“One of the biggest food lies we were told: All calories are created equal.⁣
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Take a class of sixth graders. Show them a picture of 1,000 calories of broccoli and 1,000 calories of soda. Ask them if they have the same effect on our bodies. Their unanimous response will be “NO!” We all intuitively know that equal caloric amounts of soda and broccoli can’t be the same nutritionally. But as Mark Twain said, “The problem with common sense is that it is not too common.”⁣
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I guess that is why the medical profession, nutritionists, our government, the food industry, and the media are all still actively promoting the outdated, scientifically disproven idea that all calories are created equal. Yes, that well-worn notion—that as long as you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight—is simply dead wrong.⁣
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The law of conservation of energy states that the energy of an isolated system is constant. In other words, in a laboratory, or “isolated system,” 1,000 calories of broccoli and 1,000 calories of soda are, in fact, the same. I’m not saying the law was wrong about that. It’s true that when burned in a laboratory setting, 1,000 calories of broccoli and 1,000 calories of soda would indeed release the same amount of energy.⁣
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But the law of thermodynamics doesn’t apply in living, breathing, digesting systems. When you eat food, the “isolated system” part of the equation goes out the window. The food interacts with your biology, a complex adaptive system that instantly transforms every bite.⁣
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When it comes to the soda, your gut will quickly absorb the fibre-free sugars such as fructose and glucose that will then spike your blood sugar, starting a domino effect of high insulin and a cascade of hormonal responses that kicks bad biochemistry into gear. ⁣

On the other hand with broccoli, you’d get many extra benefits that optimize metabolism, lower cholesterol, reduce inflammation, and boost detoxification. The glucosinolates and sulphorophanes in broccoli actually change the expression of your genes to help balance your sex hormones, reducing breast and other cancers.⁣”

~ Dr. Mark Hyman