The Importance of Calories

Few adult men actually take a minute to understand the importance of a calorie and what certain aspects of the nutrition label actually mean. It should be everyone’s number one priority to always make sure their body is in good health.

What is a Calorie?

A calorie is an off-system unit of energy. By consuming calories it gives us energy to do basic human needs like breathe, eat, and move. It is important to always consume the necessary amount of calories for your body to sufficiently run itself in a healthy manner.

Food calories are measured in kilocalories (kcal). This quantity is associated with a term such as “food calories.” Sometimes the tables of food calorie do not use the prefix “kilo”, as it is understood by itself.

How are They Measured?

Food calories – this is the amount of energy we receive completely digesting a particular product. Scientists have learned by experience to measure it. For this purpose the selected product is placed in the calorimeter, burned, and the exotherm is measured. Separately, in the chamber of the calorimeter they measure the heat generated by human subjects, and translate the obtained value in the “burnt” calories (thus learning the real, physiological value of food). These two values never coincide – metabolism of the human organism is not capable of absolute oxidation.

What is the Difference Between Nutrients and Energy Value of Foods?

Sometimes these concepts are combined in our minds, in the meantime, they have quite different characteristics. Energy – it is the energy supply, which we get from food. And nutritional value is its content of fats, proteins and carbs (per 100 g).

For example say you eat a protein bar. That bar will give you energy when you eat it. It does not matter if it is a chocolate bar or a protein bar it will give you energy nonetheless. The nutrition part of the bar is what the label on the wrapper says. The protein bar will likely have more protein than the chocolate bar you eat. And the chocolate bar will likely have more fats than the protein bar.

Question of Mismatch of Calorie Contents of Products

Often you will notice a discrepancy of calorific value of the same product in different tables. American, Asian, European data are different: fruits, vegetables and animals are grown under different conditions and the chemical composition varies to some extent. Even the productivity of vegetables or fruit has an impact on calories – the bigger the crop is, the less carbohydrates the fruit contains and the calories are reduced accordingly.

Where Does the Energy Go?

Many of us think that calories are only burned during movement, meanwhile, even during sleep, our body uses a lot of energy. About 60% of the potential energy is spent on a variety of physiological processes (hair growth, respiration, heartbeat, digestion, and so on.). The physiological activity of the average person takes only 25-30% of calories per day (ideally the figure should strive for 40%).

Passive way of life threatens a person with a variety of problems, both big and small: muscle flaccidity, obesity, heart problems and blood vessels, failure of metabolism, and/or diabetes.

After eating a few “extra” pieces of sugar we get 40 calories, which are converted to 3 grams of fat. In just one year, this “innocent weakness” grows into 1 kg of excess weight. Given that in most cases this is not limited to sugar, there is no wonder that our weight is growing much faster.

Optimal Caloric Intake

Optimal caloric intake is calculated by special formulas – this figure is purely individual and takes into account age, sex, degree of physical activity and other important factors.

In general, making your diet you should follow the following recommendations:

1. Wanting to lose weight, you must burn more calories than consumed.
2. The primary energy supply should occur in the first half of the day – rational people get a minimum of calories eating evening meals.
3. You should leave the table even before you are full – a slight feeling of hunger will only last for 15-20 minutes after the meal (the body signals the saturation a bit late).
4. Do not forget that you need to not only receive the calories, but also to burn them- athletic exercises eliminate excess calories and improve health.

Food calorie tables are needed even by those who never torture their body with diets. At least roughly knowing what the body gets from a particular product can help you avoid worrying about obesity.

Table of Calories of Products and Ready Meals

• Milk and milk products

• Fats, margarine, butter, mayonnaise, etc.

• Bread, bakery products and flour

• Cereal

• Vegetables

• Fruit and berries

• Dried fruit

• Beans

• Mushrooms

• Meat, offal, poultry, etc.

• Sausage and sausage products

• Canned meats and smoked meat

• Eggs

• Fish and seafood

• Caviar

• Nuts

• Sweets