The Importance of Calories!

Why Are Calories Important?

Calories are units of energy, contained within food, and used by the human body to maintain daily health and life. Calories are associated with energy that is contained in protein, carbohydrates and fat. Within each of these measures, calories will have a given amount of energy available.  Different foods will provide different amounts of calories. In addition to this, the other nutrients needed for the human body will also differ according to the foods being eaten.

The human body will burn calories in order to remain healthy and balanced. This is by the metabolism moving calories through your body. Your metabolism may also turn calories into proteins or amino acids if the body needs it. These calories then move into the bloodstream and turn into cells or become stored energy. The energy your body needs in order to stay healthy and alive is directly related to the number of calories you intake (eat). The inverse is also true, too many calories consumed can lead to weight problems and poor health.

You can determine how many calories you need through a variety of factors. Every individual will differ depending on what their body needs to stay balanced. There are several ways that you can find out how many calories you need each day. This can also help in determining the types of foods that you need to eat. These can then be balanced with the nutrients that your body needs, such as vitamins and minerals. These can provide an extra boost for your energy burning needs.

Recommended Daily Allowance (Calories)

Men (Age 30, 150 lbs 5' 9")

2400 (sedentary) - 2600 (low activity) - 2900 (active) - 3400 (very active)

Women (Age 30, 125 lbs, 5' 5")

1900 (sedentary) - 2100 (low activity) - 2300 (active) - 2600 (very active)

Children (Age 13, 100 lbs, 5')

2100 (sedentary) - 2300 (low activity) - 2500 (active) - 2900 (very active)


For high-energy activities, your body can burn twice the number of calories (or more) than what is needed at rest.  Intensive activities will require more calories, while sedentary activities will require less. Please keep this in mind. Most people buy far fewer calories than they really need and utterly fail to take into account any intense activity where calories will be burned much faster.

The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) is not a measure of calories.  The RDA is the recommendation of essential vitamins and minerals.  The RDA is defined as "the average daily dietary intake level that is sufficient to meet the nutrient requirements of nearly all (approximately 98 percent) healthy individuals".  This amount will vary however, according to your age and level of activity.

Also see the Livestrong article, "Why Are Calories Important?"

The Great Calorie Scam

Unfortunately we have witnessed an untold number of scams arise within this industry over the years. Chiefly among these is that many so-called 'food storage plans' are significantly lacking the number of calories required in order for you to stay healthy. Some are so bad that it is literally no joke when we call some of these units "Starvation plans".

What this means is that you would actually eat the food contained within the plan considerably faster then it was claimed to last. This also means that these plans are not the 'good deal' that they appeared to be. Just by running the math (calorie computations), we have found that many units will not last even a 1/4 of the time they are advertised. This makes these units incredibly expensive -- in some cases you would need 3 or 4 of these units instead of the advertised 1 to stay healthy for the amount of allotted time they are supposed to last.

Insufficient calorie intake can lead to poor nutrition, low energy levels, and poor health. These can dramatically impair your ability to fight off disease, infection, perform work or even conduct your daily affairs safely.

Competition for food will be one of the most misunderstood events of all. History shows that food is the #1 priority for all civilizations and society. We take this for granted at our own peril. Food is the dividing line between comfort and safety and all-out chaos. Pay attention to the 'little things' like riots that occur when gas prices go up. Or taxes. But what do you suppose will happen when food becomes unaffordable, or unavailable? This is a life or death issue unlike not being able to afford gasoline. Many regions of the world already have severe food shortages. The entire world is just 'one crop season away' from global food disaster. If something were to happen to stop, prevent, slow down or hinder global food deliveries - there would be massive suffering wherever this occurred.

If you plan to store food - we highly recommend that you do this right, the first time. Don't fall for the faketriot scams and false claims that are so prevalent in America now. Get REAL FOOD and store this as your investment for yourself, your family and your friends. And don't think scimping on essential calories and nutrition 'works' - it doesn't. We've had thousands of customers share stories of regret with us over the past 20+ years. Buy the types and kinds of food that you will actually eat and enjoy every day.