Empty calories food

Empty calories food does not mean the food does not have any calories value.

Empty calories are calories present in high-energy foods with poor nutritional profiles, typically from processed carbohydrates or fats. An “empty calorie” has the same energy content of any other calorie but it is lack of the accompanying nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, or amino acids as well as fiber.

So, in laymen tern, Empty Calories = High Calories but Low Nutrition

Generally, unnecessary calories are converted in the body to fat. However, if calorie intake is limited for the sake of reducing weight, insufficient vitamin and mineral intake may lead to malnutrition.

Foods often considered to contain mostly empty calories include:

• White rice
• Sweets, soft drinks, beverages with a low juice component, and other foods containing sugar
• Butter, lard, and other highly-saturated fats.
• High fat foods such as hamburgers, hot dogs, fried chicken, pizza, potato chips, and French fries
• Candy, pop and other sweetened packaged foods
• Beer, wine and all other alcoholic beverages

So, the next time, when people say empty calories food, they do not mean that the food is calorie free.