Why I Don't Post (or Count) Calories in my Recipes
Alright, kids, pay attention! If I had a section devoted to FAQs, there would only be one question on that list: "Why don't you post calories in your posts?" Sigh.
Mainly, I just don't have the time. "But calories are so important," you may say. And you're absolutely right, they are. Keeping a healthy weight depends a lot on the amount of calories you consume in a day. (And the amount you burn by being active!) My concern, however, is in the quality of my food, not the quantity. Staying within your goal of 1500 calories per day (just throwing a number out there), isn't considered winning if all you ate in the day was 15 100-calorie packs of mini Chips Ahoy cookies.
Alright, kids, pay attention! If I had a section devoted to FAQs, there would only be one question on that list: "Why don't you post calories in your posts?" Sigh.
Mainly, I just don't have the time. "But calories are so important," you may say. And you're absolutely right, they are. Keeping a healthy weight depends a lot on the amount of calories you consume in a day. (And the amount you burn by being active!) My concern, however, is in the quality of my food, not the quantity. Staying within your goal of 1500 calories per day (just throwing a number out there), isn't considered winning if all you ate in the day was 15 100-calorie packs of mini Chips Ahoy cookies.
Rather than tabulating the nutritional content in all of my ingredients and getting caught up in the math (it was never my best subject), I'd rather let my imagination run wild to come up with as many new recipes as possible to help you and me enjoy being little fit cooks. I'm comfortable with this because I know that I am basing my recipes on healthy ingredients: whole grains, lean proteins, and tons of veggies. Although I can't (okay, I can, but don't want to) avoid little indulgences like cheese and chocolate (not together, of course), I use them in moderation.
Portion control is also important because, believe it or not, it is possible to eat too much of a healthy food. Knowing what a serving is and the nutritional value of the food is something you learn over time. Fit Sugar, one of my favorite health and fitness blogs, has a nice little chart to help you learn what a serving looks like.
With that said, I do not discourage you from counting calories. On the contrary, I encourage you to do it. But I won't do it for you ;) In the process, you will learn a lot about the food that you are eating and it will make it easier for you to make a lifestyle change, and that's what it's all about.
For all of you calorie-counting freaks, and I say that with all the love in the world, here is a handy website that will help you determine a recipe's nutritional facts just by plugging in the ingredients and amount of servings. I got it from a lady who posted the nutrition facts to my Hearty Black Bean Burgers recipe on Pinterest. Of course, now that I go searching for it to share those nutrition facts with you, I can't find that pin to save my life.
Also, many of you may have noticed that some posts don't include the amount of servings in the recipe. That's because I didn't know much about recipe writing when I started the blog so I just kinda winged it. But I'll do my best to update those... it may take a bit =)
#2 on my FAQs is what I eat in a day... stay tuned!
XO,
Luisana
Portion control is also important because, believe it or not, it is possible to eat too much of a healthy food. Knowing what a serving is and the nutritional value of the food is something you learn over time. Fit Sugar, one of my favorite health and fitness blogs, has a nice little chart to help you learn what a serving looks like.
With that said, I do not discourage you from counting calories. On the contrary, I encourage you to do it. But I won't do it for you ;) In the process, you will learn a lot about the food that you are eating and it will make it easier for you to make a lifestyle change, and that's what it's all about.
For all of you calorie-counting freaks, and I say that with all the love in the world, here is a handy website that will help you determine a recipe's nutritional facts just by plugging in the ingredients and amount of servings. I got it from a lady who posted the nutrition facts to my Hearty Black Bean Burgers recipe on Pinterest. Of course, now that I go searching for it to share those nutrition facts with you, I can't find that pin to save my life.
Also, many of you may have noticed that some posts don't include the amount of servings in the recipe. That's because I didn't know much about recipe writing when I started the blog so I just kinda winged it. But I'll do my best to update those... it may take a bit =)
#2 on my FAQs is what I eat in a day... stay tuned!
XO,
Luisana
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