, pasta, etc).

You can tinker with this depending on where you are on the spectrum. Got a lot of weight to lose? You need to eat a lower-energy density diet. Happy with the way you are now? Don’t change a thing. Struggling to eat enough food on your most active days of the week? Eat more energy-dense foods.

Your thoughts on energy density?

John

Ref:

(A) Ledikwe, Jenny H., et al. "Dietary energy density is associated with energy intake and weight status in US adults." The American journal of clinical nutrition 83.6 (2006): 1362-1368.