Are You Consuming Too Many Empty Calories?

You may have heard the term "empty calorie" before, but do you really know what it means?  Simply put, empty calories are calories found in foods with little or no vitamins, minerals, fiber or other nutrients.  They are a waste of space basically, but they are super efficient at staying in your body as F.A.T.  Let me describe how calories work.

The words "calorie" and "energy" are synonymous when relating to our bodies.  "Calorie" is a completely arbitrary term and it's used to describe the amount of energy that is released when the body breaks down a certain food. The difference between a good calorie and an empty calorie is that your body can put the good calorie to good use.  I like analogies to illustrate my points, so I'll use one here.

If you were going to drive across the country, you would need to start by filling up your car's gas tank.  You have a choice between the brand name gasoline which is 100% gasoline.  On this kind of gas, you can drive 400 miles before refilling.  The other choice is a knock-off brand of gasoline that is contained in a decorative, shiny new pump.  It's also cheaper per gallon.  However, it only contains 20% gasoline and the rest is additives.  You can only drive 170 miles on this gas before having to refill again.  Which one would you choose?

I think the answer is obvious.  You can view food in this way as well.  Fruits, vegetables, and whole grains would be the brand name gasoline for your body, while soda, cookies, cakes, candy and alcohol would be the knock-offs.  The healthy foods give you the kind of energy that your body can run on all day and make you feel great.  Because your body can get so much energy from them, you don't necessarily have cravings for these foods.  And by craving, I mean an intense "need" or "want" for these foods.  On the other hand, the empty calories in the junk foods spike your glucose levels giving you a short burst of energy, but it is too much at once, so your body quickly stores those calories as fat, and you "crash" and are left feeling sluggish and zombie-like.  Since there is only a little bit of energy in these junk foods that your body can use, you end up craving more of it in order to get out of that slump.  This is why people over-eat and it's why they keep eating the wrong foods.  The more junk food you eat, the more you'll crave it, the more you crave it, the more you'll eat, the more you eat it, the more you'll crave it.  Do you see how the cycle works?  It's evil isn't it?

If you can do your best to eliminate empty calories from your diet as much as possible, you will have done wonders for your health and weight loss goals.  Needless to say, you shouldn't eliminate them completely, especially if it is a food you really like, because that will create cravings too.  In my book, I describe many ways in which to find that balance of eating healthy foods and enjoying the "bad" foods you love as well.

I want to know what you're favorite empty calorie, guilty pleasure food is.  Tell me in the comments section below.  I would say mine is cake batter ice cream with cookie dough and brownie from Cold Stone Creamery.

And remember this: Eating empty calorie foods on an empty stomach is probably the worst thing you can do in regards to your weight loss and your general health!