Understanding the role of calories
Trigger warning: this article mentions eating disorders.
Do you remember the first time you heard or read the word “calorie”? For many people, it’s in articles about how many calories you should eat or on diet products advertising low calorie content. For just a little word, calories have a huge influence on how we understand health and fitness, and not always in a good way.
Despite our overexposure to opinions and trends around calories, popular media is severely lacking in how calories actually work. Understanding the science and role of calories in health is essential for informing your own decisions around your wellness. We’ll look at what calories actually are, how they fuel your body, and the big question — should you count them?
What is a calorie?
A calorie is a unit of measurement for energy. In the context of nutrition, it refers to the amount of energy obtained from consuming food and beverages. The body requires a certain number of calories to perform its basic functions, such as breathing, circulating blood, and maintaining body temperature.
Understanding the role of calories is crucial in managing overall health. It involves finding a balance between the calories we consume through food and beverages and the calories our bodies expend through various activities and bodily functions. Maintaining this balance is essential for achieving specific health and fitness goals, whether it's weight loss, muscle gain, or simply maintaining overall well-being.
Macronutrients and calories
Calories play a fundamental role in fueling the body by providing the energy necessary for its various functions and activities. When we consume food and beverages, our bodies break down the macronutrients—carbohydrates, proteins, and fats—into smaller components through digestion. The energy stored in these macronutrients is then converted into a form that the body can use for its daily functions. Carbohydrates and proteins provide around 4 calories per gram, while fats offer approximately 9 calories per gram.
Here's a breakdown of how different macronutrients contribute to fueling the body:
Carbohydrates: As the body's primary and preferred source of energy, carbohydrates are broken down into glucose (sugar) during digestion. This glucose is then used by cells for immediate energy needs or stored in the liver and muscles as glycogen for future use.
Proteins: While proteins are primarily essential for building and repairing tissues, they can also serve as an energy source when needed. When the body lacks sufficient carbohydrates, it may turn to proteins, breaking them down into amino acids, which can be converted into energy.
Fats: Fats are a concentrated and efficient source of energy. During digestion, fats are broken down into fatty acids and glycerol. These components are utilized for various bodily functions, including energy production, and are often stored in adipose tissue for use when food intake is insufficient.
How calories fuel your body
Once the energy is released from these macronutrients, your body uses it to power essential functions, such as:
Basal metabolic rate (BMR): The energy required for basic bodily functions at rest, such as maintaining body temperature, breathing, and circulation.
Physical activity: Calories fuel our movements, whether it's walking, running, exercising, or engaging in any form of physical activity.
Cellular processes: Energy is essential for cellular activities, such as synthesizing proteins, maintaining cell structure, and facilitating communication between cells.
Thermogenesis: The body produces heat through thermogenesis, which is part of the energy expenditure process that helps regulate body temperature.
What are daily caloric needs?
Daily caloric needs refer to the total amount of calories an individual requires in a day to maintain their current weight, support bodily functions, and fulfill their daily activities. These needs are influenced by various factors, including age, gender, weight, height, activity level, and overall health goals. The concept revolves around ensuring that the energy intake from food and beverages matches the energy expended through basal metabolic rate (BMR) and physical activities.
Essentially, daily caloric needs are an estimation of the number of calories an individual's body needs to function optimally, taking into account both essential physiological processes and activities. It serves as a fundamental guideline for managing weight, whether the goal is weight maintenance, loss, or gain.
Adaptive thermogenesis
Adaptive thermogenesis is a fascinating physiological phenomenon that occurs in response to changes in caloric intake, playing a crucial role in weight regulation and overall metabolic health. Understanding this adaptive process sheds light on how our bodies respond to alterations in energy balance. Adaptive thermogenesis refers to the body's ability to adjust its energy expenditure in response to changes in caloric intake. This dynamic mechanism helps maintain energy balance and body weight within a relatively narrow range.
When caloric intake is reduced, either voluntarily through dieting or involuntarily due to circumstances like food scarcity, the body initiates adaptive thermogenesis as a survival mechanism. This process aims to conserve energy, ensuring vital physiological functions continue despite reduced energy availability.
Should you count calories?
The decision to count calories is a personal one and depends on various factors, including individual goals, preferences, and overall health. Consider whether counting calories is a sustainable habit that’s likely to contribute to lasting health and well-being.
For example, your lifestyle and daily routine may influence the practicality of counting calories. Some find it manageable, while others may find it challenging or overly regimented due to time constraints, social situations, or other obstacles.
Psychological risks of counting calories
While counting calories can be a useful tool for managing weight and promoting healthy eating habits, it's important to be aware of potential psychological risks associated with this practice. Between calorie counting apps, predatory marketing practices, and general diet culture pressures and influences, many people are exposed to calorie counting at a young age and may already be pretty familiar with the risks and downfalls of calorie counting.
Disordered eating
Counting calories may foster a rigid and rule-based approach to eating, potentially leading to a strained relationship with food and a progression into obsessive dietary control. It might contribute to categorizing foods as "good" or "bad," creating feelings of guilt or shame associated with certain food choices. Constantly tracking calories may also contribute to an unhealthy focus on body weight and shape. This emphasis on external measures of success can negatively impact body image and self-esteem.
For some individuals, these issues can become a gateway to disordered eating patterns or exacerbate existing eating disorders. In addition to co-occurring anxiety or depression, the fixation on numbers may contribute to unhealthy behaviors such as restriction, binge eating, or purging.
Disconnect from food
Tunnel vision or an intense fixation on adhering strictly to a predetermined calorie limit can shift focus away from the body's inherent ability to communicate its needs. Prioritizing quantitative caloric goals over physiological signals can lead to a distorted perception of hunger and fullness. Intuitive eating, a concept that encourages individuals to listen to their body's natural signals, is hindered when reliance on external numbers takes precedence over internal cues.
The emphasis on calorie counting also has the potential to overshadow food quality and overall nutritional value. By prioritizing quantity without considering the nutritional content of food, it’s possible to inadvertently compromise overall health and neglect essential vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients necessary for maintaining optimal health.
4 alternatives to calorie counting
Regardless of your goals, there are numerous alternative approaches to calorie counting that emphasize an intuitive, mindful, and sustainable relationship with food.
1. Intuitive eating
Intuitive eating focuses on listening to internal hunger and fullness cues, which your body regulates with neurotransmitters, rather than relying on external arbitrary rules. Encourages eating when hungry and stopping when satisfied, fostering a more natural and attuned relationship with food.
2. Mindful eating
In a similar vein as intuitive eating, mindful eating involves paying full attention to the sensory experience of eating, such as taste, texture, and aroma. By being present and savoring each bite, individuals can develop a deeper appreciation for food and enhance satisfaction.
3. Balanced meal planning:
Plan your grocery shops and meals to include a variety of food groups, ensuring a balance of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, fruits, and vegetables without the need for detailed calorie counting. Build your meals with a similar strategy, including a source of each macronutrient as well as diverse micronutrient sources.
4. Prioritize activity and well-being
Prioritize regular physical activity for overall health and well-being rather than solely for calorie burning. Shift the focus from exercise as a means of compensating for food intake to an enjoyable and holistic aspect of a healthy lifestyle.
Debunking myths about calories
Between bro science, weight loss companies, social media, and countless other sources, it seems like there’s a new myth or misconception about calories every week. Let’s look at some of the main offenders:
Myth: Empty calories hold no value
Reality: All food serves a purpose. The concept of "a calorie is a calorie" holds true for weight management, but not all calories provide the same nutritional value. Nutrient-dense foods offer essential vitamins, minerals, and fiber, contributing to overall health, whereas an “empty calorie” may lack these benefits.
However, “empty calorie” is a term coined to shame certain foods and prioritize others. While it’s important to incorporate plenty of nutritious foods in your diet, eating foods that lack an abundance of micronutrients still provides value.
Look at it this way: you need calories to survive, which makes all calories innately nutritious. If you’re ever hungry and presented with the choice to eat a meal of empty calories vs. nothing at all, you should always choose the former as calories provide the most basic fuel and immediate energy for performing vital functions.
Myth: Fewer calories always leads to weight loss
Reality: While a caloric deficit is necessary for weight loss, extreme calorie restriction can backfire. It may slow metabolism, compromise nutrient intake, and lead to muscle loss. Excessive and chronic caloric deprivation can create long-term issues with gut health, hormones, and other essential physiological functions.
Skipping meals or restricting calories can likewise disrupt your eating habits and metabolism. Regular, balanced meals support energy levels and help prevent excessive hunger, promoting a more sustainable approach to health.
Myth: Negative-calorie foods exist
Reality: The idea that certain foods require more energy to digest than they provide (negative-calorie) is a misconception. While some low-calorie, high-fiber foods may have a slight thermic effect, it's not significant enough to create a net caloric deficit. Any foods, nutritiously dense or not, contribute to overall caloric intake.
Myth: Excess calories are stored as fat
Reality: While it's true that consuming more calories than the body expends can lead to the storage of excess energy in the form of adipose tissue (fat), calories serve various vital functions beyond this storage mechanism. The body's response to calories involves a complex interplay of metabolic processes orchestrated by hormones, enzymes, and various physiological pathways.
