Some thoughts about food. It is wrong to think that eating is an ordinary act - those who have made a definite choice like the vegetarian one realise this. Eating defines us more than anything else, defines us as human beings, belonging to a certain era, a certain social culture. Above all it defines us as unique and unrepeatable beings.
Kilocalories measure the amount of heat, in numerical terms, generated by foods.
This has led us to believe for example that the same quantity of fat always produces the same quantity of kilocalories and therefore energy, but this is not true. Hydrogenated fat doesn't have the same calorific value as an oil, because it is saturated and so cannot be metabolised by the body so that it is stored by the body as ballast for the other fats. Food must be a vital source of energy and not take energy away from us. We cannot dedicate our body's energy to trying to eliminate the negative effects of the food we have eaten. A food is healthy and beneficial if the environment it has come from is.