Three Ingredients Peanut Butter Cookies
Editor's Note: Enjoy this previously published Zola classic edition!
When I was a young girl of 12, I became obsessed with weight. Twiggy was the super model at the time and she was rail thin. I thought I needed to be like that. I wasn’t obese by any means. Turns out I was a normal 12-year-old, but I was worried I was too fat to be in my sister’s wedding so I started trying to diet.
The first thing I did was go buy a tiny book that listed the number of calories in various foods. They sold these little pocket versions by the checkout at the grocery store. I bought one of those books and rather than carry it around with me, I set out to memorize it.
I did memorize it.
I did such a good job that as I grew older I could still recite what was in that little manual. I knew the calorie count for all my favorite things.
I knew a hard boiled egg was 75 calories.
I knew an 8 oz glass of whole milk was 140.
I knew a tablespoon of peanut butter was 90.
I memorized pages of items that I wanted to be able to eat. I was told it was all about counting calories. I was good at math.
Trouble is, that wasn’t really what I needed to learn. That was the conventional wisdom at the time, but even though I counted calories like a maven, I gained weight.
What I know now is different. Reality and new science prove it wasn’t about calories in/calories out. It was really about what you eat and how your body decides to process it...
Read the full column at PlanZDiet.com
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