In a food context, a “calorie” measures a unit of energy. And, it is no secret that, culturally, we are obsessed by them. Calories are, by law, required to be listed on all nutritional labels in an attempt to assist customers control how many they eat. In the same manner, there is a growing trend for both national and regional restaurant chains to list calorie content of their menu items both in their restaurants and on their websites.
For just one example, the Five Guys Burgers and Fries website has the following nutritional information for their basic Cheeseburger (without toppings)
I’m not picking on Five Guys here, they aren’t any worse than any other burger chain and they are better than most. If you want the whole list of their menu follow this link: Five Guys nutrition.
But it turns out that not all calories are created equally! I happened on a really good article in Scientific American that explains that the kinds of calories you eat has a tremendous effect on how well your body burns the calories you feed it.
If you are dieting or counting calories (and most of us are) then this is information you need to read. Follow this link to the full article: Scientific American