A fitness blogger posts comparisons that prove calories don't make foods healthy or unhealthy — and the internet loves it
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Your support makes all the difference.Instagram can often be a breeding ground for promoting unrealistic body-image ideals.
That's why London-based fitness blogger Lucy Mountain is all about being upfront and being herself when she posts on the platform.
Mountain has two accounts: The Fashion Fitness Foodie and theFFFeed. TheFFFeed features food comparisons that are meant to encourage people to stop viewing foods as "healthy" or "unhealthy." With them, Mountain challenges conventional ideas of what makes a healthy snack.
Keep scrolling to see some of Mountain's photos and to read more about her approach to eating.
Mountain likes to show that foods that have been deemed "healthy" -- like almonds -- often have as many calories as foods that have been deemed "unhealthy" -- like candy.
She makes the point that while the "healthy" food typically has more micronutrients, it's not just about that or the number of calories.
It's about eating what you want and what's going to make you feel best.
Mountain doesn't believe in restriction, and she doesn't think it's necessary for maintaining a "healthy diet." Instead, she believes in moderation.
"Moderation is key, and this will look different on different people depending on the person, their fitness goal, and their lifestyle," Mountain said.
She makes the point that no one food alone will cause weight gain. An excess of calories from any food can make this happen.
Mountain encourages her followers to look at the big picture. "Having a chocolate bar in a day of well balanced meals and adequate micronutrients doesn't suddenly make it 'unhealthy,'" she said.
She's all about enjoying the foods you eat; regardless of whether your fitness goal is losing, maintaining, or gaining weight. She says she doesn't consider any foods "treats."
Mountain's comparisons also show that small changes to a meal's ingredients can make a big difference in calories.
The salad bowl on the right has Parmesan cheese instead of light cheese, sunflower seeds instead of toasted oats, croutons instead of sliced toast, and Caesar dressing instead of homemade dressing.
These bowls contain the same amount of food, but the bowl on left was made with light cooking-oil spray and contains beef with 5% fat, whereas the bowl on the right was made with olive oil and beef with 12% fat.
Mountain says there's so much more than calories to take into consideration when looking at food. There are macronutrients (like protein and carbohydrates) as well as how filling and satisfying it is.
She also warns that food labels can be misleading.
"Many companies will use buzz words like 'low sugar,' 'high protein,' 'fat-free' -- however these labels don't necessarily mean they're going to be less caloric than the 'normal' version, or any more conducive to your goal," Mountain said.
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