Are calories the same as calorie

Calories and calories are two different nouns, but they are essentially the same, both referring to the calories in food. The calories in food mainly come from three parts, mainly protein, fat and carbohydrates. If the content of these three in food is relatively high, the calories in the food will be relatively high and it is not suitable for people who want to lose weight. Let us now understand which foods are high in calories and how much calories we should eat every day.

Calorie (abbreviated as cal), which is a transliteration of the English word Calorie, is defined as the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius under 1 atmosphere of pressure. Calorie is a unit of energy and is still widely used in nutritional measurement and fitness manuals. The international standard unit of energy is the joule. As the legal unit of food calories, joule is commonly used in Europe, while calorie is used in the United States. Although joule is the legal unit in mainland China and Taiwan, calories are still widely used in mainland China and Taiwan due to tradition.

There are three types of calories in food

There are three types of calories in food: protein calories are the basic nutrients for muscle building, mainly derived from meat, dairy products and eggs, containing 4 calories per gram; carbohydrate calories are the main source of energy for the human body under normal circumstances, contained in rice, flour, noodles, bread, cereal, vegetables and fruits, also 4 calories per gram; fat contains 9 calories per gram and is contained in oil and cream.

There is also another type of calories called "empty calories", which refers to foods that only provide energy but have low nutritional value, such as soft drinks, alcohol, and fast food.

The ideal calorie ratio for each meal is approximately: 65% carbohydrates, 20% fat, and 15% protein.

Irwin Wooler is an American biochemist and nutritionist, and the author of more than 20 professional books. He said that the optimal calorie ratio varies from person to person, but the general principle is that carbohydrates should not be too much or too little, and fat and protein should not be completely excluded.

How much food is appropriate?

How much food should you eat to avoid excessive intake? American nutrition expert Radicia Flores advises everyone to "know when to eat enough". "No type of food is more important, and there is no need to standardize the amount of food. It can only be roughly divided into 'large amount', 'moderate amount' and 'small amount'." This method does not provide quantitative advice because the nutritional needs of an individual will vary with age, gender and amount of exercise. If portion sizes are set, some people may eat too much while others may not feel full.

Here are the key points of the “enough is enough” principle:

Try to eat different types of food; eat plenty of vegetables and fruits; eat a moderate amount of grains (rice, whole wheat bread, noodles, biscuits and oatmeal, etc.); eat a small amount of meat, preferably skinless fish or chicken, and it is best to eat less pork, beef, lamb and other meats.

American nutritionist Wooler said that the simplest formula to determine how many calories a person should consume is to multiply the weight in kilograms by 30. Humans need about 30 calories per kilogram of body weight. For example, if you weigh 60 kilograms, you need 1,800 calories per day. However, nutrition experts can cite many examples to show that this algorithm is not entirely accurate. Because factors such as genes, diet, and nutrition will all have an impact.