Learn to detect empty calories

Empty calories is something that you should ban.

It is a proven fact that what is known as “empty calories” is one the main factor for obesity, metabolic syndrome and consequently diabetes, coronary diseases and fatty liver.  But, what are empty calories?

Simple products as sugar, fructose, alcohol and similar ones bring to our bodies a high amount of rapid adsorption “fuel” , that has to be processed as soon as possible (or burnt in case we were running a marathon) and turned into fat. Otherwise, the blood glucose level would become dramatically increased and we could die of diabetic coma.

This fuel is considered empty as it does not bring any benefit for our body, but quite the opposite. These products have the evil effect of whetting your appetite, besides being a bad substitute of healthy food.

We know that you are not going to eat full spoons of sugar or drink pure alcohol, but along the day, you may take a lot of these substances masked in the most varied forms:

a) Sodas. The worst enemy. The main cause of obesity in children. A can contains about six lumps of sugar.

b) Energy drinks are also full of sugar and have a low percentage of the minerals you are looking for. They may raise considerably your blood pressure, as they contain caffeine and other stimulants.

c) Bottled or canned juices. Either natural or artificial, you should go for the whole piece of fruit instead.

d) The sugar you add to your coffee, tea, milk, yogurt or whatever you use it for.

e) Sweets, chocolate, biscuits, doughnuts, jam or marmalade, etc. Some of these products have other dangerous ingredients as trans fats, whose consequences you already should know, and a high percentage of sodium.

f) Alcohol. A glass of wine or beer at meals is something acceptable, but if you drink more than that, or other stronger drinks, the alcohol will have negative effects of your health. Remember that the habit of drinking alcoholic beverages out of meals, can lead to hepatic cirrhosis.