Energy density is the amount of energy in a given unit of measurement. For food it is the amount of calories per gram. In recent years, nutritionists and public health specialists have begun to suggest that adults and children eat low energy dense foods. I imagine the increased popularity comes from the Volumetrics concept that is the work of Penn State professor, Dr. Barbara Rolls.
http://nutrition.psu.edu/faculty/profiles.cfm?facultyid=21Ideally we would eat foods that are low in calories and high in nutrients. If you do this you get more bang for your buck, more nutrition for your calorie. You get to eat MORE. It is similar to using those UPC shelf labels at the grocery store. For example, there are at least a dozen brands of yogurt in the dairy section and the prices vary greatly. The tags on the shelf can tell you which item has the lowest price per unit. I was looking at this very thing yesterday and the containers that appeared to be the same size offered me single containers at 38, 50 and 52 cent prices. And on the shelf I saw 6.4, 8.4 even 11.4.. per unit. This tells you that the 6.4 cent per unit was the cheapest. The lowest price isn't always the cheapest. If we can buy the less expensive product then we can make our money go further. We are budgeting. We are frugal.
This is exactly how low energy density eating works as long as you are mindful of the nutrient side of it. Celery and lettuce may be very low density but they are also low in nutrients, so not the best every day choices.
Here is how you figure the calorie per gram of your foods. Look at the serving size and divide the calories by the grams.
A chips ahoy cookie package states that the serving size is 27 g and the calories for that are 120. If we divide 120 by 27 we get 4.4 calories by gram. That is moderately high. Peanut butter is higher, but some peanut butter is good for you. Obviously, a natural peanut butter (smuckers) has nutrients your body needs and the cookies do not.
Fats and oils are very high in calories per gram while MOST vegetables and many fruits are low. Grains are moderate, but heart healthy.
If you don't have a nutrient label use the USDA calorie database. Look up your food and it gives you weight options, including 100g. So just pick that one and move the decimal in two places.
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/More examples, spaghetti squash and egg plant have less than .3 cals per gram, strawberries and wax beans have .3 cals per gram. Apples, .5. Bananas .9. Mushrooms, summer squashes, bell peppers, all extremely low (less than .3/g) and high in nutrients, tomatoes too. Winter squash and pumpkin are also superb sources of nutrition with low calorie per gram. Apples are .51 and sweet potatoes .84. That is why I mix my sweet potatoes with a pepper, to volumize them and my plate. Lettuce. cabbages and leafy greens which have more nutrients are also great. Note the spaghetti squash is .27 and regular spaghetti is 1.6 so you can eat a lot more of the vegetable than the grain.
Obviously meats with more saturated fat are higher in ED. Fish (including tuna fish) is low, salmon is higher, but also better for you. Choose to fill your plate with the low ED foods and include the others sparingly.
I always bulk up my salad and or stir fry with onions, mushrooms, tomatoes and sometimes peppers. Lentils are a fantastic low calorie source of protein. Many of the meals I have on You Tube are made from low energy high nutrient dense foods and importantly, I do not add OIL, Butter or sauces to change that when I cook or serve them.
http://www.youtube.com/deerunstooThis is how you can eat less without eating less !
