Calories and Carbs

A Calorie is a measure of heat produced when a substance is burned (or oxidized). One gram of carbohydrate will produce about 4 calories. A gram of fat will produce about 9. A gram of protein will also produce about 4 calories.

How many calories do we need? Easy, as many as we use...or if we are overweight, we need a few less than we use. The remainder of calories needed when not enough are consumed will be supplied by the use of fat stores.

Counting calories is often a waste of time. A person can usually judge his caloric needs by the signals his body provides. As long as the calorie-rich carb is accompanied with other nutrients that are normally combined with it in nature (protein, fat, vitamins and minerals) then the sense of hunger becomes a reliable index of how much you should eat! It is when empty calories - carbs that have been separated from other components of food - are taken alone that the problem of EXCESS occurs.
However carbs are not the only supply of calories and are not the only food ingredient that can be empty and non-nutritional.