Calories ≠ Energy
Calories do not equal energy.
What do I mean by that?
For decades, we have lived under the mantra of “calories in, calories out.” This has fueled the gym/workout craze, the rise of dieting and food restriction, “eating in a deficit,” “fat-burning” supplements and plans, and an entire industry of “activewear” so we can all look like we have spent all day working out, even when we haven’t. But it hasn’t really worked, has it? Americans are fatter than they have ever been.
That’s because Calories do not equal energy.
As you can see from this definition below, the core meaning of calories is based on heat. “The amount of heat required at a pressure…,” “the amount of heat required to raise the temperature…,” “expressing heat-producing or energy-producing…” wait, what?
All of a sudden our definition went from “heat-producing” to “energy-producing” with no explanation. This is the reason for all the confusion about Calories.
Calories do not equal energy.
Calories are a representation of the amount of material in food. They are a simplistic tool whose main benefit is allowing us to be able to compare the types and amounts of foods across the entire spectrum of things we would eat.
But, Calories tell us NOTHING about the “energy-producing value in food when oxidized in the body.” Now that you know more from our posts about energy itself, which food is giving you more?
🍩 300 Calories of donuts?
Or 300 Calories of fruit? 🍓
🍟 300 Calories of fast food french fries?
Or 300 Calories of homemade potato wedges? 🥔
🥛 300 Calories of almond milk?
Or 300 Calories of raw cow milk? 🐮
🌱 300 Calories of soy burger?
Or 300 Calories of beef? 🐄
You get my drift.
The “foods” on the top are damaging your mitochondria and reducing your energy-production. The foods on the bottom are not.
Throw them each in a fire and measure the “heat” and it may be the same. But your body does not work that way. And telling the American public that all they need to worry about is “calories in, calories out” has been one of the worst lies of the last century.
People believed their government knew best and started reducing their calories, effectively starving their mitochondria, lowering their thyroid production and their body temps, and putting many Americans in hibernation mode.
Don’t believe me? Check out this page from a cookbook in 1915:
Your eyes don’t deceive you. Women used to eat about 2650 Calories a day. Men, 3000-4000 Calories a day. This was considered normal.
And guess what? Back then, there were no processed foods, no machine lubricants repurposed as fake cheap fat, no fillers and binders added to bread and hamburger meat, no toxic glyphosate on their crops, no man-made additions to their food that killed their body’s energy production.
There was real food, like this (a weekly menu from 1893):
Can you imagine eating that much in a week? This was considered normal. You have been quite fooled, my friend. Well then, what does create energy in the body if not Calories?
ELECTRONS.
The amount of energy you receive from your food is a result of how many electrons that food contributes to create ATP. That’s it!
Your body’s life is fueled by the flow of electrons from what you eat, through your digestive tract, absorbed into your blood, directed into your cells, then into the mitochondria, then all the way through the electron transport chain to make ATP.
The food that enhances that process and makes it more efficient and robust is the more bioenergetic food. The food that damages that process and makes it less efficient will make much less ATP and therefore less energy. Even if the Calories are the exact same.
Are you getting it yet?