Counting calories is part of everyday life for many people today.

These calculate and record calories down to the nearest gram of what has been eaten during the day, in line with the standards of restrictive diets. Calorie charts are available on the Internet or in book form in any bookshop.

What are calories?

A calorie, or kilocalorie, is a unit of measurement of the energy value of food. They are used to calculate the energy provided by the consumption of a given food.

A 100gr piece of dark chocolate is equivalent to 546 calories. Very easily then, you can estimate your 10-gram square of chocolate at 54.6 calories. Notice how quickly the count can rise when you get too excited about doing these calculations.

A simple Google search for "calories per day" will give you the total you need, whether you're a man or a woman. A woman's daily requirements are around 1500-2000 calories a day, while a man's can be as much as 3000 calories, depending on his status. Unfortunately, these figures fail to take into account a considerable number of parameters: age, state of health, level of vitality, probable illnesses, etc.

Keeping track of your weight so as not to exceed your quota is now a widespread feminine attitude, and has practically become the norm. However, for all those who want to lose weight intelligently, this technique is the one to avoid at all costs. After all, calories aren't everything, and they don't add up to anything when you look a little deeper into the field of nutrition.

Comparons…

Let's take two different people's lunches as an example.

The first will enjoy an apple, a square of dark chocolate and unsweetened green tea.

• 1 apple contains 110 calories but also 29 grams of carbohydrates and a series of vitamins such as the B group of vitamins, vitamins A, C and E and trace elements such as zinc.  potassium, du phosphorefrom zincfrom copper and manganese.
• A square of dark chocolate contains around 55 calories, as well as magnesium, antioxidants, zinc, iron and a range of other minerals of interest to the body.
• Unsweetened green tea contains no calories.

The second will eat a small packet of sweets like M&M's and a sugar-free soda.

Do you think you will find the same number of nutrients for a similar balance in terms of calories? Of course not.... Industrial chocolate sweets are often rich in various sugars such as glucose syrup, starch and dextrin, as well as a huge amount of saturated fats which are harmful to your health. Add to this food additives such as colorants, preservatives and the endless list of E... found in the ingredients list, and you have the added bonus of being obesogenic. Of course, you can't expect to find any vitamins, minerals or trace elements in such a snack. What's more, soda - in addition to being acidifying - if sweetened with aspartame, can also have very negative consequences for your body, especially your brain.

Nutritionally, this snack is of absolutely no interest. And let's not forget that this type of meal will put fast sugars into your bloodstream far too quickly, messing with your insulin and risking you feeling hungry again in no time. So, to conclude, eating like this will promote weight gain and lead to an imbalance in your health.

What's absolutely important to understand today is that calories aren't everything, they're absolutely not representative of what you're actually eating. Understand that the person who opts for the second snack is more likely to put on weight and become obese if he or she continues to choose this type of diet, which doesn't really nourish the body. These empty calories are highly detrimental to a balanced body.