Nobody has ever seen a calorie. But calories are agonizingly
visible when they settle down on you in the wrong places.
It may seem strange that a thing which has
no physical existence can make you fat. A square inch has no flavor and neither
has a calorie. You can't touch a calorie any more than you can put your finger
on a heat wave. It is as invisible as a fever. A calorie, in short, is merely a
measuring unit of energy in terms of heat. It is a thermal yardstick applied to
the exchanges of energy in your body and to the foods that provide such energy.
In a furnace, coal gives off heat which
could be measured in calories but is usually calculated according to a
different yardstick called British Thermal Units. In you, food gives off heat
measured in calories, one calorie being the amount of heat required to raise
the temperature of a pint of water 4 degrees Fahrenheit.
Now you may promptly forget that
definition. Weight control arithmetic is so simple that it is understood as easily
as Mother Goose.
Coal, if mixed with slate, does not give
off very much heat. Some foods contain much water, inert fiber, and other
unburnable elements so that they do not yield much heat either. You cannot
judge, from the mere physical bulk of a meal, how much energy value it
contains.
It is possible to eat small-size meals and
grow in-gloriously fat on them. It is also possible to eat meals of huge bulk
and grow thin as a rail. The differences are matters of calories.
All calories are alike, but there are three
different kinds. That sounds like a paradox. Let's be scientific, then, and
explain that although any calorie represents the same amount of heat, it can be
furnished by three very different types of food elements: carbohydrates,
proteins, and fats. And oh, the difference to you! The modern way to weight
control lays great stress on these differences. Mere calorie-counting is no
longer enough. One kind of calorie is far and away more efficient as a
weight-reducer than the other two kinds.
"Carbohydrates" is a resounding
fifty-cent word that sounds a lot less formidable when you think of these food
elements as being sugar and starch, which they are. Fruits, vegetables, cereals
and sweets contain them in relative abundance.
They are the quickest food-fuels for
muscular energy. When carbohydrate is digested, a simple form of sugar is
poured into the blood. If you think that sugar in the blood (or even a little
bit in the urine) is bad business and means you are coming down with diabetes,
be advised that you can't get along without it. It is indispensable for
muscular exertion, as marathon athletes who munch chocolate bars for quick
energy have long since learned.
But your blood can hold only a limited
amount of sugar. A considerable proportion of the surplus is tucked away,
mostly in the liver but also in the muscles, in the form of glycogen—a
starch-like substance that can be drawn upon quickly for energy. When the liver
storehouse is fully loaded, surplus carbohydrate is simply laid down— the truth
may as well be known—as fat.
Most of us hold carbohydrates in high
gustatorial esteem. A "sweet tooth" is common among the over weight.
Alcoholics who are on the wagon exhibit a pronounced craving for candy as a
substitute for the cup that cheers. There is also such a thing as a starch
craving, often shown in the form of an exaggerated consumption of breads,
pastries, and potatoes. Dr. Hugh Rony has reported the case of an obese
laundress who had no liking whatever for sugars but who did manage to consume
one pound of laundry starch a day!
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