The word calorie has long been closely associated with diet. Before counting grams of fat, carbohydrates, and protein, dieters count calories. This was and still is the only way to lose weight. So let’s take a look at what exactly a calorie is and how it relates to body weight. As noted in a previous chapter, calories are the way we measure the energy value of our food. We simply could not survive without the calories we get from food. Technically, a calorie is the amount of energy, or heat, required to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius (or one point eight degrees Fahrenheit). Think of a calorie as a unit of energy. When we think of a cheeseburger as “six hundred calories,” that’s measured by the potential energy it contains. A hamburger contains each of the three types of macronutrients: protein, fat, and carbohydrate. Each type of macronutrient contains a specific number of calories.

carbs
One gram = 4 calories

protein
one gram = 4 calories

fat
one gram = 9 calories

All foods are made up of one or more of these three macronutrients, which are essential nutrients that are needed by the body in relatively large amounts. If you are cooking at home and know the macronutrient composition of the foods in your meal, you can calculate the number of calories by adding the calories present in the total amount of fat and protein. But who has time for that? In this book you will find extensive recipes for daily life. If you see the recipes, you won’t have to count anything, not calories, not grams of fiber. Calories and fiber can be provided for each recipe. And if you’d like to use your own recipes, I’ve provided visual calorie and fiber counters in tables for over a hundred different foods that allow you to calculate fiber grams and calories just by looking at your own recipe. Use the daily journal template in Appendix A to write down your tallies as you plan your meals and snacks.