Your body burns more calories digesting real food like whole grains and cheese than fake food like white bread and processed cheese, even if both have the same calories.

Eating a sandwich made with real bread and real cheese burns almost twice as many calories during digestion as one made with white bread and processed cheese, even if both have the same number of calories.

Eating a sandwich made with real bread and real cheese burns almost twice as many calories during digestion as one made with white bread and processed cheese, even if both have the same number of calories.

Even though the whole-food sandwich had a bit more protein (which burns more calories), that alone couldn’t explain why it burned almost twice as many calories — so the processing must be the real reason.

Your body keeps burning calories longer after eating a sandwich made with real ingredients than one made with processed stuff — about an extra hour.

Even though one sandwich is made with real ingredients and the other with processed stuff, people feel just as full after eating both — so the extra calories burned after the whole-food sandwich isn’t because they felt fuller.