What Calories Do

Human beings need energy to survive — to breathe, move, pump blood — and they acquire this energy from food.

The number of calories in a food is a measure of how much potential energy that food possesses. A gram of carbohydrates has 4 calories, a gram of protein has 4 calories, and a gram of fat has 9 calories. Foods are a compilation of these three building blocks. So if you know how many carbohydrates, fats and proteins are in any given food, you know how many calories, or how much energy, that food contains.

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What is a Calorie

A calorie is a unit of energy. We tend to associate calories with food, but they apply to anything containing energy. For example, a gallon (about 4 liters) of gasoline contains about 31,000,000 calories.

Specifically, a calorie is the amount of energy, or heat, it takes to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit). One calorie is equal to 4.184 joules, a common unit of energy used in the physical sciences.

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Low Fat, Low Calorie Recipes | Acorn Squash Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup margarine, softened
3/4 cup mashed, cooked acorn squash
1 egg
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
Low-fat cooking spray

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. Cream sugar and margarine at medium speed until light and fluffy.
3. Add mashed squash and egg; beat well.
4. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Then add dry ingredients to the squash mixture, mixing well.
5. Drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets sprayed with cooking spray.
6. Bake at 350º for 15-18 minutes. Makes 20-25 cake-like cookies.

Christina Lindley Diet Secrets

With an impressive body of work that encompasses film, television, modeling, and fitness, Christina Lindley has quickly emerged as one of Hollywood’s most promising rising stars. Christina just wrapped production on several projects including: a costarring role in the 20th Century Fox film “The Marine” starring John Cena and Kelly Carlson, appearing on the upcoming DVD release of the “Wedding Crashers” movie that is out in theatres now, as a hostess and personal trainer in a game that guides you through extra footage called “Crash Course” on the DVD, “Campus Ladies” for Oxygen and famed Curb your Enthusiasm director Robert B. Weide, HBO’s Entourage, Big Momma’s House 2 starring Martin Lawrence. Christina also just completed shooting a national and international commercial campaign for movietickets.com, which is airing nationally and internationally on CBS and their affiliates, as well as being shown in every AMC Theatre and Mann Theatre around the country.

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Tom Cruise Diet Secrets

Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise has refused to cooperate with a diet plan designed to get him into top shape for Mission: Impossible 3 – because he prefers doing it his own way. Anxious studio bosses handed the 41-year-old the dietary schedule in preparation for his role as Ethan Hunt in the sequel, but Cruise is not interested in losing weight. A source explains, “The studio was concerned about him looking right so they had a diet drawn up for him. But Tom told them he does his own preparation. He’s not chubby – training for The Last Samurai gave him muscle on muscle.”

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Brad Pitt Diet Secrets

In order for Brad Pitt to get ready for the role in the movie Troy, He nixed cigarettes and sharply cut back on beer and chips, although he did allow himself the occasional treat: McFlurry shakes from McDonald’s, “though it was more for a little taste of home, you know, a little Americana.”

Brad used a low-carb, high-protein diet during the training for his role. Physically, Pitt prepared for the role with a year of intense training. “The first three months were daunting and not fun at all.” His days included two to three hours in the gym, two additional hours of sword work and four high-protein, low-carb meals. As a result, he gained about 10 pounds of brawn.

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Usher Diet Secrets

How does Usher get those unbelievable ripped 6 pack abs? Well, Usher contributes his washboard abs to good genes, hard work and discipline. Usher also does 1,000 ab crunches a day! Along with these crunches, Usher also follows a strict cardio training regimen which he calls “forty minutes of funk”. This includes stretching, skipping and jumping jacks. Once he is warmed up with cardio, Usher then moves onto push-ups, leg raises and tricep dips. Usher also gets a great cardio workout every time he performs on stage where he is running, jumping and moving through the entire show.

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Janet Jackson Diet Secrets

Janet Jackson has been quoted in the media as having an ongoing battle with an eating disorder. Many young women have issues with eating disorders because if the influence of the media. The more a person is pressured to emulate the mainstream image, the more the desire to be thin is adopted, and with it an increased risk for the development of body image dissatisfaction and eating disorders.

Although Janet is working very hard to take control of her eating disorder, she still trains at an intense level. Janet’s workout routine, the one designed by her personal trainer Tony Martinez, has Janet doing intense workouts to stay in shape.

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Hilary Duff Diet Secrets

Hilary Duff is not your typical Hollywood movie star actress who is into low calorie diet
food and hardcore workout routines. Hilary’s favorite foods are Jelly Belly’s (candy), cheese pizza, Dr. Pepper and Sprite.

Many fans think Hilary could benefit from a workout routine. One fan states, “A well-defined and fit Hilary Duff would make a LOT of heads turn. Nothing too huge, mind you; a physique like a fitness competitor would be about right. It would make a lot of women sit up and take notice and realize that a little iron cold do them good.”

Christina Aguilera Diet Secrets

She says she’s eating healthier, so why the weight gain? In recent weeks, pop princess Christina Aguilera, 22, has been full of surprises. First she dyed her platinum blond hair a deep shade of brown, then the formerly reed-thin star revealed a new, curvier look. Many assumed that Christina’s well-known love of junk food was to blame for the extra weight. After all, depsite being naturally thin, she is a french fry addict whose contract insisted she have Oreos in her dressing room. During interviews she even chowed down on chicken tenders or nachos dipped in cheese, sour cream and salsa. But the truth is Christina is deliberately carbo-loading – in a healthy way – to boost her stamina for a grueling summer tour she’s heading on with Justin Timberlake.

Christina’s New Diet

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Avril Lavigne Diet Secrets

Avril Lavigne has explained why the lyrics to her songs were also so angry: she was eating too many carbs.

The “Complicated” singer is out promoting her new album, “Under My Skin,” and has given this reason for her former angst. “I was eating bad stuff,” Lavigne said. “Lots of sugar and carbs, junk food all the time. It makes you very irritated. I spent some time with a nutritionist and learned I had low blood sugar. Now I eat accordingly.”

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Lindsay Lohan Diet Secrets

“People lose weight when they grow up,” an exasperated Lindsay Lohan explained in the April issue of W in response to whispers about her rapid weight loss. “They lose their baby fat.” If true, the sylph-like “Mean Girls” starlet sure has matured an awful lot in the last few months, because she’s a mere shadow of her once-shapelier self. Just a year ago, Lohan glowed with health, showing off a fit, if overdeveloped, figure that many admired (and ogled). Now, all the light seems to have gone out of her face, and not just because she’s eased up on her Mystic Tan sessions and dyed her trademark auburn locks blond. With her ever-scrawnier bod and world-weary expression, poor Linds appears far older than her 18 years, although at least her lips seem to be plumping up nicely.

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Jennifer Lopez Diet Secrets

When asked if Jennifer Lopez works out everyday to keep that body in such great shape, Jennifer said, “No. I have a trainer in LA, and then recently I have started taking yoga classes. When I was younger, I was into hard physical exercise
, but now what’s more important to me is finding a balance of mind, body and spirit. I still do weights and cardio, but I try to take a soft, feminine approach. I’m definitely not fanatical. Basically, I’m just like anybody else, in that you have the body type you have, and you know what you have to do to get in top form, and you know how you are when you kind of slack off. I’m only human, and sometimes I feel like working out, and sometimes I don’t, and sometimes I feel great about myself, and sometimes I think, “Oh God, I have work to do”. It’s just normal women’s stuff. ”

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Britney Spears Diet Secrets

How does this chart-topping superstar stay in such super shape? Do you believe Britney takes slimming pills? That’s the talk on the Internet after photos of Britney appear to show her grabbing a blue bottle at London’s Heathrow Airport.

A British tabloid reportedly says it’s a bottle of a popular diet pill. Now, some sites are even selling the “fat burner” by claiming that “pop princess Britney Spears maintains her sexy shape with this product.” Yet another claims Britney was “outed” as user of the appetite suppressant.

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Jessica Alba Diet Secrets

One source reports Jessica Alba has been on a diet since the age of 12. Jessica said, “Everyone in my family is heavily overweight. I wanted to be healthier, so I started cooking for myself when I was 12 years old. When I eat breakfast, I’ll have an egg-white omelette and fruit, or cottage cheese and a peach. For lunch, I’ll have a salad. Dinner is usually vegetables and chicken or fish. During the day I’ll have some dried fruit, or I’ll have a chocolate or strawberry frozen yogurt. I don’t really eat desserts or bread.”

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Madonna Diet Secrets

Madonna has always been in good shape but over the past few years she’s become a total fitness guru! Madonna has adopted a strict routine of Ashtanga Yoga, which keeps her in shape from head to toe. She also follows a strict healthy diet and barely touches junk food.

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Jessica Simpson Diet Secrets

Pop star Jessica Simpson started a new exercise routine to get in shape for her role as Daisy Duke and to prepare her to wear “Daisy Duke’s” signature shorts in the upcoming Dukes of Hazzard movie. Her workout includes two hours a day of squats and lunges and has motivated her to create a new Courtesy of Warner workout video. “I have a white-girl bootie, so I’m doing all my squats to lift it a little bit and get some junk in my trunk,” says Jessica.

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Celebrity Diet Secrets – Pamela Anderson

Pamela Anderson is a very strict vegetarian who does not eat red meat, chicken, pork, fish or seafood. Pamela became a vegetarian in her early teens, after walking into a shed in her backyard and seeing her father cut the head off a deer he had just hunted and killed. She has been a PETA member and ardent supporter of animal rights since high school.

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Celebrity Diet Secrets – Angelina Jolie

To get ready for her new movie Tomb Raider, Angelina Jolie had spent a few months on a special diet. Jolie’s been forced to swap cigarettes and coffee for steamed meat, vegetables and soya milk. ‘It’s an interesting test because I used to smoke and drink and I used to not eat breakfast but have a cigarette and coffee”, Jolie said.

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Celebrity Diet Secrets – Katie Holmes

When asked about working out and looking good, Katie Holmes says, “I try. I grew up in an environment full of athletes and unfortunately I wasn’t one of them. My parents are very healthy. We go running on Thanksgiving – I mean, what family does that? It has to be before the big turkey dinner. My dad is really ambitious and makes us all go. Exercise is definitely important, but the long hours sometimes prevent me from being a good girl and getting my cardio workout.”

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