“Empty calories” is a term you may have heard in dieting and nutrition groups. It simply means calories with a minimal nutrition value. Typically foods that have empty calories are foods that have an elevated calorie level, but a low nutritional value. They will typically be low in in vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and/or dietary fiber. So to put it simply, they’re foods that will quickly make you put on pounds, but that are of almost no nutritional value to you.
This is particularly applicable to foods that contain solid fats and added sugars added to them, as solid fats and added sugars enormously augment the calorie value but provide little or no nutrients.
Solid fats is fat that are solid when at room temperature, like butter, beef fat, and shortening. There are fats that are found naturally in foods. Solid fats are additionally frequently included when foods are processed by food companies or when they are cooked.
Added sugars are syrups and sugars which are added when foods or drinks are processed or prepared.
Some examples of foods that are likely to contain “empty calories” are deserts, candy, ice-cream, beverages, white bread, white rice, butter, sweetened cereals, sweetened applesauce, full fat milk, hamburgers, hot dogs, fried chicken, pizza, donuts, french fries, and beer.
Good alternatives to a few of these include: extra lean ground beef, baked skinless chicken breast, unsweetened cereals, unsweetened applesauce, and fat-free milk.
If you primarily eat foods that contain empty calories you are placing yourself in real danger of malnutrition, which can lead to lack of concentration, low energy levels, cancer, and diabetes, amongst other illnesses.
Moderating empty calories is vital too if you’re looking to minimize weight gain or actually lose fat, especially if you tend to be sedentary.
If you think that you’ve been consuming a high volume of foods that contain empty calories you may like to think about taking a month to revitalize your body with a high intake of fruits and vegetables. Smoothies and vegetable beverages such as carrot juice can be very good for this because your digestive system digests them in just quarter of an hour, and you will be able to consume a high level of nutrients in just one drink.
You might also like to think about taking a good quality vitamin supplement to increase your restoration process.