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]

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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

While undeniably fun, there’s a vacuousness to them, ungrounded as they are in place or message—empty calories expelled as quickly as they’re digested.

From The Wall Street Journal

You don’t feel that guilty gobbling her empty calories.

From Los Angeles Times

Sometimes, we need to drive over the speed limit or consume some empty calories to feel alive.

From Salon

The right seeks "evocative empty calories" so they can feel without having to think.

From Salon