Empty calories can cause weight gain. Empty calories include solid fats, alcoholic beverages and added sugars, according to the National Cancer Institute. Weight gain results when you take in more calories than you burn. Consuming empty calories increases your odds of excessive calorie intake, because they don't satisfy your nutritional needs or your appetite. Sweetened beverages, sweets and processed snack foods contribute to the risk of obesity and poor health.
Background
Historically, people had to expend a lot more effort to meet their nutritional needs. It took work to obtain food, such as climbing hillsides to gather berries, farming, raising livestock, caring for chickens and harvesting crops. Some people still expend significant calories to produce food. Increasingly, particularly in industrialized nations, people live relatively sedentary lives surrounded by plentiful processed food. Much of the processed food and many of America's popular beverages contain little nutritional value. Many commonly eaten products contain refined grains, excess sugar and unhealthy fats. Empty calorie foods supply calories but little else.
Empty Calorie Cravings
Many empty calorie foods and drinks are designed to increase cravings, so you end up over-consuming them. For example, sodas made with sugar or with sugar and caffeine and high-fat, salty snacks such as potato chips. Sweetened drinks and alcohol don't contribute to satiety, so it's easy to take in a lot of calories without realizing and still feel hungry. Because alcohol affects judgment and increases appetite, drinking alcohol not only contributes its own calories toward weight gain, it can trigger excessive eating.
Alternatives
When you eat whole foods that come from nature, such as vegetables, nuts, seeds, fruits, whole grains, dairy, eggs, fish and meats, your body satisfies its needs for protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. Foods that contain fiber fill you up and cue your body that you've been fed. Your body metabolizes whole grains more slowly than refined grains, contributing to stable blood sugar levels. This cuts down on blood sugar spikes and subsequent crashes and helps to reduce food cravings. Drinking more water instead of sweetened beverages keeps you hydrated to maintain your metabolism. Substituting water, lemon water or unsweetened iced tea for sweetened drinks cuts your daily calorie intake.
Considerations
In addition to promoting weight gain, consuming empty calorie foods and drinks can contribute to chronic diseases. Being overweight greatly increases your risk of metabolic syndrome, which includes impaired insulin response and often leads to diabetes. A sedentary lifestyle combined with empty calories undermines your health and contributes to visceral fat, deep abdominal fat that releases metabolic wastes in your body that harm your organs and increase your risk for heart disease. A balanced, nutrient rich diet promotes good health and, combined with regular exercise, support a healthy weight.
References
- National Cancer Institute: Selected Intakes of Energy from Empty Calories, U.S. Population, 2001-04
- Harvard School of Public Health: Food Pyramids -- What Should You Really Eat?
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Rethink Your Drink
- Cleveland Clinic Health; How 'Love Handles' Are Linked to Heart Disease; September 2009
Member Comments