Calories and their Effects on our Weight

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In recent years we have seen an increase in the populations' health consciousness and general awareness of our diet and activity level in determining the quality and length of our lives. This has led to the introduction of buzzwords to help us to understand and control how to approach dieting. One of these buzzwords is Calorie. We hear about it every day, but what are calories? A calorie is a unit that measures the energy content in the food we eat.

Calories are what our bodies need to function, if we restrict calories too much we will starve and if we consume too many calories consistently without burning them with physical activity, we will become overweight/obese. A balanced diet is one where we consume the right number of calories required for our bodies to function effectively. This is usually 1500-3000 Kcal per day. 

Normally, we focus on calories in instances where we consume too much because our bodies have no use for the extra calories we take in, and simply store them as fat. The only way to get rid of these extra calories is through exercise. If we are not exercising the fat just stays there waiting to be used up.

We all need different amounts of calories daily depending on many different factors such as; age, sex, weight, height, physical activity levels, health e.t.c. The three macronutrients found in food are Carbohydrates, Protein and Fat. These components have been found to provide specific calories to the body when eaten such as;

• 1 gram of carbohydrates provides 4 Kcal

• 1 gram of protein provides 4 Kcal 

• 1 gram of fat provides 9 Kcal

This shows that you get more than twice the number of calories from 1 gram of fat than from 1 gram of Carbohydrates or Protein. This supports the smaller serving sizes of foods with fat than protein and carbohydrates. 

If you want to get into the minute details of counting calories there are resources available online that will do it for you, while giving an entire nutrient and calorie profile. 

Empty calorie foods provide the body with energy, without the associated nutrient benefits. These foods are usually heavily processed and have had their nutrient content destroyed during the manufacturing process. For e.g. fresh strawberries vs strawberry drink mix. The farther away you get from the original food, the fewer nutrients will be present. These foods should not be a major part of your diet. You should instead focus on incorporating as many fresh foods as possible.