Do you ever wonder how in the world companies come up with the calorie count in their nutritional labels? How is that number calculated and what does it mean?

I was curious myself. I truly feel now that knowing where things come from, meal choices just make MORE sense! It may do the same for you (even if sometimes we CHOOSE the not so great choice anyway :-)).

So it’s pretty simple: your body uses what you feed it differently for different functions. Nutrient dense food will be more useful to you than nutrient empty items. Your body just cannot do anything with sugar other than turn it to fat and store it. Nice! Basically, food is composed of the following main nutrients: water, protein, fat, carbs, vitamins and minerals. Upon being digested 3 of these: protein, fat and carbs yield the ENERGY that your body needs to perform daily activities. In contrast, vitamins, mineral and water do not product energy but instead perform other tasks such as cell maintenance and repair.

If your body does not release the energy you just got from the food you ate, shortly after you ate it, then it just stores it as fat for later use. So it makes sense to note that if you are eating more fat, carbs and protein than your body will use in one day, then you will begin to gain weight. This is why we limit the calories we eat and/or exercise to help burn the extras.

Lets talk about where calories come from. So now back to the original point of this post. Calories come from fat, carbs and protein (and alcohol) in your food. Every gram of fat = 9 calories, 1 gram of carb = 4 calories and 1 gram of protein= 4 calories. Alcohol is 7 calories per gram. Alcohol, however, is not technically considered a nutrient as it does not help maintain or repair body tissues like nutrients do.

So when you are looking at a label and you see fat 4g, carbs 56 g and protein 5 g, you can easily calculate that the calorie count will be = 280 calories. But since those calories came primarily from nutrients your body can digest and turn into fuel, it wold be considered a MUCH better choice for a snack than a 280 calorie candy bar (which has zero nutrients and 100% of its calories come its sugar content).

So the next time you are deciding on what to eat, consider not JUST the calories but instead, look at the whole picture. Where do those calories come from? That is why labels must contain the break down of each nutrient. :-)

Furthermore, and to stir the calorie pot a bit. There are also guidelines as to what % of your total calories should be from protein, fat or carbs depending on your health goals. But we thankfully don’t need to go around calculating this stuff because there is an app for that :-) (http://www.MyFitnessPal.com).

In general, even though we want to focus on daily calories consumed for weight loss, it is important to take into account what kind of calories you are eating. 1200 calories in “bread” is not the same as 1200 calories from a variety of fresh items like a good protein shake, fruits, veggies, lean cuts and lean meat and beans.

Happy eating everyone!