Why doesn’t Journey Juice print the calorie count on the labels?
The simple answer: We don’t count calories and we don’t want to encourage our customers to count calories. The problem with using a measure of heat transfer or energy (aka calories) as a tool to lose weight — because that’s what we’re talking about here — is the variability of the metabolic thermic effect of macronutrients.* DO WHAT??? Keep reading…it’s gonna make sense.
Unfortunately, the FDA, CDC and another 20 or so acronymic organizations have led Americans to believe all sorts of crazy ideas over the years:
- Animal fat is bad for you.
- Rapeseed oil is good for you.
- Cholesterol — ubiquitous in every living thing on Earth — is bad for you.
- CO2 — ubiquitous in every living thing on Earth — is bad for you.
- Yogurt is good for you.
Add to that list: ‘Consuming too many calories will make you fat.’
Without getting too wonky, let’s discover what the ‘variability of the metabolic thermic effect of macronutrients’ really means. It just means that a fat calorie is different than a carbohydrate calorie. And a carbohydrate calorie is different than a protein calorie. Ever heard someone say they are counting macros? Well this is what that means– keep reading!
What is the Thermic Effect of Macronutrients? Macronutrients are carbs, fats, and proteins. The thermic effect is the energy (calories) lost during the metabolic process. When you eat 400 calories of protein, your body expends 25% of the calories as energy lost during the metabolic breakdown and digestion of the nutrients. So your net calorie ingestion of 400 calories of protein is 300 calories. When you eat 400 calories of carbohydrates, your body expends approximately 7% or net 372 calories. When you eat 400 calories of fat, your body expends approximately 3% or net 388 calories. If you are counting calories in an effort to lose weight, you should probably adjust your calculations to include the thermic effect of the fats, carbs, and proteins you are consuming.
The quality of the macronutrients is much more important than the quantity.
Much more important than the number of calories you are eating is the the quality of the food you are ingesting. Yet, again, it’s complicated. Some fats are good for you, and some are bad. Some carbs are okay, and some are terrible for you. And many modern, Big Food/Big Farm proteins (e.g., antibiotic-filled chicken & beef; farm-raised salmon; massive chicken egg operations where no grass or sunshine is available) are definitely not good for you. So when you drink a bottle of Journey Juice, you can rest assured it has been sourced in the most organic practices. It is worth every calorie. It is quality nutrition. Your cells literally dance and your systems feel like they just got a reboot! So get rid of the Kind bar and grab a Journey Juice.
You Are What You Eat Eats
The takeaway is this: Worrying about the amount of generic calories in your food does nothing but give you something to worry about. Instead of counting calories, try discovering where your food comes from and how it is fed. Is the produce drowned in pesticides? Are the chickens and cows fed grass? Are they given antibiotics to fatten them up? Is the salmon farm raised? Don’t forget that when you eat a plant or an animal, you are ingesting whatever they eat or whatever poison (80% of the antibiotics sold in the U.S. are given to farm animals) they have been fed. Keeping up with your food sources is infinitely more effective than counting calories when it comes to maintaining good health.
Don’t worry about calories. Worry about the quality of your food. Local, organically grown produce is the way to go. Eat local, grass fed chickens, cows, and eggs. Drink some local raw milk, and lots of cold-pressed Journey Juice.
*Denzer, CM; JC Young (September 2003). “The effect of resistance exercise on the thermic effect of food”. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism . 13 (3): 396–402. PMID 14669938.