are all calories equal?

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2

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  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    BUT.... doesn't high fibre food need more energy for digestion? Theoretically - if one could eat say... celery sticks all day long, 2ooo calories worth would actually need more calories to digest. Obviously not a solution to weight loss, but some high fibre foods fill you up and burn more energy....(?)

    Google "Thermic Effect of Food".

    Still doesn't change the fact that a calorie is simply a unit of measurement, and a calorie is a calorie.
  • nicolehorn0114
    nicolehorn0114 Posts: 51 Member
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    kimny72 wrote: »
    The poor Snickers bar. I love them in a pinch.

    Lol I was going to say I'd find a Snickers more filling than a chicken breast!

    OP, 200 calories of a filling food won't make you gain more weight than 200 cals of a non-filling food. But obviously if you eat a lot of non-filling foods you are more likely to overeat.

    The trick is, different people find different foods filling. So you have to find your own personal combo to stay reasonably satiated at the right amount of calories.

    I also find a Snickers more filling than chicken breast. It makes a satisfying breakfast in a pinch.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,728 Member
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    kimny72 wrote: »
    The poor Snickers bar. I love them in a pinch.

    Lol I was going to say I'd find a Snickers more filling than a chicken breast!

    OP, 200 calories of a filling food won't make you gain more weight than 200 cals of a non-filling food. But obviously if you eat a lot of non-filling foods you are more likely to overeat.

    The trick is, different people find different foods filling. So you have to find your own personal combo to stay reasonably satiated at the right amount of calories.

    I also find a Snickers more filling than chicken breast. It makes a satisfying breakfast in a pinch.

    I was also thinking that a Snickers is a more complete food than lean chicken breast.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
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    BUT.... doesn't high fibre food need more energy for digestion? Theoretically - if one could eat say... celery sticks all day long, 2ooo calories worth would actually need more calories to digest. Obviously not a solution to weight loss, but some high fibre foods fill you up and burn more energy....(?)

    That was not the question and getting into calorie burning to that degree is something that no dieter really needs to know other than to not worry about it.
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
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    BUT.... doesn't high fibre food need more energy for digestion? Theoretically - if one could eat say... celery sticks all day long, 2ooo calories worth would actually need more calories to digest. Obviously not a solution to weight loss, but some high fibre foods fill you up and burn more energy....(?)

    Every study I have seen about increasing calories of chewing and/or digestion has come to the same conclusion - true, but negligible, with one exception, There was one on nut butters and it turned out that with chunky, up to 20% of the calories passed through (I feel for the scientists testing poop for calories) while with smooth it is near zero.

    Source, please.

    Digging for it. I found something close that has a lot of info relevant to this discussion:
    https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/the-hidden-truths-about-calories/

    In that one they found that processed cheese and white bread yielded more net calories than whole grain bread with seeds and regular cheese with the asme calorie count. It also has a section entitled "A calorie is not a calorie" which is a little misleading. But lots of interesting info. Still looking for the other one.
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
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    BUT.... doesn't high fibre food need more energy for digestion? Theoretically - if one could eat say... celery sticks all day long, 2ooo calories worth would actually need more calories to digest. Obviously not a solution to weight loss, but some high fibre foods fill you up and burn more energy....(?)

    Every study I have seen about increasing calories of chewing and/or digestion has come to the same conclusion - true, but negligible, with one exception, There was one on nut butters and it turned out that with chunky, up to 20% of the calories passed through (I feel for the scientists testing poop for calories) while with smooth it is near zero.

    Source, please.

    Last paragraph of this mentions it and i think from the study discussed above it, but this is not the one I read. it was more thorough. But here is this one:
    https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2018/03/23/going-nuts-calories
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,728 Member
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    BUT.... doesn't high fibre food need more energy for digestion? Theoretically - if one could eat say... celery sticks all day long, 2ooo calories worth would actually need more calories to digest. Obviously not a solution to weight loss, but some high fibre foods fill you up and burn more energy....(?)

    Every study I have seen about increasing calories of chewing and/or digestion has come to the same conclusion - true, but negligible, with one exception, There was one on nut butters and it turned out that with chunky, up to 20% of the calories passed through (I feel for the scientists testing poop for calories) while with smooth it is near zero.

    Source, please.

    Digging for it. I found something close that has a lot of info relevant to this discussion:
    https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/the-hidden-truths-about-calories/

    In that one they found that processed cheese and white bread yielded more net calories than whole grain bread with seeds and regular cheese with the asme calorie count. It also has a section entitled "A calorie is not a calorie" which is a little misleading. But lots of interesting info. Still looking for the other one.

    The followup question then is. Is this like the sugar in baked goods discussion where we're looking at 2-5% of the total calories and at the end of the day over time it's a rounding error, or is it meaningful?
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
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    BUT.... doesn't high fibre food need more energy for digestion? Theoretically - if one could eat say... celery sticks all day long, 2ooo calories worth would actually need more calories to digest. Obviously not a solution to weight loss, but some high fibre foods fill you up and burn more energy....(?)

    Every study I have seen about increasing calories of chewing and/or digestion has come to the same conclusion - true, but negligible, with one exception, There was one on nut butters and it turned out that with chunky, up to 20% of the calories passed through (I feel for the scientists testing poop for calories) while with smooth it is near zero.

    Source, please.

    This one is on meats and starches, but same principle. This one is peer reviewed deep science:
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3228431/
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    edited June 2018
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    BUT.... doesn't high fibre food need more energy for digestion? Theoretically - if one could eat say... celery sticks all day long, 2ooo calories worth would actually need more calories to digest. Obviously not a solution to weight loss, but some high fibre foods fill you up and burn more energy....(?)

    Every study I have seen about increasing calories of chewing and/or digestion has come to the same conclusion - true, but negligible, with one exception, There was one on nut butters and it turned out that with chunky, up to 20% of the calories passed through (I feel for the scientists testing poop for calories) while with smooth it is near zero.

    Source, please.

    Ok, here is deep science on almonds:
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27713968
    Measured ME (kcal g-1) of whole natural almonds (4.42), whole roasted almonds (4.86), and chopped almonds (5.04) was significantly lower than predicted with Atwater factors (P < 0.001); ME of almond butter (6.53 kcal g-1) was similar to predicted (P = 0.08).

    I think the ratio of 4.45:6.53 is significant. 4.45 is only 68% of 6.53. Score one for the whole foods crowd (unless you want to get more energy from less food).

    Still not the one I read that had other nuts listed also, but is evidence for the point I made. I am done searching since this one is probably a better source than the article I was looking for anyway.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,663 Member
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    BUT.... doesn't high fibre food need more energy for digestion? Theoretically - if one could eat say... celery sticks all day long, 2ooo calories worth would actually need more calories to digest. Obviously not a solution to weight loss, but some high fibre foods fill you up and burn more energy....(?)

    Every study I have seen about increasing calories of chewing and/or digestion has come to the same conclusion - true, but negligible, with one exception, There was one on nut butters and it turned out that with chunky, up to 20% of the calories passed through (I feel for the scientists testing poop for calories) while with smooth it is near zero.

    Source, please.

    Digging for it. I found something close that has a lot of info relevant to this discussion:
    https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/the-hidden-truths-about-calories/

    In that one they found that processed cheese and white bread yielded more net calories than whole grain bread with seeds and regular cheese with the asme calorie count. It also has a section entitled "A calorie is not a calorie" which is a little misleading. But lots of interesting info. Still looking for the other one.

    The followup question then is. Is this like the sugar in baked goods discussion where we're looking at 2-5% of the total calories and at the end of the day over time it's a rounding error, or is it meaningful?

    FWIW, big percent, very very small study:

    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3402/fnr.v54i0.5144

    I haven't pursued it because I like eating what I like eating, and what I like eating is mostly whole foods, so I have no idea whether anyone's investigated further. Reading between the lines, this one appears to have been a bit of a rough spitball exercise to see whether there might be a there there.
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    edited June 2018
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    BUT.... doesn't high fibre food need more energy for digestion? Theoretically - if one could eat say... celery sticks all day long, 2ooo calories worth would actually need more calories to digest. Obviously not a solution to weight loss, but some high fibre foods fill you up and burn more energy....(?)

    Every study I have seen about increasing calories of chewing and/or digestion has come to the same conclusion - true, but negligible, with one exception, There was one on nut butters and it turned out that with chunky, up to 20% of the calories passed through (I feel for the scientists testing poop for calories) while with smooth it is near zero.

    Source, please.

    Ok, here is deep science on almonds:
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27713968
    Measured ME (kcal g-1) of whole natural almonds (4.42), whole roasted almonds (4.86), and chopped almonds (5.04) was significantly lower than predicted with Atwater factors (P < 0.001); ME of almond butter (6.53 kcal g-1) was similar to predicted (P = 0.08).

    I think the ratio of 4.45:6.53 is significant. 4.45 is only 68% of 6.53.

    Still not the one I read that had other nuts listed also, but is evidence for the point I made. I am done searching since this one is probably a better source than the article I was looking for anyway.

    ratios are interesting but not necessarily significant.

    Eating bacon increases your risk of Colo-rectal cancer by 20-25%. From about 4.8% to about 6.5%. depending on the study you look at. 25% is scary and statistically significant. 4.8 to 6.5 is statistical noise for the average person. I increase my fatality risk more by turning on my radio or answering my phone using a hands free device.

    But in the case of the almonds, it means if you look up 17g of almonds and almond butter, they both say 101 calories. But if that is 17g of raw almonds, you well get about 68 calories. If you really like almonds and eat lot of them, you might eat 5 times that much in a day, with a difference of about 160 calories. That's enough to make maintenance trickier (if that's possible :smiley: ).

    BTW - a calorie is still a calorie; it just seems that some foods can be made to deliver more to you and have less pass through if processed.

    EDIT - I see you are getting some Woos. Probably for the hands free phone thing; that's been debunked.
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
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    BUT.... doesn't high fibre food need more energy for digestion? Theoretically - if one could eat say... celery sticks all day long, 2ooo calories worth would actually need more calories to digest. Obviously not a solution to weight loss, but some high fibre foods fill you up and burn more energy....(?)

    Every study I have seen about increasing calories of chewing and/or digestion has come to the same conclusion - true, but negligible, with one exception, There was one on nut butters and it turned out that with chunky, up to 20% of the calories passed through (I feel for the scientists testing poop for calories) while with smooth it is near zero.

    Source, please.

    Ok, here is deep science on almonds:
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27713968
    Measured ME (kcal g-1) of whole natural almonds (4.42), whole roasted almonds (4.86), and chopped almonds (5.04) was significantly lower than predicted with Atwater factors (P < 0.001); ME of almond butter (6.53 kcal g-1) was similar to predicted (P = 0.08).

    I think the ratio of 4.45:6.53 is significant. 4.45 is only 68% of 6.53.

    Still not the one I read that had other nuts listed also, but is evidence for the point I made. I am done searching since this one is probably a better source than the article I was looking for anyway.

    ratios are interesting but not necessarily significant.

    Eating bacon increases your risk of Colo-rectal cancer by 20-25%. From about 4.8% to about 6.5%. depending on the study you look at. 25% is scary and statistically significant. 4.8 to 6.5 is statistical noise for the average person. I increase my fatality risk more by turning on my radio or answering my phone using a hands free device.

    But in the case of the almonds, it means if you look up 17g of almonds and almond butter, they both say 101 calories. But if that is 17g of raw almonds, you well get about 68 calories. If you really like almonds and eat lot of them, you might eat 5 times that much in a day, with a difference of about 160 calories. That's enough to make maintenance trickier (if that's possible :smiley: ).

    BTW - a calorie is still a calorie; it just seems that some foods can be made to deliver more to you and have less pass through if processed.

    EDIT - I see you are getting some Woos. Probably for the hands free phone thing; that's been debunked.

    I think you're confusing radiation/cancer risk (which even under the risk theory is not positively correlated with use of a hands-free device with distracted driving risk, which is positively correlated with mobile device use even if you're not handling the phone.


    Yes. Using a hands free device increases your accident risk. As does having a passenger or even having the radio playing.

    Yeah, I misunderstood. Last I heard statistics on it, the number one distraction that caused people to crash was reaching for a moving object. That may have been before cell phone use became rampant. Or before SiriusXM, where you scroll through a long list of stations instead of just pressing a button.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    in terms of weight loss, yet. in terms of nutrition, no.