What you wanted to know about calories...

Basic Calorie Facts
A calorie is a unit of energy that we get from food (technically, the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water 1 degree centigrade). We all need calories – to give us the energy to do everything from surfing the net to breathing to digesting more food. How many calories we actually need depends on several factors like height, activity level, and age. Doctors recommend that women eat at least 1,200 calories a day, though your calorie requirement is probably a good bit higher.

If calories are so good for us, how did they get such a bad reputation? Because when we eat more calories than we spend (which is too easy to do in modern life!) we end up gaining weight. As long as calories in = calories out, we’re okay. In theory, we could get away with eating large fries and a milkshake every day – if we ate nothing else. But in reality, this is far from a good idea because calories don’t all come in the same package.

Some foods are packed with empty calories – calories that have no nutritional value. Anything that is mostly fat or mostly added sugar (like high fructose corn syrup) falls into this category. Candy, regular sodas, most desserts, and junk food obviously fall into this category. But a lot of foods that aren’t necessarily bad are also not particularly nutritious – like white bread, white rice, or anything that’s been heavily refined. Yes, it’s definitely preferable to eat white bread than say, a buttery croissant. But calorie for calorie, you will get more health benefits from eating wheat bread than white.Good calories are packed with the things that our bodies need to stay healthy. Things like vitamins, minerals, complex carbs (including dietary fiber), protein and certain types of fats. Experts (and particularly diet books!) may not agree how much we need of each, but the reality is that too little or too much of any is bad. Any diet plan that says otherwise might help you lose weight short-term, but probably won’t make a difference in your weight long-term, and will almost definitely make a negative difference to your health in the long run.