Education Center
Villa NaturaBasic Calorie Facts
A calorie is a unit of energy that we get from food (technically, the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water 1 degree centigrade). We all need calories – to give us the energy to do everything from surfing the net to breathing to digesting more food. How many calories we actually need depends on several factors like height, activity level, and age. Doctors recommend that we eat at least 1,200-2,000 calories a day, though your calorie requirement is probably a good bit higher.
If calories are so good for us, how did they get such a bad reputation? Because when we eat more calories than we spend (which is too easy to do in modern life!) we end up gaining weight. As long as calories in = calories out, we’re okay. In theory, we could get away with eating large fries and a milkshake every day – if we ate nothing else. But in reality, this is far from a good idea because calories don’t all come in the same package.
Some foods are packed with empty calories – calories that have no nutritional value. Anything that is mostly fat or mostly added sugar (like high fructose corn syrup) falls into this category. Candy, regular sodas, most desserts, and junk food obviously fall into this category. But a lot of foods that aren’t necessarily bad are also not particularly nutritious – like white bread, white rice, or anything that’s been heavily refined. Yes, it’s definitely preferable to eat white bread than say, a buttery croissant. But calorie for calorie, you will get more health benefits from eating wheat bread than white.
Good calories are packed with the things that our bodies need to stay healthy. Things like vitamins, minerals, complex carbs (including dietary fiber), protein, and certain types of fats. Experts (and particularly diet books!) may not agree how much we need of each, but the reality is that too little or too much of any is bad. Any diet plan that says otherwise might help you lose weight short-term, but probably won’t make a difference in your weight long-term, and will almost definitely make a negative difference to your health in the long run.
Protein and Amino Acids
Proteins are everywhere in your body – from the homoglobin in your blood to the inside of your bones to your skin, hair, nails and, of course, your muscle tissue. In fact, 75% of our body’s non-water weight is from protein. There are over ten thousand proteins, but each one is made from long chains of just 20 amino acids, the building blocks of protein. Your body can make 11 of these amino acids. The other nine, called essential amino acids, must be gotten from food.
Proteins are needed to build new cells, maintain tissues and organs, and make other proteins (particularly enzymes, which help chemical processes, occur in our bodies). Without enough protein, a person can develop a wide range of health problems, including anemia, fluid retention (the bloated belly of starving children), hair loss, muscle wasting and a painful type of arthritis called gout.
Considering how important protein is, it would seem like we need a ton of it. In reality, the average adult only needs 50-65 grams of protein a day, or the amount in one good-size hamburger. Even athletes and pregnant or nursing women, who need slightly more protein, can easily get it from a regular diet.
When we eat protein, our bodies break it down, and then put the amino acids back together again to create whatever specific protein is needed. Any extra carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen not used from the protein gets turned into glucose and used for energy. Excess nitrogen from protein goes to the liver. The nitrogen is then turned into urea, which your body gets rid of.
It is possible to have too much of a good thing. Excess protein can cause the body to leech calcium from bones, for instance. Also, people who have liver or kidney disease can have trouble getting rid of the nitrogen waste created by too much protein. For these people, a low protein diet can help.
Protein in Your Diet
Protein is an essential component of everything in our bodies, from our muscles to our bones, our hair, our nails, and skin. The protein is in turn made up of 20 amino acids, protein’s building blocks. Nine of these, called essential amino acids, must be obtained from our diets.
The food we eat provides two main types of protein:
Complete protein has abundant amounts of the nine essential amino acids. Eggs, whole milk, chicken, fish, beef and soy are all sources of complete protein. Just one serving of chicken or beef (the size of a deck of cards) meets half of your daily protein needs!
Incomplete proteins contain some, but not all, the amino acids our bodies eat. Examples of incomplete proteins include beans (3/4 complete), rice (2/3 complete), and whole wheat (1/2 complete). Most foods, including dairy products, vegetables, and grains, contain at least some protein.
The good news is that you can get all the amino acids you need by pairing up sources of incomplete protein.
Medical Institute