A lesson on Calories...

I always hated the word "calories" soooo much..
Actually, to be quite honest, I used to love it, because that's how I would measure my food intake. It was, just like my weight, a "lifeline".. The less calories, the better. If I read for example that actresses would sometimes live on 400 calories a day, to stay in shape, I would want to beat that.. by eating less than 400. Just pushing and pushing, as far as possible.
Then I started to hate the word "calorie".. I dreaded it, and cursed the guy who ever came up this word.. I wanted to avoid calorie counting because it would only drive anna.. But, in the world we live in today, it's impossible to get away from this word..

So, a love-hate relationship that needed some attention.
I recently started reading up on nutrition, and learning about the body and foods and lots of interesting things, and then I came across the chapter.. "Calories: The Energizers"..
My first reaction was.. skip it. leave it alone, don't bring up all the awful feelings.. But then I found myself wanting to read it, after a few days. So I did.

Since reading it, I have banned the negative thoughts about this word. It is actually a really good thing..

For those of you interested.. Here's a little lesson on the "dreaded" C-word.. It might be boring, so just scroll down and skip it if you like..

Your body burns food to produce energy (this is also called our metabolism). This energy is produced in the form of heat. This heat warms your body and powers every move you make.
So to simplify (if that wasn't easy enough), the actual burning and digesting of the food, produces heat and energy for our bodies to function.
The amount of heat that a certain food produces while being digested, is measured in calories. It gets a lot more technical than that, but I'm not going to bore you.. if you want more info, drop me a line;)
So when a banana has 105 calories, it means that digesting it, produces 105 calories of heat that your body can use to function.
It's so interesting, because if you know the amount of carbohydrates, protein, and fats in your food, you can also calculate the amount of calories (in 1 gram of protein and carbs contains 4 cal, alcohol 7 cal, and fat 9 cal)..
As everyone also knows, every calories DOES count.. even the "empty calories" (these DO provide you with energy, but are NOT nutritious). For your body to just "be"..it needs calories.. everybody knows this.. even I do( I did however convince myself that doing nothing, doesn't require food, but that's a different story).
I came across a chart, to calculate the amount of calories you need if you just sit on your backside 24 hours a day and do nothing..
And shock shock, horror horror.. I don't really need that much, because it's calculated according to your weight. On my food plan this week, I'm taking in more than twice the amount I need.. most of you will be pleased to know..
I even found out that, hormones effect your energy needs.. Females (usually always) get the cravings just before their period..why? Because of the loss of blood, your body needs more iron, so it automatically craves more of certain foods to keep the iron levels up and so the body can produce more blood.. how interesting..
I found out how much calories you have to burn in order to loose 1 gram of fat..AND (more beneficial in my case) I also found out by how much to increase the daily calorie intake in order to gain weight..

There are lots of other little facts and charts (all guidelines of course), but the main thing I realized, is that calories don't have to be my enemy, they can be my friend, my support, my energy and the quickest route back to being a healthy Niamh.