Step 15 - How to Lose Weight | Understand Calorie Value of Food

First of all, those who already know these details bear with me.. I wish this post should change people's views on Calories.. This post is for those who just blindly talk about high and low calorie food and never think about looking deep into that.. We all should understand one thing.. We can never label a food as gaining/losing food (high/low calorie) with a single calorie value number.. Calorie always have a split up..

Calorie value is mainly from 3 major food constituents

• Carbohydrate ( which releases glucose in blood)
• Protein (which build muscle)
• Fats (which stores or not)

This Carbohydrate in turn can be categorized as,

• High Glycemic Index (for those foods, which release glucose very fastly)
• Medium Glycemic Index (for those foods, which releases glucose at medium rate)
• Low Glycemic Index (for those foods, which releases glucose very slowly)

Again Fat may be

• Saturated Fat (bad fat)
• Mono & Poly Unsaturated Fat (good fat)
• Trans Fat (bad fat)

Quite elaborate right.. Let us take an example now,, Cooked White Rice and Cooked Brown Rice.. 

	Cooked White Rice Check this Link	Cooked Brown Rice Check this Link
Total Calories	243	218
Calories from Fat	3	14
Calories from Protein	16	20
Calories from Carbohydrates	224	184
Glycemic Index	65	55
Mono/ Poly Unsaturated Fats	Less	More

Though the caloric values show no difference, Brown Rice is preferred more than White because of 3 reasons

• Glycemic Index
• Poly Unsaturated Fat
• Fibre

This post would become incomplete if I do not give you tips on how to choose food for your diet.. Take these 4 points from this blog..

• Never blindly categorize food as low and high calorie food
• Always prefer more protein..
• Prefer poly & mono unsaturated fatty acids more than saturated & trans..
• If u aim for weight loss, prefer medium & low Glycemic Index Foods..

I know it is difficult for you to find Caloric Values and split ups for each and every food item.. I will keep posting on a glossary with those.. Keep visiting this website for that..

You can refer a few calorie charts from our website

1. Understanding Calories
2. Calories in South Indian Breakfast Items - 33 including Millets
3. Calories in North Indian Gravies - my favorite 12