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Calories!!! YAY!


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What is a calorie anyway??

 

A calorie is defined as:

 

The quantity of thermal energy required to raise one gram of water 1°C at 15°C.

 

What does this have to do with our food? absolutely negative, nothing, nada! ZILCH!

 

If a calorie was a calorie was a calorie, all one would need to do, is eat calories, irregardless of the source. For example, someone is on a 2000 calorie a day diet. Using their calculations, they want to consume 65% of that as a source of carbohydrates. Which translates into 1300 calories coming from carbs.

 

If a calorie was all that important, you could get your 1300 from, beer, or candy, or chocolate, or potatoe chips, or a cheesy pizza. or some coca cola, or nachos, or french fries - and all you'd have to do is take a nice multi vitamin and mineral supplement, and you're SET!

 

OR

 

you could get your 1300 calories, from whole foods such as fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, grains.

 

which would be better for you?? So really, it's a matter of proper nutrition, not "calories" that matter.

 

And despite what we've been "taught" (ie. programmed) to think. If your body decides to lose weight, there really is no amount of "calories" you can consume that will prevent this from happening.

 

The very first month that I became raw vegan, I lost 15 lbs of bodyweight. And no matter how much food I ate, I could not stop this from happening. I was eating upwards of 3000 calories worth of nuts,seeds, fruits and veggies... BY THE HANDFULS! I'm telling you! and yet I STILL lost weight. My body decided it was time to "clean house" and so it did.

 

Just as no amount of "calories" you eat will make you grow bigger muscles. ONLY the correct stimulation to your body will make this occur. Muscle growth is an adaptive response, to the stress placed upon it, not to the amount of calories you're consuming (ie. PROTEIN!!!) You will NOT get bigger muscles eating protein shakes and sitting on your couch watching T.V.

 

Why do we overcomplicate everything???

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A calorie is a measure of energy equal to around 4.2 joules, and it is not necessarily thermal energy, however the thermal energy in a unit of energy can be measured by change in temperature. You could also measure energy by calculating Newton-meters. A food calorie is equivalent to a kilocalorie which has enough energy to raise a kilogram of water by one degree C. Good nutrition is important, but eating the right amount of calories to provide your body with energy is equally important

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A calorie is a measure of energy equal to around 4.2 joules, and it is not necessarily thermal energy, however the thermal energy in a unit of energy can be measured by change in temperature. You could also measure energy by calculating Newton-meters. A food calorie is equivalent to a kilocalorie which has enough energy to raise a kilogram of water by one degree C. Good nutrition is important, but eating the right amount of calories to provide your body with energy is equally important

 

I understand what a food calorie is, but that still doesn't explain what a calorie has to do with nutrition? If it's in reference to food providing "fuel" for the body (i.e. burning to make heat, like oil) then how do you explain "good" calories and "bad" calories??

 

We know that 1000 calories from a couple of beers, does the body ALOT more damage than 1000 calories coming from a whole bunch of apples. They both supply the same amount of "energy" but one will make the body fat and lethargic, and one will make you lean and vigorous.

 

I don't know how much "faith" one should put in the caloric system.

 

Want to know how much to eat?? listen to your body!! it will tell you when you need to eat more food! that's what HUNGER is! it's your body signalling that you need FUEL!

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We know that 1000 calories from a couple of beers, does the body ALOT more damage than 1000 calories coming from a whole bunch of apples. They both supply the same amount of "energy" but one will make the body fat and lethargic, and one will make you lean and vigorous.

So if I understand you correctly, your point is that since calories doesnt give the whole picture about the nutritional value of food they are useless? Well that doesnt make any sense.

 

I don't know how much "faith" one should put in the caloric system.

What do you mean by the caloric system?

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We know that 1000 calories from a couple of beers, does the body ALOT more damage than 1000 calories coming from a whole bunch of apples. They both supply the same amount of "energy" but one will make the body fat and lethargic, and one will make you lean and vigorous.

So if I understand you correctly, your point is that since calories doesnt give the whole picture about the nutritional value of food they are useless? Well that doesnt make any sense.

 

I don't know how much "faith" one should put in the caloric system.

What do you mean by the caloric system?

 

What I'm trying to get at is that a calorie is just a value that WE as a society have assigned to our food.

A food calorie is equivalent to a kilocalorie which has enough energy to raise a kilogram of water by one degree C. So if an apple has 150 calories, it has enough energy to raise 150 kg's of water 1 degree C??. That's fantastic... except my body is not just a bunch of water, and why would I need to raise it 1 degree C.???

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You are simplyfying the concept of energy a bit.

From energy on wiki:

Thus energy can be in any of the following forms:

 

* Kinetic energy is the energy of motion (an object which has speed can perform work on another object by colliding with it).

* Potential energy or unreleased kinetic energy. This sort of energy arises when work is done on an object to move it somewhere against an opposing force. For instance, stretching a rubber band increases the elastic potential energy stored within the band. When the band is released, this energy is converted into kinetic energy, and work is performed. Other forms of potential energy include gravitational potential energy (from moving masses apart), electrical potential energy (from moving charges against a field), and chemical potential energy (energy stored within chemical bonds).

* Thermal energy the kinetic energy associated with the various motions of microscopic particles. The average thermal energy within a sample of matter is referred to as the sample's temperature (work is required to accelerate the particles and raise the temperature).

* Light energy the energy that composes photons and is responsible for the various sorts of electromagnetic radiation (work is required to create photons).

* Nuclear energy, the energy stored within the nuclei of atoms.

* Mass is also considered as a form of energy, (or in lay terms, the manifestation of energy,) because during annihilation or other mass change, the equivalent amount of energy (E = mc²) is always released.

 

The SI unit of measurement for energy is the Joule, or Newton metre.

From conservation of energy from wiki:

Conservation of energy states that the total amount of energy (including potential energy) in a closed system remains constant. In other words, energy can be converted from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed. In modern physics, all forms of energy are exhibit mass, and all mass is a form of energy.
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