They are found in the foods we eat every day, they are a direct source of calories and their nutritional value is around the minimum. What are they? Empty calories, one of the main stumbling blocks we face when dieting. Despite the fact that we mainly associate this term with junk food, the truth is that we unconsciously introduce them into the diet, as they are present in foods such as white bread, industrial biscuits, cereal bars…
Summer is getting less and less and being able to get back into the pants we wore so much last year is one of the goals of the past few months. And despite the fact that there is no perfect diet that will give us our figure back in a weekwe are on time to track great results thanks to the nutrition experts at Clinique La Prairie Madrid and to eliminate empty calories to make the most of the last piece.
Empty Calories: What Are Their Health Risks?
“Its regular consumption promotes obesity, malnutrition, hormonal deregulation and increases the risk of disease,” says Chiara Corradetti, nutritionist at the center of Clinique La Prairie Madrid. When designing a diet, the experts at the center take into account that humans need not only energy (calories), but also a wide variety of nutrients to keep our bodies functioning properly and to prevent disease and premature aging.
Empty Calories: Where Are They?
The experts at Clinique La Prairie point out that while they often go unnoticed, these are the foods that have the most empty calories:
- sugars. The teaspoon we add to coffee seems harmless, but eating it daily is not recommended in the first steps of the diet. Sugar provides glucose and fructose, that is, easily absorbable carbohydrates. Although glucose is essential for life, it is not for the functioning of our bodies and abuse leads to a build-up in the form of fat. In fact, the professionals at Clinique La Prairie Madrid point out that its excessive consumption is linked to damage at the brain level (loss of memory or concentration problems), hormonal dysregulation (possibly affecting fertility, altered feelings of hunger satiety) and at the gastrointestinal level (change of the gut microbiota). Alternatively, Chiara Corradetti recommends getting the right amounts through fruits, vegetables, tubers, oatmeal…etc. That is, foods that are much more nutritionally desirable as they contain other beneficial nutrients such as vitamins, minerals or fiber.
- Drinks. As the name implies, they serve to refresh. However, it is often ignored that all of its flavor is partly achieved by an excessive presence of sugars, which are far from good for health. The high sugar content, say the team of nutritionists at Clinique La Prairie, is the root cause of overweight and obesity problems. While it is true that people can get an idea of whether they are getting a lot of calories from what they eat, drinks are usually not taken into account and are also low in satiety, and can generate excess calories in our diet. And as much as we convince ourselves of it, the 0% or light variety is also no better, as consumption of sweetened soft drinks is associated with an increase in visceral and belly fat† Another drink to avoid is alcohol. Their consumption provides “a large number of calories, more if we mix them with sugary drinks. In addition, it promotes dehydration, hinders liver detoxification, increases appetite for fatty and sugary foods and its priority when it comes to being metabolized makes it difficult to burn body fat,” they say of Clinique La Prairie Madrid. Alternatively, replacing these drinks with sparkling water, flavored water, or natural juices can significantly reduce the intake of “snatched” empty calories. Nutritionists at Clinique La Prairie place great emphasis on this step, emphasizing that replacement with sports drinks is not the ideal solution. “Sports drinks are not empty calories for those who do a certain intensity workout of more than an hour. The problem is that people who do not engage in physical activity or who are not intense and/or prolonged consume them because they consume calories that are not very satiating, sugary and nutrients that their bodies do not need,” emphasizes Corradetti.
- Processed foods. Industrial pastries are a quick and sweet way to indulge ourselves. “They provide excess sugar, refined flour (easily digestible carbohydrates) and industrial or unhealthy fats. In other words, it’s a combination of calories with a low nutritional density,” says the team of professionals at Clinique La Prairie Madrid. Snacks follow this line, which mainly contain unhealthy fats, excess salt and/or refined flours and candies, mainly formulated with sugar, gels to give texture, colorings and flavors and whose intake contains no nutritional value for our “They are products full of additives that our hunger for foods that are nutritionally necessary, promoting obesity and malnutrition.”
- Toss and pre-cooked. Haste should never be an ally to our meals. Be it precooked foods or flavoring the foods that are bland with sauces, resorting to these types of sources involves a large intake of empty calories which is not recommended. On the one hand, sauces are a source of added sugars and vegetable fats that pass through our diet and provide a high caloric load without any satiating effect. On the other hand, while they are a quick and easy resource for lack of time, precooked foods contain added sugar, refined flour, industrial or unhealthy fats and, in many cases, additives. “In other words, it’s a combination of low nutrient density calories,” say the nutritionists at Clinique La Prairie Madrid.
Source: Marie Claire
