>> ALEX: Hey guys!
I’m here, let’s get technical.
You know what?
2017 year is the year where I finally eat right, and get fit.
Though I said that last year, and we all know how that worked out.
Go away!
So, this year, I’m pumped, ready to get fit, and I’m on the lookout for healthy
foods.
>> HEALTH CLONE: Hey man
>> ALEX: Oh, um, hey health clone.
What’s up?
>> HEALTH CLONE closer: Someone told me that you’re looking for some super food that
will help you lose weight fast.
>> ALEX closer: Yea, yea, I just said that.
>> HEALTH CLONE closer: Well check this out.
This is Diet Coke.
You know how many calories it has?
>> HC: You’ll never guess.
>> ALEX: Zero
>> HEALTH CLONE: Zero, yea.
Also, check it out.
Here is some no calorie sugar, AKA Splenda, and, my favorite, zilch cal I can’t believe
it’s not butter spray.
Man, I could eat this all day and stay fit as a fiddle.
>> ALEX closer: Uh, wait a sec.
That doesn’t sound right.
I mean, how can a food or drink, that we ingest, and and then turn into power, have literally
no calories?
Yea, that’s not a thing.
>> JACKSFILMS: It’s all an illusion, life isn’t real, happy boxing day.
>> ALEX: All foods or drinks that our bodies then turn into
power, have calories.
Well, besides water, but we’ll get to that later.
But wait, if all of these things actually have some amount of calories in it, why are
they marketed as a zero calorie thing.
No, you know what, why do even their Nutrition Labels, these things which the FDA requires
on all food, say that their zero calories?
Well, the truth is, the Food and Drug Administration, or the FDA, allows this!
If a food has a small enough amount of calories per serving, the company making the food can
just say there’s none.
>> HEALTH CLONE: Yea, well, who cares?
I mean, if the FDA allows companies to market foods with 1 or 2 calories to be 0 cal, I
don’t really care.
I mean, it’s not like these foods have hundreds of calories, right?
>> ALEX: Wrong!
First, let’s clarify what the FDA actually allows.
The FDA allows foods with less than 5 calories per serving size to be marketed as 0 calorie
foods.
Now, you’re right, health clone, sometimes, the calorie intake IS so minimal, we really
don’t have to worry.
According to Quite Healthy Technologies, a regular can of Coke Zero actually has one calorie,
which, as much as I’d like them to be honest with me, I can let slide.
I mean, it’s just a calorie.
Also, I don’t drink soda.
So that doesn’t really matter, but what are some cases that do?
Splenda, the famous zero calorie sweetener, actually has 4 calories.
Why is that, well, I made last episode I talked all about that, so, click the i to find out
really why Splenda has 4 calories.
Shameless self promotion right here.
You want to see a clip? Here's a clip!
Why??
What a riveting clip. Click the i to see the full episode.
And now, we finally get to the worst of the worst.
“I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!” spray.
It claims it has no fat, and no calories, a lofty claim which, I’m sure by now we’re
all quite suspicious of.
Look a little closer here, and notice it has a serving size of just 1 measly spray.
That’s it!
>> BRIAN REGAN: Who’s coming up with serving sizes?
A serving size of ice cream is a half a cup.
What is that?
Is that like a joke some guy put on there?
Hey, come here, look what I put as the serving size?
Did you see?
I just did it as a joke but they’re going out like that.
In reality, there are 4 calories in 5 sprays and this entire bottle contains 1,130 sprays.
That’s a lot of sprays!!
So, after doing some math put math on screen, we find out that there are, in reality, there
are 904 calories in this “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!” bottle, and it’s marketed
as zero calories alternative.
Let’s just let that sink in for a sec. OK!
Even if you eat a McDonald’s Big Mac, Cup of Fries, and a kid’s sized ice cream, you
would still have to eat 94 more calories to consume an same amount of calories equal to
the amount in this bottle.
Which supposedly has 0 calories.
>> HEALTH CLONE: Well, ok whatever, I’m just going to eat negative calorie foods like
this apple, or this broccoli to burn off those extra calories.
>> ALEX: Yea, negative calorie foods don’t exist.
>> HEALTH CLONE: But I burn off more calories digesting this stuff that are actually in
it.
>> ALEX: Where did you learn that?
>> HEALTH CLONE: The internet?
It’s a common misconception that by just eating apples, or broccoli, or lettuce, or
celery or any other low-cal vegetable, you will burn more calories eating and digesting
it than you will receive from eating the food.
This is simply not true.
Every food has a thermic effect.
The thermic effect of food is what percentage of a certain food’s calories your body takes
to digest that food.
You might also know this as Dietary Induced Thermogenesis or Specific Dynamic Action.
Keep in mind: the thermic effect of food only measures how many calories your body will
take to digest the food: it doesn’t include calories lost from your resting metabolism
or from exercise.
In the fruits and vegetables world, this number is usually between 5 and 10 percent.
So, in this 95 calorie apple, about somewhere between 4.75 and 9.5 calories will be burned
digesting it.
Same logic goes for this spear of broccoli.
There are 11 calories, so, by eating this, you body will spend somewhere between .55
and 1.1 calories digesting it.
Don’t get me wrong, these foods are very healthy for you and you should eat them, but
don’t think you’re burning calories just by digesting these things.
Thanks for watching, DFTBA, and explore on.
But wait, let’s explore on.
There is one true negative calorie “food.”
There is a super “food” out there that actually does take more calories digesting
then gives your body.
So what is this “food”?
Drumroll please...
I am alone in my room. Add in a drum roll sound effect please!
*Drumroll sound effect*
Ice water!
Yea, it’s not technically a food, but, you have to acknowledge that negative calorie
or 0 calories foods simply don’t exist.
This is the closest we can get.
>> HEALTH CLONE: Awesome!
But why is Ice Water a negative calorie food?
>> ALEX: Good question!
Water itself has 0 calories, so if you're looking for a great, no cal drink, there ya
go.
But ice water is particularly calorie burning, because, once you drink it, your body has
to expend energy raising the temperature of the water to your body temperature, and that
takes calories!
How many calories?
Well, there’s an equation for that!
Q = Delta T * c * m.
What does this mean?
Well, Q is the number of calories we burn.
This is what we’re trying to find.
Delta T is the change in temperature in celsius, because science is in celsius.
Or Kelvin, but in our case, celsius.
To find the change in temperature, subtract the initial temperature, or the pre-burn temperature
of the water from the final temperature, or the post-burn temperature of the water.
c is the specific heat of water.
In our scenario, this is 1 calorie per gram celsius, but it can be written as 4.18 joules
per gram celsius.
And m is the mass of the water.
When finding the mass of the water, remember that 1 ml of water has a mass equivalent to
1 gram.
Anywho, all that being said, let’s solve this equation!
First, let’s find out values.
Ice water is 0 degrees celsius, and our body temperature is 37 degrees, so our change in
temperature is 0 minus 37, or -37 degrees celsius.
Now, it’s important that this number is negative.
That means that our final answer, Q, will be negative, which we burn calories.
In our scenario, we’ll use an standard 8 oz cup of water, which has a mass of 226.8
grams, and, of course, the specific heat of water is 1 calorie per gram celsius.
After doing a bit of math, we find that drinking 8 oz of ice water burns about 8.4 calories.
Assuming you drink 8 glasses of ice water a day, each of which are 8 oz., then, after
a year, you burn 24,528 calories, which is not nothing!
Assuming burning 3,500 calories equates to burning a pound of fat, which is an oversimplification,
but good enough for our purposes, you burn just about 7 pounds of fat a year from drinking
ice water....
Also, water has many other health benefits, but you know.
One important note to end on, while drinking ice water can have notable, positive impacts,
that doesn’t mean you don’t have to exercise and eat sugar all day.
While this is a great way to complement an overall healthy diet and an active lifestyle,
there’s no replacement for that.
Being in good shape takes work, but if you can the most beneficial thing you can do.
Being active and eating right reduces your risk for many diseases, improves sleep, self
confidence, and stress levels, and helps you live a longer, better life.
But, just like anything in life, it takes work.
Work that you’re completely capable of doing.
So whatever your New Year’s Resolution is, keep at it, and you will achieve it.
Unless it’s, like, magically teleport or something.
That being said, Happy New Year!
DFTBA, subscribe, and explore on.
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