Whelehans Pharmacys Aisling Murray: understanding calories (part 1)

Understanding calories (part 1)

One thing I notice from running the nutrition clinic is how many people are consumed about calorie content of food when they initially come to see me. I think being aware of the calorie content of your food is important and that why we have nutrition labels, it’s about educating yourself on the food you consume. There is nothing wrong with being aware of your calorie intake, however calorie counting becomes a problem when you obsess over it or it interferes with your day to day activities.

 

What are calories?

Calories are a measurement of energy in food just like a kilogram is a means of measuring weight. If you know how many calories are in a particular food then it can help you balance calorie in vs calorie expenditure. This is one of the key applications to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. When trying to lose weight it’s important to burn off more calories than you consume e.g. 3,500Kcal is the equivalent to 1 lb of fat. When we eat and drink we are putting calories (energy) into our bodies and this energy is used up when we do activity. The amount of calories you burn by breathing, walking around, having a generally sedentary lifestyle is calculated to be 1950Kcal for woman and 2500Kcal for men.

By this theory maintaining a stable weight should be as simple as the energy we put into our bodies being the same as the energy we use up by normal bodily functions and physical activity. On certain

days the calories in will be more then expended and vice versa this will lead to an overall balance in weight.

Unfortunately we all know that weight gain occurs when we eat more than we should, over time this excess energy is stored as body fat and thus increasing your weight. In Ireland it’s now come to light that the majority of us are now eating more calories than we require and our waistlines are increasing.

 

Checking the calories content of food

Checking food labels in one of my biggest recommendations for anyone wishing to lose weight or just educate themselves on what they are eating. A lot of us can consume empty calories from foods like fizzy drinks, fruit juices, yoghurt drinks, alcohol etc. We need to be more aware of what we are ingesting as all these calories will be converted to fat if not used up. On the back of your food packaging you will see the nutritional label this will indicate the “energy” present calories are given as Kilocalories (Kcals) and kilojoules (KJ).

The label will indicate per 100g or 100ml depending on whether it’s a food or drinks this allows you to compare calories in different products. Some labels identify the amount of calories in one portion of food (The manufactures idea of a portion). Your idea of a portion may be very different

 

Calories are everywhere

Restaurants are now displaying calorie and other nutritional information on their menus, this makes selecting your meals a little easier and calories are displayed as per portion or per meal.

All the information is provided to us about calorie content of foods it’s up to us to ensure we read labels, don’t over consume high calorific foods and keep our diet relatively balanced. The calorie information is provided to us on food and in restaurants we need to be more vigilant when it comes to what we eat.

 Whelehans Nutrition Service

Whelehans nutritional service is a private one to one advice service with our nutritionist Aisling Murray. Aisling’s areas of interest include weight loss management, nutrition education and food intolerance. Our nutrition service offers you the chance to change your life in a positive way by focusing on your overall wellbeing as well as the chance to follow up on your progress.

 

Aisling Murray has a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and offers a one to one specialist nutrition service at Whelehans Pharmacy. Call Whelehans at 04493 34591 for an appointment. Aisling’s Nutriton Clinic costs only €10 per week.