Empty Calories

Years of analyzing peoples' diets to check where the fault lies, has taught me that by simply making the person conscious of what is called 'empty' calories,goes a long way in helping them get into a healthy diet pattern. So,what are these so called 'empty' calories?They are foods/ingredients which provide no additional nutrition other than calories,and the three main culprits are:

1. Sugar
2. Oil(yes,they do have Essential fatty acids,but we don't need to drink oil to get them)
   
3. Colas and Alcohol

I would say sugar and products containing sugar and the oil/butter/ghee we use in our day to day foods are the major source of 'empty' calories.Has anyone ever wondered how many teaspoons of sugar he/she consumes in a day? I've known so many to take around 20-24 teaspoons of sugar just in their tea/coffees (excluding that which is present in sweets/colas).Take this quiz I found on CNN Health,to see if you are aware of the number of liquid calories you could be having in a day. Try and limit your sugar consumption to just 3-4 teaspoons/day.
Next comes oil.I've always mentioned in all my articles that you don't have to drown the food in oil.All oils including olive oil (extra virgin varieties too)contain the same calories,and hence need to be limited. Use just about one teaspoon for cooking the entire dish.Your monthly oil allowance should not be more than half a liter per person per month (if you eat all three meals at home).
I've clubbed colas and alcohol together as I believe that these need to be eliminated(especially colas) in the quest for better health. I came across a lot of people who would have atleast 2-3 colas a day and end the week with alcohol. Along with alcohol, came the other no-no's:the chips,fries,colas and all the regular high calorie foods.
Weekend binging on foods which you have managed to avoid through the week will bring back all the calories you managed to cut from your diet. At the end, the weight loss will not be significant,which generally makes the person put the blame on the diet (if not the dietitian).
If you can bring down the use of these 'empty calories' to it's bare minimum,half your battle would be won (the other half would depend on the amount of exercise you put it).
Note:
If you want to know more about which are the other foods that are high in sugar,then check out this wonderful article on WebMD called 'Sugar Shockers-Foods surprisingly high in sugar'.