Thursday, 10 January 2013

Low Calorie, No Calorie, Zero Calorie, Calorie-Reduced...?


Low calories food
                   It seems that no word in the lexicon of nutrition has been as greatly reviled as the “Calorie”, as persistently sought to be squashed out of existence- or as much a cause of such widespread paranoia over so many decades.
                But what, exactly, are these dreaded, hated calories? Nothing but the fuel that body needs to keep it going: to provide the energy you need not only to walk, knead the dough or make love, but to carry out the various bodily processes that go on silently through the day whether you are aware of them or not—such as keeping your heart beating, 70 times a minutes, 60 minutes as hour, 24 hours a day, 365 day a year for say 75 years a hopefully many more.
                Your body also needs calories to carry out repair jobs on its tissues, and finally, for growth—not just through childhood and adolescence but through nine month of pregnancy during which microscopic single cell increase in weight about 6 billion times. All these activities require the body to burn calories, and collectively they constitute your body’s metabolism.
                Where does your body get these calories from? From three nutrients, and from one other source—alcohol. The nutrients are carbohydrates, fats and proteins (not vitamins or minerals—they are zero-calorie!). But these nutrients bring in varying amounts of calories.
                Carbohydrates are said to be the body’s primary fuel because they are so rapidly burned for use. Carbohydrates come from two kinds of foods- sugars and starches- and, gram for gram, both bring in the same number of calories. But there’s a vital differences.
                The carbohydrates from sugar bring in only calories and little or no other nutrients. The sugar is not just table sugar(Know as sucrose), but also the sugar found from fruits(Called fructose), in honey(Chiefly glucose and fructose), in milk (lactose), and in a variety of processed foods (One or more different sugars). All these sugar are said to bring in “simple carbohydrates”.
                In contrast, the carbohydrates from starches are called “complex carbohydrates”. They are found in grains and grain products (such a breads, chappatis, popcorn and macaroni), some vegetables such as potatoes, and beans and peas. Such foods contain several essential vitamins and minerals in addition to their carbohydrates.
                Complex carbohydrates release their load of calories gradually and over a longer period of time than simple carbohydrates do. This slow release them a much better source of sustained energy levels.
                But sugar or starch, every gram of carbohydrates brings in 4 calories.
                Proteins-Though another source of calories, are generally not used by your body as fuel. They are burned for energy only when other sources, such as carbohydrates or fats, are in woefully inadequate supply. Nor is it healthy for your body to burn proteins for energy- protein is required for other vital functions that cannot be performed by carbohydrates or fats. It forms the basic material in all your body’s cells. Besides enabling growth and repair of these cells, protein also helps to form the antibodies that fight infection.
                Protein can be obtained from animal source(meat, eggs, fish and dairy products), as well as from vegetarian sources(dry beans and peas, pulses, nuts and seeds)
                Each gram of protein (like each gram of carbohydrates) brings in 4 calories.
                Fatsare the most concentrated source of calories. Every gram of fat brings in 9 calories- more than twice the amount contained in a gram of either carbohydrates or proteins. That is why foods high in fat bring in the most calories. They include cooking oils and cooking fats( such as lard), dairy product such as milk, cream, butter and cheese, red and white meat and meat products such as sausages, certain fishes like mackerel like cakes, biscuits, sundaes, potato chips, samosa, pakoras, salad dressings, mayonnaise, hard margarines and chocolates.
                Most foods are higher in one source of calories than in another. But most foods contain all three sources- Carbohydrates, fats, proteins- to some extent or the other.
                Alcoholis not considered a nutrient, but it also brings in calories: 7 calories per gram. That’s high, considering that alcoholic beverages not only bring in little or no other nutrients, but can in excess cause nutritional deficiencies 

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