Empty Calories

The term empty calories is often tossed around by those losing weight, but what are empty calories? And, why are they bad?
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Simply put, empty calories are calories that provide no other significant nutritional benefit. There are times when empty calories are not a bad thing, but for most of us, most of the time, they're bad. How bad? Moderately so. Why? If we are trying to do anything other than increase our weight, these calories will add to our caloric consumption but put no beneficial nutrients into our bodies. Most of us consume neither enough variety of nutrients, nor enough of many of them to stay in optimal health. So, that soda (or pop, depending on where you live) means that you've taken in 120 calories that could have been 120 calories of nutrition. Some people say, "Juice is no better than soda." Is this so? Here the answer is a clear no, juice is better. Whole fruit, because it contains fiber, is better still.
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If you can consume 1500 (or 2000) calories per day, shouldn't you make them 1500 (or 2000) of the healthiest calories you can find?