Whats in a Calorie?

Have you ever sat back and asked yourself, "I hear about these things called calories but what are they? Where do they come from and should I be concerned which foods I eat to get the calories I need in a given day?"

There is a few things you should know about calories.

First of all you need calories to function. Calories are what the body burns during every function it has, either your heart beating, breathing and all that other good extra stuff known as anaerobic and aerobic exercise! We need a certain number of core calories just to survive and during times of elevated activity our body will consume more and in turn need to be replenished with more to make up the loss we suffered due to the extra activity.

When we talk nutrtion and what is involved in that, we see that there are both energy giving and non-energy giving substances. The ones that give the body energy come from calories derived from carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Vitamins, minerals and water make up needed nutrients that do not provide the body energy.

The body get its energy only from the carbohydrated, proteins and fats you consume. When talking strickly calories it matters not where they come from and all are measured the same.

Calorie Counts Per Gram

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1 gram carbs=4 calories

1 gram protein=4calories

1 gram of fat=9 calories

1gram alcohol=7 calorie

So does this mean that you can simply toss down a bag of greasy chips? No! Even thought to your body, calories are calories, it will still anaylize and use the calories and the nutrients attached to those calories. There are also many different types of carbohydrates and fats. Even thought they exhibit the same amount of calories per gram they react in different ways in your body.

For example a candy bar and a bowl of oatmeal may have the same number of carbs and calories, but because the candy bar is mostly sucrose or white sugar, it will process faster and only provide energy to the body for short bursts. The oatmeal would deliver a steady stream of energy to the body for hours. Fats are also the same. Some fats are better than others. The fish found in a salmon steak for instance, Omega-3 fatty acids, is said to be good for the heart. A bag of chips is filled with non-essential saturated fats and very little vitamins and minerals will provide very little nutrition to your body.

It is still very important that we pay attention to not just simply counting calories but also checking to see where those calories are coming from. Always go for baked as apposed to fried, keep your food nutrient dense and avoid using foods with useless calories or limited nutritional value.