Is there such thing as good and bad calories?
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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 -
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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 -
Interesting0
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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?
It depends what your goal is. If it is weight loss than it makes no difference, because you mostly watch how much you eat. If it is health then you need to watch what you eat and the mode of preparation plays a big role.
I eat for weight loss and health and go for a balance of the two. While I never eat anything deep fried, I have other foods I enjoy that I eat in moderation considering the amount of calories for weight loss as well as the food itself and it's preparation for health.
For example: I like to eat a decent size piece of fish. I have started to bake it instead of breading and frying it and use the calories I save from the breading and oil to get a bigger piece of fish.
There are no good or bad calories, because they are nothing but a measure of energy. But what you do with those calories often makes a difference.
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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.
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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?
I did not mean to be so abrupt but asking if cals are good or bad starts a big rukus on this site. in my opinion...there are bad cals in the food world. I do eat them but I know they are bad and I adjust ALL of my eating to support the fact that I am eating bad calories.
other people want to call it healthy cals v unhealthy cals or empty cals v nutritious cals.
Its just splitting hairs. IMO
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In my humble opinion:
A calorie is a unit of measurement therefore it's neither bad nor good. However if you are wanting to lose weight any calorie in excess of your calorie limit is bad for your goal of weight loss. And calories below your calorie goal are good for your overall goal of weight loss.
For food type specifically there are no bad or good foods overall. However there are many foods that have higher calories that will not meet all of your nutritional needs, and can take up room in your daily calorie budget that makes meeting all of your nutritional needs difficult if not impossible. Therefore I don't think there are good or bad foods per say, but foods that can be bad in meeting your overall nutritional needs0 -
laurielima 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?
I did not mean to be so abrupt but asking if cals are good or bad starts a big rukus on this site. in my opinion...there are bad cals in the food world. I do eat them but I know they are bad and I adjust ALL of my eating to support the fact that I am eating bad calories.
other people want to call it healthy cals v unhealthy cals or empty cals v nutritious cals.
Its just splitting hairs. IMO
What makes specific calorie bad?
When it's more than you need.0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »laurielima 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?
I did not mean to be so abrupt but asking if cals are good or bad starts a big rukus on this site. in my opinion...there are bad cals in the food world. I do eat them but I know they are bad and I adjust ALL of my eating to support the fact that I am eating bad calories.
other people want to call it healthy cals v unhealthy cals or empty cals v nutritious cals.
Its just splitting hairs. IMO
What makes specific calorie bad?
When it's more than you need.
If the calorie is more than you need, it's no better or worse because of the eating. It just is what it is either way. The act of eating the excess calorie may lead to a undesired effect. To me it's an important distinction.
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I'd like to hear an answer to this. A calorie is a way of measuring energy. Saying that there are good and bad calories is like saying there are good and bad inches.laurielima 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?
I did not mean to be so abrupt but asking if cals are good or bad starts a big rukus on this site. in my opinion...there are bad cals in the food world. I do eat them but I know they are bad and I adjust ALL of my eating to support the fact that I am eating bad calories.
other people want to call it healthy cals v unhealthy cals or empty cals v nutritious cals.
Its just splitting hairs. IMO
What makes specific calorie bad?
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Need2Exerc1se wrote: »laurielima 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?
I did not mean to be so abrupt but asking if cals are good or bad starts a big rukus on this site. in my opinion...there are bad cals in the food world. I do eat them but I know they are bad and I adjust ALL of my eating to support the fact that I am eating bad calories.
other people want to call it healthy cals v unhealthy cals or empty cals v nutritious cals.
Its just splitting hairs. IMO
What makes specific calorie bad?
When it's more than you need.
If the calorie is more than you need, it's no better or worse because of the eating. It just is what it is either way. The act of eating the excess calorie may lead to a undesired effect. To me it's an important distinction.
Are you honestly telling me that the calories from a ...tomato and from a fried dough..are somehow similar calories in your eyes. One calorie count is packed with nutrition and one calorie count is not. wow. i can't believe you have to be told that but...ok.
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Need2Exerc1se wrote: »laurielima 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?
I did not mean to be so abrupt but asking if cals are good or bad starts a big rukus on this site. in my opinion...there are bad cals in the food world. I do eat them but I know they are bad and I adjust ALL of my eating to support the fact that I am eating bad calories.
other people want to call it healthy cals v unhealthy cals or empty cals v nutritious cals.
Its just splitting hairs. IMO
What makes specific calorie bad?
When it's more than you need.
If the calorie is more than you need, it's no better or worse because of the eating. It just is what it is either way. The act of eating the excess calorie may lead to a undesired effect. To me it's an important distinction.
I disagree. Calories that are more than I need are bad. But bad is just an opinion so it's okay if we don't agree.0 -
Op NO ...
100 calories of donuts = 100 calories of vegetables.
This does not mean that they are nutritional twins.
what matters is that you hit your macro/micro/calories targets for the day, which means that you should be eating nutrient dense foods like chicken, vegetables, fish, rice, etc, and then filling in with things that you like, like ice cream, cookies, pasta, bagels etc.
there is no good or bad food.0 -
laurielima wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »laurielima 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?
I did not mean to be so abrupt but asking if cals are good or bad starts a big rukus on this site. in my opinion...there are bad cals in the food world. I do eat them but I know they are bad and I adjust ALL of my eating to support the fact that I am eating bad calories.
other people want to call it healthy cals v unhealthy cals or empty cals v nutritious cals.
Its just splitting hairs. IMO
What makes specific calorie bad?
When it's more than you need.
If the calorie is more than you need, it's no better or worse because of the eating. It just is what it is either way. The act of eating the excess calorie may lead to a undesired effect. To me it's an important distinction.
Are you honestly telling me that the calories from a ...tomato and from a fried dough..are somehow similar calories in your eyes. One calorie count is packed with nutrition and one calorie count is not. wow. i can't believe you have to be told that but...ok.
A calorie is a calorie!
However, the makeup of that calorie will differ nutritionally.
This does not make one any worse than the other.
You can't look at individual foods as healthy or not, you have to take the overall diet into play.
Both tomatoes and fried dough can be part of a healthy diet.0 -
laurielima wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »laurielima 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?
I did not mean to be so abrupt but asking if cals are good or bad starts a big rukus on this site. in my opinion...there are bad cals in the food world. I do eat them but I know they are bad and I adjust ALL of my eating to support the fact that I am eating bad calories.
other people want to call it healthy cals v unhealthy cals or empty cals v nutritious cals.
Its just splitting hairs. IMO
What makes specific calorie bad?
When it's more than you need.
If the calorie is more than you need, it's no better or worse because of the eating. It just is what it is either way. The act of eating the excess calorie may lead to a undesired effect. To me it's an important distinction.
Are you honestly telling me that the calories from a ...tomato and from a fried dough..are somehow similar calories in your eyes. One calorie count is packed with nutrition and one calorie count is not. wow. i can't believe you have to be told that but...ok.
yes, they are units of energy; however, they are not nutritional twins.
you are conflating calories with nutrition, not the same thing.
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sgthaggard wrote: »
I'd like to hear an answer to this. A calorie is a way of measuring energy. Saying that there are good and bad calories is like saying there are good and bad inches.laurielima 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?
I did not mean to be so abrupt but asking if cals are good or bad starts a big rukus on this site. in my opinion...there are bad cals in the food world. I do eat them but I know they are bad and I adjust ALL of my eating to support the fact that I am eating bad calories.
other people want to call it healthy cals v unhealthy cals or empty cals v nutritious cals.
Its just splitting hairs. IMO
What makes specific calorie bad?
Well yeah because 4 inches is bad and 5 inches is good. So they claim.0 -
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'm headed to the Houston rodeo soon where we're known for our friend food. Definitely have had deep fried twinkies and deep fried bacon, but I've not seen those combined. I need to suggest it to someone because it sounds awesome...0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »laurielima 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?
I did not mean to be so abrupt but asking if cals are good or bad starts a big rukus on this site. in my opinion...there are bad cals in the food world. I do eat them but I know they are bad and I adjust ALL of my eating to support the fact that I am eating bad calories.
other people want to call it healthy cals v unhealthy cals or empty cals v nutritious cals.
Its just splitting hairs. IMO
What makes specific calorie bad?
When it's more than you need.
that is a ridiculous definition ..
so if you go 100 calories over your day is "bad"....0 -
There is no scientific proof to back up "3500 calories = 1 pound of weight".
None. There was this guy who contained a bunch of health organizations and asked where it came from and none of them knew.
It's arbitrary, and there are many studies that have demonstrated that people who are put on say, a diet of 2000 calories, but with different macros, even though they should THEORETICALLY all lose the same amount of weight... don't. There are people who have gorged themselves senseless for a month on fat and protein and gained nothing, even though by the calorie count, they should have put on 20 pounds.
There are not bad calories. A calorie is a measurement. There are bad foods. You will probably lose weight if you ate at a deficit but only ate chocolate. Weight loss is not a linear and mathematical thing. It's influenced by exercise, insulin resistance, macro nutrients, so on and so forth... putting healthier foods in will see more energy, more energy will make you more active, more activity will make you burn more... putting in sugary foods might make you miserable and fatigued and thus do less...
Calories are a measurement. Like a cup. A cup of sugar and a cup of chopped carrots have different nutrients, it doesn't mean that it's bad. A cup of sugar might be exactly what you need in your cake. 100 calories of chocolate is different than 100 calories of carrots. Neither is bad. They're just different, because of their nutritional profile. Sure, if you eat 1000 calories of chocolate in a day you will lose weight, probably, as demonstrated by "monodiets" but you'll feel like crap. So... hence weight loss not just being a numbers game. I'm in camp 'macros', though, and 'eat based on what your body tells you (not your mind)'. Intuitive eating works well for me. So... take my judgement with a grain of salt.0 -
There is no scientific proof to back up "3500 calories = 1 pound of weight".
None. There was this guy who contained a bunch of health organizations and asked where it came from and none of them knew.
It's arbitrary, and there are many studies that have demonstrated that people who are put on say, a diet of 2000 calories, but with different macros, even though they should THEORETICALLY all lose the same amount of weight... don't. There are people who have gorged themselves senseless for a month on fat and protein and gained nothing, even though by the calorie count, they should have put on 20 pounds.
There are not bad calories. A calorie is a measurement. There are bad foods. You will probably lose weight if you ate at a deficit but only ate chocolate. Weight loss is not a linear and mathematical thing. It's influenced by exercise, insulin resistance, macro nutrients, so on and so forth... putting healthier foods in will see more energy, more energy will make you more active, more activity will make you burn more... putting in sugary foods might make you miserable and fatigued and thus do less...
Calories are a measurement. Like a cup. A cup of sugar and a cup of chopped carrots have different nutrients, it doesn't mean that it's bad. A cup of sugar might be exactly what you need in your cake. 100 calories of chocolate is different than 100 calories of carrots. Neither is bad. They're just different, because of their nutritional profile. Sure, if you eat 1000 calories of chocolate in a day you will lose weight, probably, as demonstrated by "monodiets" but you'll feel like crap. So... hence weight loss not just being a numbers game. I'm in camp 'macros', though, and 'eat based on what your body tells you (not your mind)'. Intuitive eating works well for me. So... take my judgement with a grain of salt.
why don't you do an experiment then
Figure out your maintenance calories.
Eat 500 calories a day over your maintenance level for three months.
track your weight three times a week.
do t his for four months
report back with results and see if you gain/lose/maintain.
I think I know what will happen ...but hey, this CICO, 3500 calorie stuff is just pie in the sky ...
and please post full studies that you are referencing.
who is advocating a diet of 1000 calories of chocolate? Why is that even a valid argument??0 -
laurielima wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »laurielima 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?
I did not mean to be so abrupt but asking if cals are good or bad starts a big rukus on this site. in my opinion...there are bad cals in the food world. I do eat them but I know they are bad and I adjust ALL of my eating to support the fact that I am eating bad calories.
other people want to call it healthy cals v unhealthy cals or empty cals v nutritious cals.
Its just splitting hairs. IMO
What makes specific calorie bad?
When it's more than you need.
If the calorie is more than you need, it's no better or worse because of the eating. It just is what it is either way. The act of eating the excess calorie may lead to a undesired effect. To me it's an important distinction.
Are you honestly telling me that the calories from a ...tomato and from a fried dough..are somehow similar calories in your eyes. One calorie count is packed with nutrition and one calorie count is not. wow. i can't believe you have to be told that but...ok.
You're confusing "good for you" with the definition of a calorie as a unit of measure.
Are calories good or bad? No, they are equal, as a unit of measure of energy.
Are some foods more good for you than others? Yes. Are some foods more nutritious? Yes. Are some foods more satisfying? Yes.
Why is this a difficult concept to understand?
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