What is calories? Consequences of excess and lack of calories

The human body as well as the animal needs energy for all living activities, which is an important factor for all living activities of the body including: muscle activity, internal organs movement, activity the dynamics of the brain, the process of thermogenesis balancing the body. That energy is calculated in calories (Cal). Plural is Calories.

What is calories?

Calories are a unit of energy measurement. The human body loads food and turns it into calories to sustain life and perform all activities. When the body burns more calories than the level of intake, the body starts using calories from different reserves such as fat or muscle.

Depending on each person's weight, age, health status, mobility, there is a need for calories for each person. On average, a healthy adult needs about 1,200 - 2,200 Kcal / day (1 Kcal = 1000 Cal). Calories are fed into our bodies through food and water.

Depending on each person's weight, age, health status, mobility, there is a need for calories for each person.

When the amount of calories put into the body is equal to the amount of calories consumed by activity every day, we will achieve a Calorie balance. This is the best level to achieve.

When the amount of calories put into the body is higher than the consumption due to activity, there will be excess calories. This calories will be stored by the body to form fatty tissue causing overweight and obesity.

Conversely, when the amount of calories taken into the body is less than the consumption due to activity, it will fall into a state of lack of calories (hunger, fatigue).

High calorie foods and drinks include: sugar, meat, fast food, soft drinks, etc.

Foods low in calories are mostly vegetables and fruits.

Consequences of excess calories

When the amount of calories we consume in our bodies is more than we consume, it may also be due to eating foods that are high in calories or lack of exercise, they will reserve in the form of fat tissue. weight gain, obesity. In addition, there are many risks such as cardiovascular, blood pressure, diabetes and osteoarthritis diseases such as gout, respiratory diseases and even cancer.

Consequences of calorie deficiency

When the need for body calories is as much as athletes, fever, trauma, etc. We tolerate less calories than necessary to cause stress, fatigue, forced concentration The body must use calories stored here as fat tissue, muscle causing weight loss, body exhaustion, easy to get infected because of reduced resistance.

So in order to achieve the optimal balance of Cal for the body in addition to increasing physical activity, we must also balance the amount of calories loaded into the body through the diet by calculating daily calorie activity with Calorie intake tolerates a lot of fruits and vegetables (on the product packaging there are specific calories provided).