nacci-food-nutrition

Chapter 1.a: CARBOHYDRATES
Carbohydrates are important because they give us CALORIES, the energy we need to live. Pasta,
rice, bread, potatoes, and beans, are broken down into simple sugars (GLUCOSE), which will be
later used by our cells to be chemically “burned” to obtain the chemical energy that is necessary for
cell functionality. The daily requirement for an adult weighing 70 kilograms is about 2,000-2,500
Kilocalories.
Note: for athletes, energy requirements can reach about 4,000-4,500 Kilocalories per day. In severe
situations, such as for severe burns, they are significantly higher: about 6,000 Kilocalories per day.
There are ready-made commercial sugars as well (white sugar, brown sugar, chocolate, glucose,
mannose, ribose, galactose, etc.), or natural food that is especially caloric, such as bananas, honey,
kakis, plums, pumpkins.
Very few people know that fruit itself (not vegetables) can give as many Kilocalories as a dish of
pasta, rice, bread, potatoes, or even of milk, dairy products, meat, eggs, fish, etc, that is to say, food
that is actually high in PROTEIN content.
Indeed, fruit can give the following Kilocalories:
1 litre of well-whisked fresh fruit(^) (grapes and/or berries) gives about 800-900 Kilocalories, that
equals:
750 cc milk (*),
or: 70 grams cheese (*),
or: 650 grams meat (*),
or: 800-900 grams fish (*),
or: 10 eggs (*)….
There are also other types of fresh fruit that are rich in energy, although in smaller amounts:
1 litre organic apple juice corresponds to 500 Kilocalories
1 litre organic cherry juice corresponds to 450 Kilocalories
1 litre organic pear juice corresponds to 420 Kilocalories
1 litre organic orange juice corresponds to 400 Kilocalories
(^) FRUIT is usually known as a great source of VITAMINS (SEE below).
(*) MEAT, FISH, EGGS, MILK and dairy products (CHEESE, BUTTER, YOGHURT,
MOZZARELLA CHEESE) are known especially as sources of PROTEINS (SEE below), rather
than sources of energy (Kilocalories)
Table 1 shows various types of food according to the amount of Kilocalories they give (from the
most caloric to the least caloric).
We need to know that ALL types of foods are important for their CALORIES, however for
PROTEINS, FATS (or OILS), and VITAMINS as well.
Note: women especially are obsessed by consuming “too many” CALORIES that make them gain
weight… However, CARBOHYDRATES are not responsible for weight gain, as we will see later.
PROTEINS are the true cause for extra weight.
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