{"id":14919,"date":"2020-03-27T18:21:17","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T18:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/squad\/?p=14919"},"modified":"2020-03-27T18:21:17","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T18:21:17","slug":"what-are-empty-calories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/nutrition\/what-are-empty-calories\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are Empty Calories?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The term \u201cempty calories\u201d is thrown around by dieticians and doctors helping you manage your weight. But what does it really mean?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The short version is that empty calories refers to foods and drinks that have no significant nutrients but plenty of calories. These calories typically come from added sugars, solid fats or alcohol content and some processed oils.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A 2012 study found that while the average intake of empty calories for women is around 624 per day, adult males consume even more: around 923 empty calories daily.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Examples of empty-calorie foods and drinks<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When you eat a lot of these foods, you\u2019re likely filling up enough to gain extra weight and not have room for more nutritious foods that contain protein, fiber, essential fatty acids, and vitamins and minerals:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> sodas, fruit drinks and energy drinks<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> candy<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> carb-rich desserts, such as cakes, donuts, cookies and muffins<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> bacon, sausages and hot dogs<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> butter and shortening<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> fast food<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> alcohol<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> soybean and canola oil (processed)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> high-sugar condiments, such as barbecue sauce and ketchup<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Avoiding empty calories<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, snacks provide about one-third of an adult male\u2019s empty calories for the day. With this in mind, you could try reducing your snack intake or opting for healthier snacks throughout the day.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some of the best healthy snacks include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> vegetables and hummus<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> fruits and yogurt<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> unsweetened applesauce<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> plain oatmeal with honey, nuts and fruit<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> plain popcorn<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It\u2019s important to realize that while fruits contain vitamins and minerals, fruit juice isn\u2019t nearly as healthy. In most instances, you\u2019ll get way more sugar in juice and feel less full than if you ate fresh fruit, which also provides fiber to help you feel full.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Not sure where to start? Talk to a nutritionist or registered dietician to create a realistic food plan that can keep you full, satisfied and healthy.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The term \u201cempty calories\u201d is thrown around by dieticians and doctors helping you manage your weight. But what does it really mean? The short version is that empty calories refers to foods and drinks that have no significant nutrients but plenty of calories. These calories typically come from added sugars, solid fats or alcohol content [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[453],"tags":[887,1185],"class_list":["post-14919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nutrition","tag-calories","tag-empty-calories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14919\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}