2024

LET’S TALK CALORIES

 

 

 

Everyone knows the basic idea of what calories are—these are found in every food, which can make you gain weight the higher the value is. Because of this, when someone who’s health conscious checks out any food product, they would automatically check the back to see how much calories it has. And if the value is high, the product would most likely be returned to the shelf. That’s the reason why food manufacturers always aim to produce low-calorie products.

But what is a ‘calorie’, really? It is the energy content found in food. It is what the body burns during any activity. However, many are not aware that there are actually 3 types of calories: carbohydrate, fat, and protein. Furthermore, the body does not utilize these calories all at the same time.

The body has a system of burning calories. What it burns first are calories from carbohydrates for regular everyday movements such as lifting a book off the table and transferring it to another location. This simple action already burns calories.

The next to be burned are the calories from fats. This happens when not only do you lift the book off the table but lift it up and down 100 times or more.

You must be wondering when calories from proteins are burned, given that carbohydrate and fat calories are already present to be burned. Calories from proteins are burned when you’ve already used up the energy from the first two. This happens when you’re doing intense workouts.

What a lot of people don’t know is that if you do not burn calories from fats, your body will store these—waiting to be burned. And this will cause your body to gain weight. So, if you want to lose weight you will need to burn off all those stored fat first.

Now that you know more about calories, when you check out how much calorie a food product contains you will know if it’s ok to purchase it or not. You know that if you don’t live an active lifestyle, it would be best to consume foods that have lesser calories from fats.