Fats, Carbs, Calories and the whole shebang

I was always confused when people discussed fats, carbs and their calorific value, and what makes you obese, etc with or in front of me. So, to avoid that confusion and shun the ignorance, I decided to do some research myself and this is what I found out about food and nutrition:

Calorific value of each: Each gram of fat has 9 Calories, each gram of carbohydrates, or carbs, has 4 Calories and each gram of protein has 4 Calories of ENERGY (along with the building blocks of the body), which is equal to that of carbs. Note that 1 Cal = 1 kcal of energy, which is the standard convention, but is rarely used. It's surprising to me to note that the body can survive without carbs - because, unlike vitamins, minerals, amino acids and fatty acids, etc, the carbs are not essential nutrients - the body can synthesize everything it needs from the essential nutrients mentioned above. For example, glucose, a carb, can be synthesized from the protein you eat. Then why should we eat food with carbohydrates in it all? Because carbs are the most important source of energy and the most abundant in the food we eat.

Fat is not what you think it is: It's unfortunate that it was named fat by someone I don't know, and this whole confusion always pops up when people discuss fat(s). READ CAREFULLY: Fat is ESSENTIAL for the body, because some important vitamins can be digested only in conjunction with fats (fat-soluble, they are called), and fats are required for maintaining healthy hair, skin, cell function, body temperature, basically MAKING the body, AND they also serve as energy stores for the body, and the last function is what scares people away from fats, and the primary purpose of fats is forgotten and we tend to think that fat makes us fat. Then what makes you look fat if you are eating too much? It's the excess energy you are eating in the form of Calories (all that comes from carbs, fat and protein in total), that you are not spending fully, that gets stored as body fat and that's what makes you look fat.

What makes you look fat is actually adipose tissue, also informally known as body fat, and is typically present deep beneath the skin in the form of adipocyte cells. The main function of body fat is to be used as a reserve energy source for the body, as mentioned above. Adipose tissue is built up when you are taking in more energy than you are actually spending, and this energy can come from protein, carbs and fats - in the ratio I mentioned in the first paragraph.

Lesson learnt: It doesn't matter if you are eating carbs or fats or protein or anything else, if you want to be in control of your weight, your flab and hence your health, eat only that many calories you are going to spend - and that's what my dad's been telling me all my life - "Exercise cheyyaraa naa kannaa!"