I thought that equivalent calories would have an equivalent effect on my body weight and fat. Now, I am doubting that. Some particular foods or formats seem to make their own special difference. I mentioned reading in Gina Kolata's "Rethinking Thin", a quote from Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826). He was a French lawyer but was deeply interested in food, good cooking and good eating. He was a founder of the genre we now have as foodie writing. Kolata's quote has the man noticing that those who eat flour and sugar gain weight.
Lynn and I have been practicing very limited added sugar and flour, as directed and encouraged by Dr. Susan Peirce Thompson and her Bright Line Eating. When I told our friend about those guidelines, she immediately said,"That is everything I eat." That is the reaction that many people have, even those who eat meat, fish, drink milk, eat eggs, fruit and vegetables. Even potato chips fit with those rules. Some people think that carbohydrates are the foods they want to avoid but that category seems too broad. Foods that are not fats or protein are carbs. Processed foods are almost always carbs, true, but they don't qualify unless made with flour and/or have added sugar.
I guess the explanation might be that sugar and flour of any grain are foods that the body absorbs so quickly that their calories have to be stored. They come too fast to be burned by activity.
We have grains such as barley, millet, quinoa and even wheat berries. We make up a batch, eat some, freeze the rest in appropriate serving sizes and thaw what we want in the microwave. Today, I tried cooking a batch of Kashi, the grain pilaf. I followed the recipe carefully but I still burned it without cooking it. Lynn has cooked that stuff many times and she cooked us a double batch. We like to add powdered chicken bouillon for flavor. She had to cook it 10 minutes longer than what the box says to get the soft, expanded grains we like. I plan to serve some tonight and cook another batch to learn to do it right.
