Calories

Today while walking into school I stopped at the vending machine to grab a snack. I have noticed in the past that they always have reduced fat, and diet foods and drinks. I understand this is a way to help keep kids from being overweight. However, they are not taking into account that these items are filled with chemicals that are doing more damage on the body. The diet sodas contain aspartame and sucralose which are both highly destructive to the liver while natural sugars, of course not the best thing in the world, are processed properly.

This wasn’t what got to me. They now have stickers on each vending machine that say ‘CALORIES COUNT’. This infuriates me because calories, while important to maintaining daily energy level, are not the most important thing in a diet. By diet i mean simply what you eat each day, not restriction. What is more important is ensuring that your body can function at a healthy level by providing it with vitamins, proteins, heart healthy fats, and natural sugars. By telling young adults, who may not have the knowledge of a healthy diet, that calories need to be limited they are going to push them into counting calories. Counting calories leads to limiting your body of necessary nutrients. I know from first hand that this habit will grow and before you know it, you have an eating disorder on your hands.

I understand that they are trying to help, but it really is just going to cause more problems for people.

Just eat healthy foods, focus on portion control not restriction, and remember these two things: there are no bad foods only bad chemicals, and everything is okay in moderation.