Stirring the Pot: are all calories equal
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lacewitch
Posts: 766 Member
I am not normally one to stir, or to wave the red cape a trolls
But I saw this on IFLS - who normally have very good sources.
- http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/why-most-food-labels-are-wrong-about-calories
I've seen and done experiments with artificial stomachs that back this up. (phd in chemistry before all the trolls jump up and down on me.)
I am not trying to change people who have schemes that work for them - if it aint broke don't fix it and all that ... but i thought there may be some who will find it interesting.
But I saw this on IFLS - who normally have very good sources.
- http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/why-most-food-labels-are-wrong-about-calories
I've seen and done experiments with artificial stomachs that back this up. (phd in chemistry before all the trolls jump up and down on me.)
I am not trying to change people who have schemes that work for them - if it aint broke don't fix it and all that ... but i thought there may be some who will find it interesting.
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Replies
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I'll agree. Calories are not equal. 100 cals from an apple isn't the same as 100 from a Twinkie. That's why eating cleaner is so important.-6
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A (k)cal is a (k)cal.
different foods have different macro and micro nutrients which are processed and used by the body in different ways. It's not the calorie itself that's different, it's the other stuff in the food. If all you want is weight loss, than the calorie number is all you need to consider. If you want to tinker with stuff like muscle building, available energy, digestive regularity, saiety, flavor, and micronutrient value, then all foods aren't interchangeable. But, in terms of weight loss, CICO, end of story.0 -
Are all inches equal?
How about yard sticks?
does 1 centimeter = 1 centimeter?
100 calories from an apple are equal to 100 calories from a twinkie.
the NUTRITION is not identical.
But the calories are the same because a calorie is simply a unit of measurement, the measurement of the amount of heat you need to raise the temp of a kg of water by one celsius degree
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did you read the article?
Yes - Calorie is a unit with a defined value but what is on the food label does not = what the body gets in terms of energy!0 -
what is on the food label is the nutrition, not the 'kind of calorie' - all calories are the same. nutrition differs0
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Now you're talking context... we don't do context on MFP - only blanket statements. Bonus points if said statements are only loosely related to the actual question.0
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When it comes to calories you use, no they aren't equal. When it comes to the calories that are above what you need, they are all equal because they all get stored as fat.0
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Sigh...this again?0
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Are all inches equal?
How about yard sticks?
does 1 centimeter = 1 centimeter?
100 calories from an apple are equal to 100 calories from a twinkie.
the NUTRITION is not identical.
But the calories are the same because a calorie is simply a unit of measurement, the measurement of the amount of heat you need to raise the temp of a kg of water by one celsius degree
^^^She is right. Nutrition is the big difference.
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A calorie is a calorie; the nutritive value of the food being measured varies.
An inch is an inch; the object being measured varies.
Same idea.0 -
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I literally posted this same article yesterday and I also found it interesting. However, what I think the article was trying to say is that a calorie is a calorie but it's how our bodies process the calories that makes the difference.
Less processed foods require our bodies to do more work to break it down, therefore using more energy in the process.
More processed foods/soft food require less work from our bodies so we burn less energy digesting those foods.
The calorie amount is still the same, the way our bodies process it is different.0 -
excellent article!0
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sherbear702 wrote: »I literally posted this same article yesterday and I also found it interesting. However, what I think the article was trying to say is that a calorie is a calorie but it's how our bodies process the calories that makes the difference.
Less processed foods require our bodies to do more work to break it down, therefore using more energy in the process.
More processed foods/soft food require less work from our bodies so we burn less energy digesting those foods.
The calorie amount is still the same, the way our bodies process it is different.
Is that not common sense?
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sherbear702 wrote: »I literally posted this same article yesterday and I also found it interesting. However, what I think the article was trying to say is that a calorie is a calorie but it's how our bodies process the calories that makes the difference.
Less processed foods require our bodies to do more work to break it down, therefore using more energy in the process.
More processed foods/soft food require less work from our bodies so we burn less energy digesting those foods.
The calorie amount is still the same, the way our bodies process it is different.
That is kind of my line of thinking. I wonder what the thermic effect between raw foods, processed foods are and if those "resistant" starches are "free" calories since they pass through our systems (fiber?)0 -
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TimothyFish wrote: »When it comes to calories you use, no they aren't equal. When it comes to the calories that are above what you need, they are all equal because they all get stored as fat.
this is incorrect.
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I understand and agree with what is stated in the article. Calories in something, that can be measured with a bomb calorimeter, doesn't necessarily equal calories that your body (not a bomb calorimeter lol) extracts from that food.
Now let's just wait for the deluge of semantic games, naysayers, etc....0 -
yopeeps025 wrote: »
What THE ARTICLE is implying is that the processed food calories are more readily absorbed by the body so even though you consumed 100 calories of apple OR 100 calories of a twinkie, your body actually digested/used more of the twinkie than the harder to digest apple. You also burn more calories digesting whole/raw food than cooked food.
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