How To Count Calories?

Marko Balašević Author: Marko Balašević Time for reading: ~3 minutes Last Updated: October 11, 2022
How To Count Calories?

Why calorie tables and the rate of calorie consumption are just a myth, and how to correctly determine the nutritional value of a ready-made dish and each of its portions.

Why calorie tables and the rate of calorie consumption are just a myth, and how to correctly determine the nutritional value of a ready-made dish and each of its portions.

How to calculate energy value?

Caloric content is the amount of energy received in the body under the condition of complete absorption from food during the digestion process. The unit of measurement is kJ or kcal. The use of the word "calorie" usually implies a kilocalorie.

The figure indicated on the product packaging is actually very far from the amount of energy that the body will receive after digesting and absorbing this product. In addition, such a figure was obtained exclusively mathematically, without chemical analysis.

 

The percentage of digestibility of food

 

One gram of protein, like one gram of carbohydrate, contains 4 kcal, while one gram of fat contains 9 kcal. Most often, the manufacturer takes the recipe of the product, mathematically calculates the number of nutrients, and then, also mathematically, the total calorie content.

At the same time, animal protein and protein cocktails are absorbed by 95-97%, vegetable protein by approximately 60% (2). It is also worth remembering that the less you chew food, the less it is absorbed (corn grains may not be digested at all).

 

Daily calorie formula

First, the formula for determining the calorie norm has been around for more than a hundred years. Secondly, it determines the basic level of metabolism, after calculating which it is necessary to use a coefficient from 1.3 to 1.75, which depends on the level of activity.

There are no unequivocal recommendations for this coefficient, so the accuracy of the formula is destroyed by the method of selecting the coefficient - by overestimating or underestimating your activity level, you can make a 20-30% error in the calculations.

How many calories do you need per day?

Studies show that daily calorie needs differ even among people of the same sex, age, weight, percentage of fat and muscle tissue - and the differences can reach the order of 20%. At the same time, the reasons for this phenomenon are not fully known.

 

Previously, it was believed that the more muscles, the more energy is needed to support them. But it turned out that 1 kg of muscle requires about 15 kcal per day (3), which is very little. Yes, strength training can speed up metabolism, but the mechanism is not clear.

 

Why is the composition of the product more important than calories?

All of the above should prove to you one simple truth: there is no point in counting the calories themselves, as this is a very arbitrary figure. The real composition of the product - the amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates - this is what you need to pay attention to.

If you are gaining the daily norm of calories, but you do not have enough protein, the body will not start building muscles, but will burn the existing ones. By reducing fats to a minimum and increasing carbohydrates, you will begin to gain weight, even after reducing the caloric intake by 20%.

Tables of composition and calorie content

There is no such thing as "borscht calorie content" - everything depends only on its ingredients. Fatty pork and lots of potatoes are one number, lean beef with vegetables is another. At the same time, the soup can look exactly the same on the outside.

 

If you see that the lettuce leaves are shiny, then they have obviously been seasoned with oil, but no one can answer the question of how much fat is in one serving. The only way to determine even an approximate composition of food is to weigh the ingredients before the cooking process.

How to determine the nutritional value?

The easiest way to determine the nutritional value is to weigh portions of foods and use the information on the label to calculate for each serving. Obviously, for this you will need an electronic kitchen scale and a calculator.

As for ready-made dishes, in order to calculate the nutritional value of the prepared dish and each portion, it is necessary to weigh the ingredients before cooking. Believe me, universal tables do not exist, and you will have to do it manually.

 

 

Counting the calorie content of food is useless. If you want to monitor your diet, then you need to monitor the amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, for which you need a calculator and a kitchen scale. Only gradually you will learn to do it by eye.

 
 

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