Ready for another working day kicked off with your regular bout of coffee and granola bar combo? Then prepare to wave your fitness gains goodbye.
According to a new post by nutrition coach Graeme Tomlinson, “one’s intuition may lead them to believe that regular consumption of a coffee and a small granola bar is not worthy of consideration regarding effect on body composition”. It’s this same intuition which sets our perception in thinking that a big plate of paella, for example, will always contain more calories (i.e. higher caloric content) than a coffee and snack thanks to its size and general label as a ‘meal’ as opposed to a beverage.
Behold the inforgraphic below which compares the caloric content for a Starbucks coffee and granola bar against a plate of healthily prepared paella.
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“If a survey was done without any prior knowledge of the quantities of ingredients in either of these two options, most would attribute the coffee and small granola bar as significantly less in caloric worth,” says Tomlinson.
And it’s this deceiving perception that Tomlinson believes that the fitness seekers need to be aware of despite its some-what “obsessive” nature.
“An army of intuitive eaters may lambast the very consideration of counting caloric values of these energy sources, labelling such practice as obsessive. Yet subconsciously their intuition must link energy consumed to their nutritional goals. This intuition is legitimate, it is not always factual.”
Tomlinson instead suggests that people should be more aware of the caloric values of energy consumed if they’re aiming to lose weight or hit their desired body goals. “It is simply an education on a subject like any other,” he says. “And by becoming aware of such information, we can appreciate the factual relationship between food and our body composition. As such, discovery of this information should rarely be discouraged”.
“Encouragement to appreciate nutritional information of items consumed may just be the catalyst in an individual finally linking such information with their goal after years of confusion. And that is a great thing. Regular grande mocha’s and granola bars may no longer fit the goal, yet maybe they shall.”
It’s import to note a few points from Tomlinson’s post before black listing coffee altogether though. The coffee on its own is roughly half the calories of the paella and it’s the granola bar which really bumps the caloric content into one that is noticeably comparable to the paella. The paella which Tomlinson uses is also a homemade variant which is healthier than most standard offerings of paella. What this all means is that extra attention should also be given to the variables of both coffee and meal, especially if you’re comparing the extremes of both as opposed to the median.
In numerous health articles we’ve done with ex-commandos and personal trainers, all have recommended something called Bulletproof coffee – a high caloric coffee designed to replace a meal in order to increase energy and endurance. The most important point here is knowing how to supplement your meals with these kind of specialty health foods which can drastically affect your body composition.