empty calories

Idioms  

1. Food that has little or no nutritional value. For example, Snacking on beer and potato chips makes for a lot of empty calories. [1960s]

---

Example Sentences

"It's like dumping empty calories into a system that's been running on a finely tuned diet for hundreds of years."

From Science Daily • Nov. 8, 2025

But sometimes, his numbers get looked at as empty calories.

From Washington Times • Dec. 26, 2023

Yet as a strategy for collective liberation, Black capitalism was filled with empty calories.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 15, 2023

Just don’t expect intellectual nourishment; forgive me, I’m breaking my promise, but it’s mostly empty calories you’ll find in this sweet, down-market cornucopia.

From New York Times • Apr. 4, 2023

Except for domesticated house pets, animals are sensible enough to prefer the most nutritional fare available and tend to shun empty calories unless they are starving.

From How and When to Be Your Own Doctor by Solomon, Steve