Calories

General information

-          A calorie is a measure of heat. It is the amount of energy that food produces as it passes through the body.

Confusion When we talk about calories, we can refer to two terms: -          Calorie -          Dietetic calorie The relationship between both is:  1000 calories = 1 dietetic calorie *I am always talking about dietetic calories.

-          Energy metric unit of measurement are joules.

o   1cal = 4186 joules

Calorie measurement

-          1 gram of carbohydrates = 4 calories

-          1 gram of proteins = 4 calories

-          1 gram of fats = 9 calories

Daily recommendation

-          45-65% calories should come from carbohydrates

-          10-35% calories should come from protein

-          20-35% calories should come from fats