These two terms are often confused. Nutrient dense and calorie dense are often completely separate. While you are getting enough calories you are not getting enough nutrients. This makes you crave more food. It is one of the reasons for overeating. Your body craves the missing nutrients. As you keep piling in food lacking in nutrients you stay hungry.
I heard recently that wheat was calorie dense. I almost snapped out. This common myth is so pervasive. If you ask ten people on the street if wheat is nutrient dense you will get 9 yes’. Why do so many think wheat is good for you. You will get many answers. Mostly we have relied on grains for the growth of civilization for thousands of years. It’s always been done. Tradition. I’m here to break that today.
Nutrient Dense
What is nutrient dense mean? Compare the calories in food to the micro nutrients. All the vitamins and minerals. If you get a high percentage compared to the calories its dense. If not then you will need to eat more to get the nutrients you need. Lets Look at a loaf of bread vs Beef liver.
Bread
Beef Liver
I found these charts at Free The Animal. The bars at the top mean that nutrient is off the charts. Beef liver beats bread hands down. Let’s compare 1,400 calories of bread and beef liver. These numbers come from adding up the 21 nutrients listed in the charts. Bread comes in at 85% of the government’s recommendation. If you were to eat a whole loaf in a day. For the beef liver you get 2,640%. Making beef liver almost 25% more nutritious than bread.
We haven’t even mentioned gluten and antinutrients in bread. Bread might be more nutrient dense than a twinkie. It is not a nutrient dense food though. Not compared to whole foods. I won’t accept that argument for you eating bread. You like it is fine reason. Sure it’s bad for you. Bread is calorie dense. You can feed a lot of people with it. Properly managed cattle are grown more sustainable and make people healthier.
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Been living life without bread for over 4 years now. Fat is where’s it at!!
The problem is it’s the grains that store for 30+ years. A bag of wheat 30 years old is still edible with some nutrient value. A bag of meat 30 years old, not so much.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t have options, but grains are king when it comes to long term shelf life.
I’m not interested in storing food for 30 years. I want sustainable food not old food. A homestead is the only real option.
Thanks for the food for thought (pun intended). I wish the article was more informative although you point was well received. I was just getting warmed up to the thought of calorie dense vs. nutrient dense and the conversation was over.
Typo alert.
Liver is about 25 TIMES more, not 25% more nutritious than bread.
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