![\"Calorie](\"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/scale-2.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nCalories. Potentially one of the most dreaded words in the English language. The mere sound of it makes you feel heavier. But, how many of us actually understand the concept of calories and how to count them? We know that too many calories will make us gain weight, but that\u2019s where most of the knowledge ends. We\u2019re here to demystify the scary world of calories, so that you know exactly what you\u2019re dealing with.<\/p>\n
First things first, what is a calorie? Well, in nerd terms, a calorie is technically defined as a unit of energy, which doesn\u2019t really clarify much. Essentially, the calorie content in an item of food determines how much energy your body will obtain from it. We need calories in our bodies to function, without them we have no energy. Reading the nutrition label on the food item\u2019s packaging will tell you exactly what the components of the food are, as well as how many grams of carbohydrates, protein and fat it contains. Interestingly, in a gram of carbohydrates there are four calories, in protein, four calories and nine calories in a gram of fat. This means that you can roughly work out where the calories are coming from in your food by using the weight of each component as a guide.<\/p>\n
As you now know, a calorie is a measure of energy. Technically, a food calorie (otherwise known as a kilocalorie) refers to how many kilograms of water would increase to a temperature by 1 \u00baC. For example, if the total calories of a packet of crisps is 180, it means that if we were set the crisps on fire and allowed them to burn entirely (which is actually pretty hard to achieve), the reaction would produce 180 kilocalories. These kilocalories then create enough energy to raise the temperature of 180 kilograms of water by \u00a01 \u00baC. So, our bodies burn the calories through a metabolic process, whereby enzymes break the carbohydrates into glucose and other sugars, the fats into glycerol and fatty acids and the proteins into amino acids. These molecules are then transported through the bloodstream to the cells, where they are either absorbed for immediate use or sent on to the final stage of metabolism in which they are reacted with oxygen to release their stored energy. This stored energy is where things get tricky. In short, if you don\u2019t use the calories up, this stored energy turns to fat. So, even if you\u2019re not counting calories, you need to be aware of how many calories you\u2019re putting into your body.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nSo now that we understand what a calorie is, how does the body use them?<\/strong><\/h4>\n