What are calories?

culled from:tescohealthandwellbeing.com

The word ‘calorie’ is, and always has been, synonymous with diet and weight loss. But what do you really know about calories? We are always being advised to watch our calorie intake; to burn calories when taking part in physical activity and to be mindful of the amount of calories an illicit treat might contain. But what are calories and why are they so important? We explain.

What are calories?

What it all boils down to, is that a calorie is a unit of energy which is burned by your body for fuel. Technically, a calorie is defined as ‘The amount of energy required to change the temperature of 1g of water by 1 degree celsius’. Sounds complicated, doesn’t it? Don’t worry though, it really isn’t. A calorie is simply a unit of energy just as a gram is a unit of weight or a volt is a unit of electricity. Food gives us this fuel and we burn it not just while exercising but by carrying out the simplest of bodily functions such as breathing and thinking. Without calories, we would cease to live. Simple as that.

Why are calories important?

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, we cannot live without calories fuelling our bodies. The human body is a delicately balanced mechanism and to maintain optimum health, we need to eat the correct amount of calories to sustain us day-to-day. Take in too few or too many calories and our health will inevitably suffer. This is why it’s important to be aware of how many calories we should be consuming and why a balanced diet matters.
Here are the three main components of foods we consume and their calorific values:

• 1g of carbohydrate contains 4 calories
• 1g of protein contains 4 calories
• 1g of fat contains 9 calories

As you can see, fat contains more calories than carbohydrates and protein and this is why a low fat diet is often recommended. Eat a balanced diet of protein and carbohydrates with a lower intake of fat and you have the perfect balance for your daily calorie intake.

Calorie intake vs calorie burn

If we didn’t move at all, we would still need a certain amount of calories each day to keep our lungs breathing, our brain functioning and our blood and heart pumping. This is known as our Basal Metabolic Rate and this defines the absolute minimum of calories we should be consuming in order to survive. Bear in mind, that everyone’s Basal Metabolic Rate varies according to their size, age, gender, etc. For instance, if you are a 120lbs woman who lies on the couch all day, you would be burning very few calories as opposed to a 200lbs man who is on his feet all day and works out regularly. The more active you are, the more calories you need to take in to sustain you. However, if you eat too many calories and aren’t active enough, your body stores the excess calories as fat and that’s how weight gain happens. The remedy? Move more. Burn off those excess calories with exercise and you will lose that fat.
What it comes down to, basically; is balance. If you are underweight take in more calories. If you are lucky enough to be at a healthy weight then keep on doing what you are doing and keep that perfect balance. If you are overweight, look at your calorie intake and see where you can cut down while becoming more active to burn the excess calories. In a nutshell, if you are overweight, eat less and move more.

Empty Calories

The best way to take in calories is to consume foods that have a high nutritional content. In short, foods rich in vitamins, minerals, fibre and other essential nutrients that can benefit the body are the best choice. Foods that contain ‘empty calories’ should be kept to an absolute minimum as they are often high in calories while providing no nutritional benefit to the body. Saturated fats, sugar and alcohol are the three major groups containing empty calories and should be avoided as much as possible. Be aware that saturated fats and sugars are often added to processed food to make them tastier so be vigilant, choose fresh, unprocessed ingredients as much as you can and you can keep these empty calories to a minimum.

Examples of food that contain empty calories:

• Cakes/pies
• Biscuits
• Sweets
• Sugar/Syrup
• Fizzy drinks
• Alcohol
• Crisps
• Fast food
• Some processed foods

Got any questions about calories? Leave a comment in the box below and we will be happy to assist you.