Given the name, an empty calorie sounds like something desirable for weight loss. In truth, it is not and you need to take this into account when considering your food.
In 1972, a man named Michael Jacobson, who was the director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, coined the term "empty calorie." The term meant a calorie that was not high in the necessary micro-nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and fiber. A calorie is actually a rather inexact measurement when it is used for the energy content of food. Foods are assigned calorie rates using certain standards and so a calorie is a calorie as far as its potential to produce energy.
Nutrition For Weight Loss
The body seems to sense the empty calorie and has a tendency to convert it to fat. It is almost as if it recognizes that although it has energy potential, the empty calorie has little else. The best thing to do with it, the body seems to think, is to put it into storage. This is the importance of empty calories in dieting and calorie counting. It is always better to replace empty calories with high nutrition calories when restricting calorie intake. Failure to do this could lead to serious malnutrition as well as do little to accomplish the weight reduction goals.
When you look at a list of foods that contain mostly empty calories, you are not very surprised. Sweets and soft drinks are high in empty calories. In fact, most foods that are high in sugars contain empty calories. Margarine, butter, and lard are also on the list. Alcohol is another good example of a substance consisting mostly of empty calories. None of those come as any surprise. Most people associate all of them with weight gain.
This is why most diet plans are concern more with what you eat than with how much you eat. The best diets move your eating habits away from empty calories. This not only provides the necessary nutrition for the body, but also prevents the excess fat storage associated with empty calories.
The whole idea of the calorie intake being a major factor in a weight reduction plan comes off track unless empty calories are taken into consideration. The metabolism of the human body is remarkably complex. It would be foolish to assume that any plan to change its results would be simple. Any health plan or dieting plan is going to be a bit complex and comprehensive if it is going to do any good at all. Knowledge of the properties of food is essential to success.