EATING AND WEIGHT CONTROL: CALORIES
A calorie is a unit for measuring the energy value of food. It represents the energy for heat and physical work that can be obtained from a certain weight of food. A pound of fat in butter or meat equals 4000 calories. If—to cite an extreme case—a person consumed 4000 more calories a day than he needed, the body would have to dispose of them. It could do so by laying down a pound of fat in the abdominal wall and elsewhere! On the other hand, if the food consumed each day were not enough to furnish heat and energy, the individual would have to burn up a part of his own body fat or tissues.
Fever or an over-active thyroid gland (see the entry thyroid gland in the encyclopaedia section) causes the body to use more calories, and may necessitate high-calorie diets, rich in concentrated foods such as sugars and fats.
It is possible to consume a great many calories without getting the benefit of important body-building values. Alcoholic beverages and soft drinks contain many empty calories.
Among the problems associated with drinking alcoholic beverages are these: A few drinks, in addition to adding calories, can stimulate the appetite so that you might eat too much. Excessive drinking to the point of alcoholism can ruin the appetite. In using alcohol instead of food, the drinker is taking in a great many calories, but none of the essential bone and tissue building protein.
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