Although we would like to think that “Empty Calories” means no calories, it really means high-calorie foods with little or no nutritional value. They are typically from processed carbohydrates or fats. An empty calorie has the same energy content of any other calorie but lacks accompanying nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants.
One of the real obvious products that is considered an empty calorie “food” (if you can call it that) is soda. Consider one 20 oz. soda: 2.5 servings = 250 calories. Have one of those with lunch and dinner and maybe a few more with snacks and you are looking at 1000 calories. For some people that is more than half of their daily caloric requirement.
Other examples of empty calories food are:
- White rice
- Sweets, soft drinks, beverages with a low juice component, and other foods containing sugar
- Butter, lard, and other highly-saturated fats.
- High fat foods such as hamburgers, hot dogs, fried chicken, pizza, potato chips, and French fries
- Candy and other sweetened packaged foods
- Alcoholic beverages
Are you guilty of eating these empty calorie foods? Which ones? If you were asked to give one of these up for the next six months, which one would it be and could you follow through with it?
By the way, the theory quoted in the picture above hasn’t really worked for me. 
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19 Responses to Empty Calories
Well, I generally drink diet soda, so at least I’m not guilty there.
Other than that…
I don’t particulary want to give up sweets, alcohol or butter. You’re going to have to pry that stick of butter from my cold, dead fingers.
So, white rice it is. I like it but I like brown rice too. I knew brown rice was better for you but I didn’t realize white rice had so little nutrional value.
I actually prefer brown rice over white rice. I am not much of a consumer of butter. The easiest thing for me to give up would be butter.
Now if I really wanted to have an impact on my health and diet, I would give up chocolate. I have tried before to give this up and have never had success for any length of time. I am pondering giving it another shot. Not just chocolate, but all things know as candy.
I have had a major soda problem in my life…… For a while I switched to diet but then I was worried about the aspartame so I switched back. I’m attempting to give it up, I’m drinking a lot more water and really limiting soda to a couple times per week, but I haven’t given it up completely. The caloric intake (even though it’s right there on the bottle!) is an eye opener.
Stepping away from the soda……..
I don’t care for any of the high fat foods on that list. Every great once in awhile I like a hamburger. I don’t fix a lot of rice unless I am doing Rice-A-Roni or making stirfry then I use brown rice. I use butter for somethings, but I like canola or olive oil. I love bread and butter. It’s rare that I drink alcohol. Now, chocolate and soda, I’ll fight for it. I have never been able to give up Pepsi. I know it’s bad for me, but I crave it.
Pam it’s chocolate for me too. I usually give it up for lent and by Easter I am ready to eat the whole box of chocolates in one sitting. I eat very little of the other stuff, but I do bake with butter. I do drink a glass of wine every once in a while and in the summer I like a cold beer. I guess the only problem I have is the chocolate. So tell me why are these 10 pounds so hard to take off!
Paula,
You are so lucky that the number is 10! I will take 10 any day.
I like brown rice a lot – it just takes so much longer to make than white rice! (Especially the white rice I’ve been using lately, which is Trader Joe’s jasmine rice – pre-cooked and it heats in 3 minutes in the microwave.)
I kind of prefer white rice with a stir-fry just because it’s a little bit more of a neutral background for the meat and veggies. But switching to brown wouldn’t be a hardship.
Jennie,
Have you ever tried Uncle Bens Ready Rice Pouches? They have one with brown rice and you pop it in the microwave and it is ready in 90 seconds. It is excellent and quick!
http://www.biteofthebest.com/uncle-bens-whole-grain-brown-ready-rice-2/
I don’t think sodas or sweetened juices would be that much of a hardship for me. Giving up diet coke – to be fair – would be harder, but doable.
The white rice, hots dogs, hamburgers I could live without. Fried chicken and french fries would be harder, but I think I’d live.
I enjoy an adult beverage, but if it was between that and chocolate, I think the chocolate would win every time….
Thanks for the tip, Pam. I think Trader Joe’s also has microwavable brown rice pouches, now that I think about it. I should try them.
Hello. My name is Erin and I love soda and candy:-) I’d say I’m a coke addict but you might get the wrong impression, LOL. I love Coca Cola more than alcohol. My first 2 weeks on Weight Watchers was literally like withdraw. I used to drink at least 4 cokes per day (on top of other REALLY unhealthy foods). Then I wondered why I was (at my highest) 216lbs.
Now that I’ve been on WW for a few months, I have cut coke down to once a week (on weigh in day when I allow myself some treats). I can tell you pretty certainly that if I had to give up coke all together for 6 months, I’d fail after about 2-3. I know because I’ve tried to give it up entirely before and when I went back to it, it triggered me going back to EVERYTHING and gaining weight.
I think these things in moderation are fine (if you are eating healthy otherwise)
I think these things in moderation are fine (if you are eating healthy otherwise).- Erin
Me too. I eat all of that, though soda less than once a month, but moderation is the key for me. I have no trouble limiting the hamburgers, hot dogs, but the french fries? Oh! There is my weakness. I hate that potatoes aren’t a superfood.
Erin, good for you for cutting way back on the soda.
I don’t think we should count chocolate in the empty calories. It’s good for you w/the flavonoids in it and it’s a necessity to almost every woman I know. Dark chocolate is best for you. Ain’t it great.
Dark chocolate I love you!
I try to buy whole wheat pasta & brown rice. We only go out to eat once a month & it’s not usually to a place that serves burgers, fries, etc.
I do love pizza! But I typically make my own. Bar-B-Q chicken pizza w/red onion or ham & pineapple- my 2 favorites! Sheesh, now I’m hungry…
I plan on finishing the 2 diet sodas I have in my pantry this week & then NO MORE SODA!
I am currently doing a 12 day cleanse with my husband, what an experience! We are on Day 5 and I think it is great, but he is being a real bitch! The cleanse allows us to eat most whole foods…nothing processed. We are to have no sugar, flour, and dairy. We can have brown rice, potato, and steel cut oats which are great fillers. However, Mr. Sir is pacing in circles thinking about every CARB out there. He wants to follow through ,but he wants sugar too. He is acting as if I am in the DRILL SERGEANT and controlling what he eats. I have said, “eat, eat what you want !” The problem is that he wants me to eat those DIRTY CARBS with him!
Man, talk about “imperfect women.”
I like the idea of giving my insides a good scrubbing…..hope we make to Day12! I think Mr. Sir might just poke both his eyes out though!
Brenda,
Not sure if I could do a totally no carb thing. Hope your husband makes it through this ok and we don’t read about some carb starved husband doing something drastic to his Drill Sergeant wife in the news in the next few days.
Brenda, I’m impressed. Let us know how you feel when you’re done. Supposedly cycling off carbs and sugar will rid you of cravings for them. I guess it depends on whether you believe such cravings are wholely physical – I tend to believe that there is a psychological element as well.
Yes, I will let you know. I am already feeling better. I want to take care of myself as much as possible. I have a 6yr old and an 8 yr old. They need me. I am 45……so I need to step up my game for them.
I agree Jennie about the cycling. I go to the gym every AM at 5:30…..very difficult! I totally agree about it being a psychological affair. The foods that I am allowed yo eat on this cleanse are actually all the foods we has humans have consumed for 100s of years. It is not a totally no carb diet. Fruits and vegetables are good nutritious carbohydrates.
See, the exercise is much harder for me than giving up sweets. Yes, that is how much I hate exercise. I have heard that exercise is also somewhat psychological, though, along with carbs, so maybe the cycling helps on both the physical and psychological front?