Calorie ?'s

[Jade]

Just two quick questions for now. What does my nutritionists mean
when they say  "<i>empty calories</i>". Also, if you
don't mind replying, how many calories do you usually take in on a
normal day (n<i>ot counting supplements).</i> Thanks<i>.</i>

 

[anonymous]

Empty calories are foods that contain little, if any nutritional value to your diet. There are several problems with empty calories.....for example, if you eat a big bag of potato chips..and you are really full...then you wont eat anything else for a long while. There is no nutrition in these potato chips (no vitamins, minerals, protein, antioxidants)...only fat and calories....so you are kinda missing the point of eating there...being to fuel your body with the nutrition it requires to function at an optimal level...

 

[anonymous]

I think oil is a good example of empty calories. You take in very little but the benefits are wonderful. There are calories and the results are very encouraging. I am referring to the right type of oil.

 

[JazzysMom]

Empty calories ..... there was a time & still is depending on the doctor that they didnt care what kind of calories as long as you put weight on. It does seem to make sense to make it as nutritional as possible so your body gets the weight & the appropriate nutrients from the foods. I do also realize that desperate times require desperate measures & I have been there. Just feeding myself whatever will hit the spot to get calories in. Empty calories or nutirional didnt really matter at times. As a rule I dont eat a lot of junk & hardly sweets. So its fairly easy for me to eat healthy & still get my amount of calories! I am on the low side of calories with regular food. Half of my calorie intake is from shakes. Not the best way, but it is working for me so they dont want to mess with things~

 

[julie]

Seems like the first question got answered so I'll leave that one. My husband takes in about 5500-6200 calories a day (yes you read that right <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">). His CF dietician thinks it's too much, she always has. But it's what keeps him at a healthy weight so neither of us really care what she says or thinks. He does better with his own diet that any of the recommendations she ever gives.

My aunt is also a dietician. Out of curiosity, she brought home a thing called a "med gem". It helps determine one's calorie needs. Basically, he needed to be calm and relaxed, no activitiy for 2 hours prior, no food for 2 hours prior. Then he breathed into this little hand held machine for about 1 minute. It gave him a number of something like 2800 k/cals. Then my aunt added on 40% of that for activities (Mark's a fairly active guy, the average add on range is 30-50% depending on activity level), and an additional 50% of the last result because of his CF... so in all about 5880 on a normal day for him where he goes to the gym.

He takes in about 3500 of that from food and the rest in shakes called Serious Mass and Boost Plus shakes.

Hope this helps....

 

[anonymous]

Thanks for the response. I'm not sure why my nutrisonists keeps mentioning empty calories. I rarely eat junk food of any kind or red meat (<i>mostly chicken/fish as far as meats</i>). My weight is low, 28 yrs & only 116, so I guess they think I'm just eating the useless stuff. Truth is I hardly ever eat these days. Once or twice every other day at best. I've just never put a lot of effort into weight gain because it was pushed onto me in all the wrong ways through out the years. I would rather eat rice, a little chicken, and some black tea than anything with loads of calories.....<i>even though I know better.</i>Luckily my weight always holds at 115 for some reason so I think if I actually desired to gain...I probably could.

 

[EnergyGal]

I was the anon poster earlier. forget to sign on sometimes. I had a nutrionist at a CF center call empty calories products like salad dressings and oil because it does not weigh a lot and it has nutrition and many calories. So the saying empty calories makes sense to me.

edited to add
<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.dietbites.com/diet-empty-calories.html">http://www.dietbites.com/diet-empty-calories.html</a>

 

[amber682]

Maybe you can just keep eating what you like and add a shake or two that has lots of calories, vitamins, etc. I don't think eating rice and chicken is empty calories, those are the good calories, so it sounds like you're good. Eating junk just for the calories and fat, but not much else, is empty calories.

 

[Markus]

what I consider empty calories are things like salads. You can fill up on a salad but your not getting the protein, carbs and fats you really need to maintain and gain weight (if you have that problem). If I eat a salad I make sure that I first eat all of my protein and carbs first so I dont fill up on the salad. On a normal day I can eat 5000 cals to maintain my weight. If I want to gain which usually I do I have to increase that by aprox. 1000 cals. I am 5'11 and 198lbs right now I hope to get up to 220, at least that is my goal for now.

Hope that helps!

 

[Rokiss12]

i usually eat 2500 to 3000 calories a day <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">