What Is The Meaning of “Empty Calories”?

When you are looking about nutrition and the way calories are used in your body, you may hear the term, “empty calories”, but what exactly does that mean?

Empty calories means that the foods you are eating have calories in them, but they do not add any value to your daily diet. 

When you eat a fruit, vegetable, nuts, or a lean meat, they all contain calories, but the body uses those calories right away as energy and very few of those calories are stored as fat.  On the other hand, when you eat foods such as potato chips, processed cheese, or candy, very few of those calories are being used by the body to give it the energy it needs to fuel itself, so after you have eaten these foods, the calories go into your fat cells.  When these calories are stored in your fat cells, they are held there for later use, but since most people continue eating on a regular basis, the fat cells continue to store these extra calories and then the fat cells start to get bigger and take up more space in your body, which is why your body actually becomes bigger as they are being stored.

Everyone knows that if a child is offered the option of chips or candy versus fresh fruits or vegetables, the child will more than likely choose the chips and candy.  If a child is denied these treats, it could result in wailing and idle threats, but stand your ground!  Make the fruits and vegetables available and visible as often as possible.  Tell your child that if he is truly as hungry as he says he is, he’ll eat the banana on the counter.  While it’s fine to offer a treat now and then, it’s important to keep in mind that you and your child need these nutrient-dense foods every single day in order to be healthy, strong, and focused.  I have included a fun fruit salad recipe that you can make with your child and have it on hand in the refrigerator.  When a child is involved in preparing meals, he or she is more likely to want to eat them!

Fruit Salad:

2 bananas

3 oranges

1 cup strawberries

1 cup blueberries

1 cup pineapple

Unsweetened coconut flakes (optional)

Wash strawberries and blueberries

Slice bananas, pineapple, and strawberries and place in the bowl.  Be sure to supervise children when using knives (many dollar stores sell plastic kitchen knives that are made for children).  Peel 2 oranges and pull apart the sections and remove the seeds.  Add the coconut and mix together.  Squeeze the juice from the 3^rd orange and pour over the fruit and mix.

Put into the refrigerator and chill in an air-tight container.  When serving, measure the fruit salad into ½ cup servings.

Enjoy!