We have been repeatedly told that no matter what food source you get your calories from they are metabolized and processed the same way in your body. Thus, justifying the claim that you can eat your daily allowance of calories in whatever way you like, and you will not gain weight.
In other words, 100 calories from a donut are equivalent to eating 100 calories of chicken. I’m going to give you the explanation to why this is just not true.
For those of you who don’t know, the fat storage hormone is insulin. Insulin is secreted by the pancreas in response to rising blood sugar levels. Simply put, this hormone basically grabs the sugar and takes it to muscles, if you are using them, and to fat cells if not. So, when you consume a sugar-laden donut your insulin levels spike. Your body in an attempt to retain homeostatic blood glucose levels will secrete an enormous amount of insulin very rapidly directing the sugar into muscles and fat. Now, this insulin spike does not occur when you are eating a properly balanced meal or a high-protein meal like chicken. Thus making it less likely to be shunted directly to fat cells for storage but instead utilized as fuel to provide you energy throughout the day.
If that wasn’t enough to convince you that you cannot just swap a slice of cake for your handful of almonds, think about the endemic of malnourished-obese people. Seems like an oxymoron, right?
However, this truly is a real thing. It means that although these individuals are consuming enough calories, they are not the right calories because they are nutritionally inadequate. This means that your body essentially thinks it is starving and will try to hold onto every calorie you put in your mouth that much harder. This leaves the overweight individual feeling chronically hungry, sick, weak and with an ever-dwindling metabolism. I argue that the notion of a “calorie is a calorie,” was orchestrated by some sneaky junk food CEO in an attempt to keep us, the people wanting to eat healthier, as their life-long customers blissfully ignorant of the truth.