Since calorie is a measure of energy, so what does it mean when, for example, alcohol, having “empty calories”? What kind of energy is being measured here?
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I have an apple. It’s filled with sugars, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, etc. It will be given a calorie value, say 100 calories.
Now I have a sticky bun. It’s also rated at 100 calories (for the sake of this example), but unlike the apple, it doesn’t have any of the extra vitamins, minerals, etc. Instead it is jam packed with filler – carbohydrates and fats.
So for the same 100 calories, I can choose between the apple, which for that 100 calories, my body gets some carbs, some sugars, and then minerals and vitamins it can use for growth and repair. In other words, this 100 calories is well balanced with a multitude of things your body can use.
Whereas the sticky bun is all carbs and fat. Your body cannot use any of that for long term growth or repair. All it can do is try to burn the carbs and store the fat.
So, we say “empty calories” because in the case of the sticky bun, you ate as many calories as the apple, but they were far less useful to your body in terms of the content making up those calories.
Taking this one step further: sticky bun is designed to attract you more than the apple, so the risk is that over time, you consume more sticky buns than apples leading to a deficit in the building materials your body needs to repair and keep going, you end up taking on more fat then you expect (because these foods are purposely stuffed with it) which is far more than your body would normally get if you were following a regulated/natural diet. Your body, designed to store fat when given it (for just in case energy emergencies) starts storing all of this extra fat and you gain weight.
Basically, food all has different things it can give you when you digest it. For example, watermelon would give you hydration, fiber, sugar, and some vitamins. A piece of chicken would give you protein and some vitamins as well. Foods with more protein and fiber are usually more filling than things that are just starches and sugars. If you ate a serving of grilled chicken, broccoli, baked potato, you would probably feel more full than if you ate a serving of pizza (usually 2 slices in terms of carbs).
All of the things we get from eating food contribute to fueling our bodies’ needs. That’s why balanced meals are important, so we get everything we need for our body to run. Each type of macronutrient also affects us differently. Fats, proteins, and fibers are for long-term energy. They take longer to digest, which means they keep us more full for longer. Sugars and starches are for fast energy. We break them down quickly and they are used up by our body sooner.
All macronutrients are NECESSARY. You can’t cut one out completely and expect that to solve your problems. Cutting out carbs can and probably will put your body into starvation mode, and you will actually gain more weight because your body is trying to keep you alive, especially if you’re doing very demanding exercise. You NEED sugars. You NEED fiber. They are essential. Carbs include sugars, starches (complicated sugars), and fiber. Sugars and starches affect blood sugar, but fibers don’t really. (Btw, “net carbs” are bullshit and doesn’t actually mean anything. It still has the same amount of carbs, they just want to charge you more money for the special magic words they slapped on the box). It’s also important to eat all nutrients in moderation, because they can make us very sick. For example, an average fit male can handle maybe 80-90 carbs at once. If he were to eat more than that, it doesn’t matter how much insulin his body releases in that hour, the leftover carbs won’t go anywhere.
Just because all macronutrients are necessary doesn’t mean the kind of food you eat doesn’t matter. Some foods are considered “empty calories.” They are foods that are high in carbs (and sometimes fats), but the benefit we get from eating those foods is incredibly insignificant. The calories from the sugars and fats are an excessive amount, and they outweigh the nutrients found in the food.
When we eat “empty calories,” we are eating something that gives us calories, but it can’t fuel our bodies. Sometimes it can’t even be properly used by our bodies.
Here’s a good example:
In general, males should consume 60g carbs per meal, and females should consume around 45g carbs.
A 20oz Mountain Dew (which is considered one serving) has 78g carbs, 0g fat, 0g protein, and 170 calories. **77g of those carbs are sugars.** So when you drink a 20oz Mountain Dew, you are consuming more than one meal’s worth of carbs, and it doesn’t give you anything else. It won’t even make you feel satiated, because the high sugar content will just make you more thirsty. You have drank 78g carbs, and you are still hungry, still thirsty, and have gained no valuable nutrition from it.
You could have a 3oz(85g) grilled chicken breast, 1.5 cups(≈255g) of steamed broccoli, and a 4oz(113g) baked potato, all for only 40g carbs. You get 282 calories, over 26g protein, 12g fiber, and tons of vitamins and minerals that are essential for your health. It’s a balanced meal with caloric value.
Source: I am a T1 Diabetic and see a nutritionist 4 times a year. My A1C is 5.3 now!!! (Used to be 12.6)
From the perspective of energy, a calorie is pretty much a calorie.
However when considering nutrition nothing could be further from the truth.
People often liken the body to an automobile, so let’s use that comparison. If calories are the gas that makes the car go, then nutrients are the stuff that the car is built out of. Engine, transmission, electrical, brakes, etc are all parts of the car with unique functions but are also all generally made up of the same stuff in different amounts and configurations. Steel, copper, aluminum, plastic, etc
The human body is similar, except the structures in our body are made up of some combination of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Those are the major building blocks. That our parts are actually constructed from, or our macronutrients. However there are all micronutrients that are vital to the actual performance of those organs, like potassium, sodium, magnesium, iodine, etc. In our car example you can think of this stuff as like, your brake fluid, your transmission fluid, engine oil -stuff that’s actually vitally important to the running of the car that you might not guess at first glance because the car only contains them in relatively small quantities.
Now here is where the metaphor starts to break down- unlike a car which is a machine that’s assembled once in the factory and then generally just goes on it way, the body is a biological machine and all of our parts slowly degrade over time and need constant upkeep and maintenance where the car really just requires regular but infrequent attention.
So for the body, the ‘gas’ we consume is not only the energy that lets us get through the day, it’s also the building blocks that we’re made of. Our body is constantly making new cells for our blood and organs because there’s no natural mechanism for us to simply be able to swap parts like you can for a car. Medicine allows for that, but it’s not what our bodies are designed for. So it becomes vital that when we’re fueling our bodies we’re fueling it not just with energy to run, but with the necessary building blocks for our never sleeping mechanic to work with.
All of this to say, when we refer to empty calories it’s referring to food that is providing energy and little or nothing else. Sugars and corn syrups are probably the biggest culprit in the modern American diet, providing essentially nothing useful for our repairs. People also refer to processed carbohydrate as empty calories and while there are almost always better choices that can be made over a slice of wonderbread for example, it’s not technically true, as highly processed bread does still contain some scant amount of protein content.
If you ever want an example of someone that fuels themselves with foods that are going to have some of your best micro and macronutrient content, pay attention to what body builders eat. They don’t have a lot of room for excess in their diet based on what they’re asking their bodies to do, so you’ll see a lot of brown rice, broccoli or leafy greens, and chicken. Their diets will tend towards higher protein content but are a great starting point for folks just looking to eat healthy.
You can starve while eating all the calories your body needs.
your body doesn’t just need calories but a lot of other things. Calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron for instance. And vitamins of many types.
If you just get calories you give your body stuff to store in your fat tissue but it will still be starved for nutrition (minerals, vitamins, protein). Your body will store all energy you give it (in your fat tissues for instance) but that doesn’t mean your body will have received all it needs.
So on top of those ’empty’ calories (merely calories may be a better way) you will still have to eat a meal that contains all the elements you need to build and repair your body.
a kcal (what we call a calorie) is roughly the energy to heat 1 liter of water by 1 degree. so calories are a measure of energy.
In lay terms, from a nutritional POV all foods have three properties
1. Calories – the amount of energy they have
2. Content – Macros(Carbs, fats, protein) and micro(vitamins and minerals)
3. Satiety – How much it fills you up (strongly related to its fiber content
Veggies have low calories, but high of the other two. Fast food has high calories but low of the other two. The equivalent calories of veggies to a big Mac would require far more food. The equivalent volume of veggies to a Big Mac would keep you filled up for longer.
A empty calorie is a colloquial term for food stuffs that have little content, in particular micros. Things like beer for example
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