WHAT ARE EMPTY CALORIES?

We have all been guilty of consuming empty calories at one time or another.  Yes, even The Fitness Angel has his bad days.  Empty calories are those foods that contain little, if any nutritional value to your diet. There are several negatives regarding empty calories, but here is a small list:

- Empty calories are generally extremely high in calories and fat.  Your mind might go to cakes, pies, candy to name a few. 

- Empty calories aren't very fulfilling and leave hunger lurking around the next Diet Bend (or is that Diet Binge....). They are much like the soda/water fixation in which an individual's thirst doesn't get quenched with soda, rather leaves one craving more soda (The Sugar Fix). If you try the soda option you will not be satisfied and you will keep drinking it and drinking it and drinking it looking for what you really needed in the first place.  A glass of water.  The more you drink water, you'll soon find it to be your favorite 'beverage' preference.  Okay, maybe not your favorite, but the most satisfying.  Try it and see.

- Empty calories translate into 'quick weight gains' if left unaccounted in the diet.

A few examples of empty calories are: hard candies, cotton candy and candy bars without nuts.  But empty calories are more than 'just about candy'. These are also empty calorie foods, but they do contain a small amount of nutritional value to your diet: cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, custard pies, gravies, sauces, salad dressings, Mayo, mustard, catsup, chips, cheese balls/curls/toes and puddings.

Check your diet.  What have you been eating regularly that falls into the category of an empty calorie?  Watch out for them.

The Fitness Angel