|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004
old hand
|
OP
old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004 |
This is probably more a general knowledge than a language knowledge question, but can anybody tell me what the phrase 'empty calories' is supposed to mean? And does it, at all, have any substantive meaning?
I ask this because, as far as I am aware, a calorie is a calorie - a capacity to do work, a unit of energy. If it is empty, what is it empty of? Not energy, for sure. If it is not empty, what is it that we expect to fill it? Water? Crystals? The Holy Spirirt?
Nonplussed-and-perplexed-about-'diets' in London
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 197
member
|
member
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 197 |
>>can anybody tell me what the phrase 'empty calories' is supposed to mean
Simple sugars or fats that don't provide any nutritional value would be empty calories. Protiens or complex carbohydrates would be the prefered (full?) calories.
>> a calorie is a calorie
Yes, this is true. The issue is how your body uses the calorie. (store it or burn it)
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
>empty calories
I wonder if it relates to either: (i) Foods like celery which are said to use more calories in eating and digesting than they contain. (ii) Foods like sweets which provide calories but do not make any other useful contribution to the diet, eg fibre, vitamins, protein.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Yes, as xara and Jo (ii) said. My favorite form of empty calories is beer.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027
old hand
|
old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027 |
>do not make any other useful contribution to the diet, eg fibre, vitamins, protein.< This is correct, one should add "mineral salts and trace elements". At the beginning though, the term had a more "vitalistic" pitch, referring generally to highly refined foodstuffs. It has gone a bit out of fashion, after the "fun aspect" of eating has come to the fore again, and children cram themselves with sweets...
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
children cram themselves with sweets...
And adults cram themselves with beer, wine, and sausages, especially when free...
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
but AnnaStriphic, beer doesn't have empty calories--Its a reasonable good source of Vitamin B, and Niacin.. and while not iron rich, it has more iron than most many foods, so that a pub crawl could be a cure for anemia! it could, however, lead to the medical problems to use beer as your prime source of iron.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
I believe that it is the vitamins and iron that are the basis of Guinesses old claim that it "is good for you." Certainly our family doctor on Northampton recommended Guiness as a painless antidote to mild anaemia.
I did wonder why he hadn't recommended Mild, but decided not to be Bitter about it. The main problem, we found, was that Guiness makes you so Stout that you need a Porter for your luggage, even when it isn't Lager than you used to be able to carry.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
I understand that chocolate has many virtues. The dentist told me that it had fluoride and wasn't as bad for teeth as chewy sticky things. It lifts the spirits too.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
chocolate -- lifts the spirits tooPersonally, I prefer the forearm and elbow for that job.
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,421
Members9,182
|
Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
0 members (),
805
guests, and
3
robots. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|