Calorie Density
People eat for many reasons. We eat for pleasure, out of boredom, to adhere to a diet plan, and most obviously because of hunger.
Hunger is an essential signal for the maintenance of life. However, during fat loss and muscle gain periods, its management can become an issue.
During fat loss diets, hunger increases, making it difficult to limit food intake. On the other hand, on muscle gain diets, hunger can almost disappear, making it difficult to get in all the food needed for weight gain.
In either case, understanding and managing hunger can improve the success of diets and minimize stress. Let's see how calorie density can help.
What is Calorie Density?
Calorie density is the measure of how many calories are in a given weight (or volume) of food. Pound for pound, certain foods have more calories packed into them than others.
For example, 100 grams of fresh tomatoes have only about 20 calories whereas 100 grams of pizza have almost 300 calories.
| Food | Amount | Calories | Calorie density |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fresh tomato | 100 g | 20 kcal | Low |
| Pizza | 100 g | 300 kcal | High |
Tomatoes have a low calorie density because 100 grams of tomatoes have very few calories. Pizza instead has a high calorie density because 100 grams of pizza have a lot of calories.
What's interesting here however is not that pizza has more calories than tomatoes. What's interesting is the relationship between calorie density and food volume.
Calorie Density and Food Volume
Foods that are high in calorie density tend to be dry and/or rich in fat. As a result, they don't take up a lot of space on your plate or in your stomach yet each bite is rich in calories.
Examples include butter, oils, salad dressings, nuts, seeds, bread, crackers, dried fruit, sugar, and all types of junk food.
On the other hand, foods that are low in calorie density tend to be high in water and fiber. They take up a lot of space and are very filling yet come with few calories per pound. As a bonus, they're also packed with micronutrients making them a great choice for health too.
Examples of foods with low calorie density include vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes.
Categories of food listed from lower to higher volume and higher to lower calorie density:
- Fats
- Junk foods
- Fatty meat
- Lean meat
- Whole grains
- Fruits
- Vegetables
In summary, the lower volume and more calorically dense a food, the less filling it is. Conversely, the higher volume and less calorically dense, the more filling. Let's see how to use this knowledge to our advantage.
Calorie Density and Fat Loss Diets
Under hypocaloric conditions, both hunger and cravings increase making adherence to a diet more difficult to accomplish.
Limiting the duration and the intensity of the diet can help. However, even during the best designed diet, hunger will always be present to some extent.
In this case, calorie density can be used as a hunger management strategy. This means choosing foods with lower calorie density and higher volume.
After eating a meal, satiety can be signalled to your nervous system by calorie amount as well as by the degree of tissue stretching in the stomach. Eating less calorie dense foods that occupy more stomach volume can exploit the latter signal, allowing more weight loss while still feeling sated between meals.
In this case, carbohydrates can come primarily from fruits and vegetables and less from processed foods to promote fullness. Within your grain choices, whole sources like whole bread and brown rice are more filling and therefore more recommended than refined ones.
As the fat loss diet progresses, decreasing fats and increasing carbohydrate intake might help you reduce hunger and cravings.
Calorie Density and Muscle Gain Diets
Muscle gain dieting requires us to eat more food than is needed to maintain our body weight, which usually means more food than we might want to eat. Unfortunately, avoiding eating is falling off the wagon in the context of muscle gain.
Like excessive hunger, excessive fullness requires some strategy to minimize stress and maximize adherence.
During a muscle gain diet, calorie density can be used as a hunger promotion strategy. This means choosing foods with lower volume and higher calorie density.
In this case, carbohydrates can come primarily from grains and less from fruits and vegetables to reduce fullness. Within your grain choices, refined sources like white rice and pasta are less filling and therefore more recommended than whole grains.
As the muscle gain diet progresses, decreasing carbohydrates and increasing fat intake might make getting your requisite calories more tolerable.
Conclusions
Hunger management strategies can be very helpful for both fat loss and muscle gain periods.
During fat loss periods, consuming foods with higher volume and lower calorie density can be an effective tool for decreasing cravings and hunger.
Conversely, during muscle gain periods, consuming foods with lower volume and higher calorie density can be effective for getting in all the necessary calories when lack of desire to eat can become an impediment.
The techniques for reducing or promoting hunger can be used in increasing amounts across a given diet phase, but no more than needed for best comfort and adherence. They should be utilized to the extent that they're helpful, and not just on principle.