emergency question

[TylerDurden]

I'm discussing calories with a cooked palaeodieter on another list. Can anyone provide me with information on the issue of calories in raw foods and cooked foods?

 Wrangham claims that cooked food contains more calories(he's right re grains) but dead wrong re meats. I remember a previous discussion where someone cited info about how the calories measurement of raw and cooked foods was somehow skewed by the fact that cooked food contained less water-content thus confusing the issue and making it wrongly seem as though cooked meat had more calories. The actual fact was that raw meat had slightly more calories than cooked meat(perhaps due to nutrients not being boiled off).

Anyway, if anyone can provide me with a reference, please?

[Josh]

Hi dude. I haven't got a ref but this discussion on imminst might help. http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=30430

I think the cooked food/more calories is also based on veggies as well.

[lex_rooker]

I'm discussing calories with a cooked palaeodieter on another list. Can anyone provide me with information on the issue of calories in raw foods and cooked foods?

 Wrangham claims that cooked food contains more calories(he's right re grains) but dead wrong re meats. I remember a previous discussion where someone cited info about how the calories measurement of raw and cooked foods was somehow skewed by the fact that cooked food contained less water-content thus confusing the issue and making it wrongly seem as though cooked meat had more calories. The actual fact was that raw meat had slightly more calories than cooked meat(perhaps due to nutrients not being boiled off).

Anyway, if anyone can provide me with a reference, please?

Tyler,
Cooked meats have fewer calories because some of the fat is rendered off in the cooking process and most people discard this fat.  The calories would be the same if the rendered fat is eaten.  This does not address the denaturing of the proteins which doesn't affect the calories but might have other deleterious affects on health.

Cooked plant foods have more available calories than raw because cooking breaks down the indigestible cellulose and makes more of the starches and plant sugars available. Without cooking, much of the starch is locked away and our digestive tracts can't get to it as our digestive fluids and enzymes can't break down the cellulose structure to get at it.

Lex

[donrad]

The book titled "The Complete Book of Food Counts" by Corinne T. Netzer gives both raw and cooked data for calories, carbs, protein, sodium, cholesterol, fat, and fiber.

Raw lean ground beef has less calories than broiled lean ground beef of the same weight. I would think it is because the water is cooked off so cooked is more concentrated, but then the fat drips off so it is leaner?

If you could find data on the shrinkage of cooked meat, you could compare the before and after cooking data for a sample of meat, realizing that after cooking it weighs less. Would you factor in the fat calories that drip away during cooking and are not normally consumed?

There are a lot of "what ifs" and "it depends" in this issue.

[Raw Kyle]

Raw lean ground beef has less calories than broiled lean ground beef of the same weight.

This is because to get a pound of cooked meat you have to start with more than a pound of raw meat. If you started with 2 pounds of raw meat, and cooked one of them, you would have less weight than a pound but the same amount of calories if you like Lex said consumed the whole thing including the fat that might have dripped out during cooking.

[TylerDurden]

Thanks for all your input. Most interesting. I'll use it in August when I put in my new review of Wrangham's work. Assuming that the book ever arrives as there seem to be delays.