Great American Nutrition Fallacies:Calories

Calories is an accurate way of determining if the food should be consumed or not . Calories are the biggest myth in nutritional history. Calories are only a measurement of heat. You can’t eat calories. That is to say that you are eating a production of heat.  Which is basically expired Co2.  Because when the temperature of the tissue raises one degree celsius the hydrogen and oxygen combustion results in expiration. The end product is CO2 release.  So how can a food that hasn’t been heated up  cause an increase in temperature be a true way of measuring the value of food– it doesn’t.  The calorie idea is a made up phenomenon to provide people some way of classifying their food.  “If it has fewer calories then it must be good for you.”This is how people think regardless if the food has any nutrient value.

It is all about nutrient exchange and how nutrient dense a food is.  One time I was doing a book signing and I was giving away free Raw Revolution bars at my table.  This woman came up to the table and picked up a bar and said “oh, this has too many calories in it” and then put it back on the table. I asked her what she meant about the bar having too many calories. She said that it 100 calories was too much for her to eat.  I then replied by saying, “did you know that calories are only a measurement of heat and there are so many nutrients in those bars that they make a great snack. She then asked me, “what are nutrients?” This is exactly my point.  Most people know about “calories” but don’t have a clue to what a nutrient is.  This is the problem. The body craves nutrients and the more nutrient dense the food is the better it is for you.  We should be reading the label for the nutrient content and the value of the nutrients– not the silly calorie idea.

When you go to fill your car up with gasoline do you tell the person at the counter that you would like to fill up your car up with 100 horsepowers. Horsepower is a measurement of heat. “Hey Joe, how many horsepowers does your car consume?” “You need to cut down your horsepowers, your car is looking a little fat.”

As you can see the calorie idea is ridiculous.  It just doesn’t make any sense to base the value of food on a imaginary phenomenon.

Daryl Conant, M.Ed