Is there such thing as good and bad calories?
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DemoraFairy wrote: »SergeantSausage wrote: »In terms of weight loss?
Nope.A calorie is a calorie is a calorie.
In terms of nutrition and health?
You betcha. A crap-ton of difference. All the difference.
This.
If you eat your calories in just chocolate ever day, you'll lose weight. It's been done.
How is eating mainly twinkies, but taking a vitamin, eating vegetables and a protein shake, eating just chocolate everyday?
And no one has suggested this to anyone to be a good idea.0 -
neanderthin wrote: »Basically the OP is asking, are there any bad foods, and suggests that deep fried food might be. Carry on people.
When people ask if there are bad calories or good calories they are usually talking in terms of weight loss and not nutrition. When they talk about nutrition they usually use the term 'bad food'. I see and hear it all the time.
Most everyone knows there are 'bad' food. Fried food in large quantities is bad for you but eating a lot of lettuce not so much. However people have a hard time wrapping their head around the idea that, in the context of weight loss, where the calories come from doesn't matter. The calories area all the same.0 -
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SergeantSausage wrote: »julietadimova wrote: »I'm actually finishing a book called Good calories Bad calories. They explain that a calorie carries a specific amount of energy. However, some calories (with higher GI) spike up your insulin and cause you to store more fat, as well as have cravings. So in that sense, there is some differentiation between the calories. Hope this helps.
You should throw that book away.
Yep! If things were as easy as Taubes claims then why is Taubes overweight himself?
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sunglasses_and_ocean_waves wrote: »Is there a difference between good and bad calories or are calories just calories...like is it ok to eat fried food from home made in the deep fryer? Are those considered bad calories?
So what if they are bad calories or not? That's just bad food for your body period. Eat whatever you want, but you won't get anywhere eating that stuff.
i beg to differ. a little fried food here and there aint BAD
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Is there a difference between good and bad calories or are calories just calories...like is it ok to eat fried food from home made in the deep fryer? Are those considered bad calories?
This a much more complicated question than I think you realize. As already mentioned, you could lose weight eating dorito's and twinkies. But that doesn't mean it's a good idea.
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Calories are just a measure of energy, so a calorie is a calorie.Is there a difference between good and bad calories or are calories just calories...like is it ok to eat fried food from home made in the deep fryer? Are those considered bad calories?
In terms of nutrition (which is not calories) if your diet as a whole consistently meets your body's nutritional needs (vitamins and minerals) then it is good. If it doesn't then that's bad. Also note that exceeding your nutritional needs does not make you "even healthier" so it is not necessary to eat nothing but "health food" in order to stay in good health.
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The way I look at it, is more about the quality of the food. As others have mentioned, a calorie is a calorie, no matter where it came from. This is the basis for the calories in/calories out approach to weight loss, or as I like to call it, the eat less, move more diet. So, no, calories are neither good nor bad. With that out of the way, I feel like that there is a huge range in the quality of foods available, even when we're talking about junk food. For example, a friend of mine is a terrific baker. She makes amazing desserts. If I know that we're having dinner together, and she's made something awesome for dessert, I am much more willing to forgo, say, a bag of Doritos at lunch, for one of her homemade chai spiced whoopie pies later in the evening. Both are junk food, with a heavy calorie cost for little to no nutritional value, but I find I will enjoy the homemade whoopie pie much more than the Doritos. Keeping a food diary has really driven this point home for me. If I only have a limited amount of calories to spend, then I am going to spend them on the better quality food.0
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The way I look at it, is more about the quality of the food. As others have mentioned, a calorie is a calorie, no matter where it came from. This is the basis for the calories in/calories out approach to weight loss, or as I like to call it, the eat less, move more diet. So, no, calories are neither good nor bad. With that out of the way, I feel like that there is a huge range in the quality of foods available, even when we're talking about junk food. For example, a friend of mine is a terrific baker. She makes amazing desserts. If I know that we're having dinner together, and she's made something awesome for dessert, I am much more willing to forgo, say, a bag of Doritos at lunch, for one of her homemade chai spiced whoopie pies later in the evening. Both are junk food, with a heavy calorie cost for little to no nutritional value, but I find I will enjoy the homemade whoopie pie much more than the Doritos. Keeping a food diary has really driven this point home for me. If I only have a limited amount of calories to spend, then I am going to spend them on the better quality food.
Agree 1000%
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From a weight loss perspective, the only problem I can see with fried food is that it is probably high in calories which can be challenging to fit in when you are counting calories. It also might be a bit hard to determine how many calories are in deep-fried foods, although I am sure there are plenty of foods in the database that estimate calories of such deep-fried delights.0
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I think overall balanced nutrition matters for health, but I don't think your body knows the difference when it comes to what kind of food it comes from. If you can stay within a decent range of your recommended macros, regardless of what kinds of food you're eating, then it's all good.
I also agree with @PiSquared about that fact that calorie counting pushes you to think about the 'quality' of food & to choose what you think is worth spending calories on. You learn quickly that you can't eat a ton of high calorie/low quality foods because you will be out of calories by like 2pm & be starving. You have to be strategic. I'm far more likely to have a baked potato, veggies, and a baked chicken breast for dinner than I am a can of ravioli or something, because they're a similar amount of calories but I know I will be more satisfied by the former. That said - there's nothing wrong with having the ravioli once in awhile!0 -
It's not so much about good and bad. It's more about causes and effects. Unfortunately, people frequently do a pretty poor job of pairing up the effects with their associated causes because correlations are so tempting.0
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fuzzy blue-green calories are bad.
No actually I follow a medically restricted diet but that's another story altogether. In general I would consider it smart to look for high nutrient foods, getting the most nutrition for the amount of calories you've set to eat in a day. 0 -
DemoraFairy wrote: »SergeantSausage wrote: »In terms of weight loss?
Nope.A calorie is a calorie is a calorie.
In terms of nutrition and health?
You betcha. A crap-ton of difference. All the difference.
This.
If you eat your calories in just chocolate ever day, you'll lose weight. It's been done.
How is eating mainly twinkies, but taking a vitamin, eating vegetables and a protein shake, eating just chocolate everyday?
And no one has suggested this to anyone to be a good idea.
Ok, mostly chocolate :P
I didn't say anyone had said it was a good idea, I just wanted to make it clear that I wasn't suggesting to eat nothing but junk food all day, since in other threads people have thought I've been suggesting that when I've said that eating the right amount of junk food will make you lose weight.0 -
Wow did you ever ask a loaded question for this site..no good or bad references on this site...so jump in and eat that deep fried twinkee wrapped in bacon. good luck to you.0
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laurielima wrote: »Wow did you ever ask a loaded question for this site..no good or bad references on this site...so jump in and eat that deep fried twinkee wrapped in bacon. good luck to you.
I would eat that....0 -
When did anyone mention that?laurielima wrote: »Wow did you ever ask a loaded question for this site..no good or bad references on this site...so jump in and eat that deep fried twinkee wrapped in bacon. good luck to you.
If you don't believe that all foods can be divided into "always okay" and "never okay" groups, then you must be advocating for a diet consisting completely of deep fried cake and bacon.
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laurielima wrote: »Wow did you ever ask a loaded question for this site..no good or bad references on this site...so jump in and eat that deep fried twinkee wrapped in bacon. good luck to you.
I've never eaten a Twinkie but bacon makes everything better0 -
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