Learning About Calories

Inside me lives a skinny woman crying to get out. But I can usually shut her up with cookies”. We all enjoy the variety of food that tantalizes our taste buds. However, food performs other functions in our body besides pampering our tongue. It provides energy to perform various functions. But, what do we mean by energy? Energy is another word for calories. A calorie is a unit of energy. When we hear something contains 100 calories, it means how much energy our body is getting from eating and drinking it.

Where do calories come from?

There are six classes of nutrients: carbohydrate, protein, fat, minerals, vitamins and water. Of which only three provide us with calories – carbohydrate, protein, fat

• One gram of carbohydrate is equivalent to  four calories
• One gram of protein is equivalent to four calories
• One gram of fat is equivalent to nine calories.

What does healthy eating mean?

Healthy eating means having a balanced diet of roughly two-third fruits & vegetables, grain, pulses, starchy foods like potatoes and pasta, seeds and nuts, whole wheat breads, and other complex carbohydrates. The remaining third is divided between dairy products and lean protein, with a small portion covering sugar and fats.

How to maintain a healthy weight?

The energy requirements of each individual are different depending upon age, sex, height, weight, body composition and metabolism. The consumption of right number of calories is necessary to maintain individual weight. Calories are not bad for us. Our body needs calories for energy, but too much eating and not burning them through physical activity will lead to weight gain. To lose weight, the energy intake from food must be less than the energy output. This is why calorie counting is the most effective weight method. You can drop pounds on a diet of cakes, potato chips, beer if you eat and drink in moderation. Therefore, to lose weight by counting calories we need to count our total carbohydrate, protein and fat for the day and therefore we can avoid high calorie food and select low calorie food that will help to lose weight. For example, If the food we eat that contains fiber like whole grains, leafy vegetables, fruits it will keep us feel full longer thereby help us to lose weight.So,the time for action is now its never too late to do something .

How to burn those extra calories?

Do not dig your grave with your own knife and fork burn the extra calories.

The three ways to burn those extra calories are:

• Basal Metabolic Rate: The amount of energy expended when the body is at rest is termed as basal metabolism. We use 60% of the calories we consume each day for basic bodily functions such as breathing. Age, sex, height, weight and state of nutrition of the individual are some of the factors that influence it.
• Physical activity: This is energy used during movement- from doing some household work to just operating the remote control.
• Thermal effect of food: This includes the calories burned in the process of eating, digesting, absorbing and using the food.

How to cut the calories?

• Substitute skim milk for whole milk
• Go for lean meat in place of red meat
• Nibble on fruits between meals
• Eat fresh vegetable salad with lunch which will check you from eating to much
• Minimize calories from refined carbohydrates and substitute nutrient dense carbohydrate like fruits and vegetable
• Maintain a food diary
• Eat small frequent meals
• Mostly go for steamed, boiled and grilled food in order to cut down the consumption of fat.