If My Soda is 150 Calories, How is it Empty?

We all know that the food and drinks we consume are made up of calories. But who ever heard of an empty calorie? Calories give energy right, so how can they be empty? Empty calories are simple: calories from fats, added sugars, or alcohol. These calories contain little or no nutrients that benefit our bodies, only fat or sugar. Let’s compare an empty calorie to a full calorie. You get full calories from nutrient-rich foods like fresh fruits and vegetables. These foods naturally have vitamins and minerals our bodies need to stay healthy. This makes their calories full calories. On the other hand when you drink a sugary drink like soda, there’s no vitamins or minerals that come with it. Check out the Nutrition Fact label next time you drink a soda, and compare it to an apple.  One soda has almost twice as many calories as an apple, and it has none of the vitamins and minerals the apple has to offer.

So why are empty calories a big deal? Because empty calories are the one's that contribute most to being overweight. And because they are everywhere, and most likely make up a large part of your current diet. They’re in your cookies, cakes, energy drinks, bread, hot dogs, even in pizza. Click here to learn more about empty calories. We don’t realize how many empty calories we consume until we are informed about them. 

What can we do about empty calories? Simply decreasing the amount we consume is a great start. It’s too hard to cut them out of our diets completely. Plus we’ll probably end up going through withdrawal and eating twice as much late one Friday night. Try substituting some water instead of that soda. Do we really need more than 1 can a day? Next time you’re craving that sweet snack, try a piece of fruit. Fruit is made up of sugar too ya know! Click here for more substitution ideas. Maybe not every time we eat, but a little substitution here and there can go a long way. 

Stephanie Kane