Can i eat a cake instead of rice & protein for 400 calories?

Question: Said that weight loss is a calorie game, if suppose my lunch is designed for 400 calories consisting of rice and protein. I am just curious whether I can still balance my diet for the day by consuming a cake/any other food of 400 calories for lunch and skipping the actual lunch. Does it work this way although the cake doesn't give me adequate protein and carbs. ?

 

Answer: I am a sports Nutition coach, please consider this. While Weightloss is all about Calories-IN VS Calories-Out, its not as simple as it may seem. Eating 400 calories cake does not equal 400 grams of sweet potato. When you eat a chocolate, cake, white rice, fruits the Blood sugar spikes are caused when a simple sugar (glucose) builds up in the bloodstream. Pancreas secretes Insulin and Insulin helps glucose enter the body's cells, where it can be used EITHER FOR ENERGY OR STORED AS FAT. Essentially any amount of carbohydrate intake can cause an insulin release/spike...the glycemic load of the carb source and the amount ingested will determine the SEVERITY OF THE INSULIN SPIKE/release. That said, complex carbohydrates like Brown Rice, Millets, Sweet Potato tend to be lower on the glycemic index and therefore elicit a smaller insulin response.

To make it crisp, the fiber in brown rice, quinoa, sweet potato slows down the digestion giving your body sustained release of energy. When you strip the fiber and refine the grain make chapati, roti, make cakes with flour, chocolates digests fast releasing a quick burst of energy. Based on what I said above Body should either use that energy or store it as fat.

To make you understand better , You can eat a piece of cake or banana and Go for a sprint the body is using up the energy. Don’t eat a cake and sleep or sit at your desk. Also, if your goal is to run a short distance you need that burst of energy but if your goal is to work out for 3 hours, you need sustained release of energy for 3 hours so banana or a cake may not be a good choice while sweet potato is the best bet.

You can still use the strategy of 400 calories cake equals 400 calories brown rice but ONLY IF YOU TIME YOUR SIMPLE SUGARS LIKE CAKES POST WORKOUT after you train to depletion your muscle and liver glycogen stores. The energy burst is first used to replenish the glycogen stores before turning to fat.