Why do calories increase after cooking

Caloric values for foodstuffs are often given for the raw or uncooked food. Cooking food can significantly alter its nutritional profile and the number of calories present in the same quantity by weight. Compare the calories in cooked vs. If you are watching your calories for purposes of weight loss or weight control, it is also important to consider how the method of cooking your food may alter its caloric content.

Cooking food causes a loss of water content, which can change the number of calories by weight. Cooking methods, such as frying, can increase calorie content of food significantly when compared to its raw counterpart. To use the example of chicken — breast meat only, no skin — you can see the difference in caloric and nutritional values with different modes of cooking.

According to the USDA , 4 ounces of raw chicken contains calories. When the same piece of chicken is fried , its caloric value increases to calories in a 4 ounce serving.

Green bananas have higher levels of starch than sugars. As bananas ripen, the starch turns into sugars, which are more easily digested. The calories in cooked carrots are similar to those in raw carrots. When comparing carbohydrates and fat, the difference is negligible. Cooked carrots have about 1 gram of carbs more than raw carrots per cup.

Studies assessing the effect of cooking food on protein levels had surprising results. Beef and chicken, as well as fish and beans, all lose protein during cooking; eggs, on the other hand, have more digestible protein as they are cooked.

One medium onion has just 44 calories but delivers a considerable dose of vitamins, minerals and fiber 2. Calories do change after cooking meat because meats and fish have a high to medium fat content and low starchy carbohydrate content.

For those types of foods with some fat and low carbs, the cooking process usually will extract extra fat and water.

Grilling, oven-baking, boiling and microwave cooking will decrease amount of calories because of fat loss. But during the frying process on the skillet or in the deep fryer, those food will absorb some fat from the cooking.

Another aspect is weighing the meats. When counting calories do you weigh meat before or after cooking? You should weigh meat after cooking because the cooking process will change the nutrition profile and the weight of the meat.

Most of the cooking methods will decrease water content and lower the fat content of the meat. Apart from that, now you have plenty of food charts available online that will provide you an estimate of exactly how much each food has calories, depending on the cooking method. So it will be separated into calories in raw, boiled, grilled, etc. On the flip side, grain is a little bit different.

Here because of the rich starchy content and low-fat content, they will likely absorb the water. Do rice calories change when cooked? Instead, they have a high volume of resistant starch. So cooking not only is necessary to gelatinize the starch to be able to digest them properly. But the whole hydrothermal treatment makes irreversible chemical changes that create the swelling effect where grains absorb the water content.

So, your body will have to do less work to absorb the nutrients. With raw food, the body has to work harder. An example: The process of cooking meat gelatinizes collagen , making the protein easier to chew and digest. In addition, gut bacteria may also play a role, since microbes in the intestine extract energy from food. Since cooking breaks it down in advance, the body is able to absorb the calories before the food gets to the microbes.

With raw food, some of those calories are getting eaten up by bacteria. Enter your info, get free access now to a sample class, and one of our coaches will get in touch with you! Eat Empowered.