Calories

It is the word you have heard a thousand times; it has appeared in every diet book, it is on every piece of food packaging, it has turned into a marketing technique and seems to be the only thing people think about when trying to lose weight. But what exactly is a Calorie and is it that important?

The Calorie is actually a measure of energy. It is not some phantom particle in the food you are eating, but the amount of energy the food you are eating gives your body. (Scientific ramble: A Calorie is the amount of energy required to heat up 1000 grams of water 1 degree Celsius, or about 4.2 kilojoules). The food you eat can be broken down into three categories; fat, carbohydrate (sugar) and protein molecules. When these molecules are broken down in your body they release energy your body uses to function. Fat molecules have 9 Calories per gram and both protein and carbohydrate molecules have 4 Calories per gram. If our body is given too much energy at one time the energy is reverted back to a fat molecule and stored in our fat storage cells.

It is recommended that the average person have an intake of 2000-2500 Calories a day, but this is dependent on many factors; including age, height, weight and activity level. If you are interested in knowing how many Calories you should be consuming this is a good calculator. Although tracking Calories for the rest of your life is very unreasonable, a good exercise is the 'Calories - A Wake Up Call' I have posted here. Many people do not realize the sheer number of Calories they consume in a day, if you are curious what 200 Calories looks like, this is an interesting website.

No matter what you eat (besides water, which is Calorie free!) you are putting Calories into your body. Cheese puffs or celery, pizza or tofu; all food has Calories, or in other words; all food has molecules that your body is going to break down into energy and use... or store as fat. This is where the consideration of empty Calories comes in. Some people eat exactly the right amount of Calories in a day, or possibly even slightly less - yet are extremely unhealthy. You could easily eat enough chips to meet your daily allotment of Calories; however the Calories that come from chips can be thought of as 'empty' Calories or Calories consumed without nutritional benefit. Your body needs many nutrients to stay healthy; including vitamins, minerals and fibre, and to consume all the required nutrients within a 2000-2500 Calorie limit you need to be eating nutrient-dense foods. Nutrient-dense foods are those that have a high nutrient content per Calorie. Think of the comparison between an apple and half a glass of soda - both of which are close to 50 Calories.

So in short, the Calorie is a very important word when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle. You only want to give your body as much energy as it needs - so that it does not store excess as fat. You also want to make sure to eat nutrient-dense foods to ensure you are getting appropriate nutrition within the 2000-2500 Calorie range. However, do not get stuck in counting Calories if this does not work for you. Knowing approximations (ex: what a 500 Calorie meal looks like) is all the effort you should really have to put in.