Caloric Density

Anthony Lim practices lifestyle medicine in Santa Rosa where he works at Kaiser, TrueNorth and the McDougall program. He observed that many patients become discouraged when they lose weight but plateau at a level above optimal. They may become frustrated and return to old eating habits since weight loss was their primary reason for diet change.

Lim suggests that allowing unlimited eating of healthy foods may fail for weight loss if caloric density is not considered since dilatation of the stomach plays a major role in satiation. Stretch receptors around the stomach signal satiety. Eating enough food to fill the stomach but limiting calories is best done by eating mainly low calorie dense foods.

He measures food groups by average calories per pound. His numbers:

                          Vegetables- 100

                           Fruit-  200

                           Whole unprocessed starches like potatoes, oatmeal-  520

                           Pasta or Legumes-  600

                           Meat- 800

                           Processed starches (even whole grain bread and whole grain cold cereals)-  1500

                           Sugars and Dried fruit-1500

                           Junk food (chips, cookies)-  2300

                           Seeds and Nuts- 2800 (very healthy but limit to 1 ounce/day if trying to lose weight)

                           Oils and Fats- 4000

His cut off for unlimited quantities is all foods at 600 or less.

Lim suggests limiting or avoiding healthy snack bars, meat substitutes and starting the meal with low calorie dense foods. His ideal dinner plate is half veggies and half legumes and healthy starches.