To most people, calorie absorption is the North Star of nutrition: a rigid quantity assigned to each and every food that never wavers or changes. Two individuals who eat the exact same thing in the exact same amount will always absorb the exact same number of calories, right? Or will they?

“This is probably one of the more robust dietary myths that circulates,” Janice Dada, a certified intuitive eating counsellor based in California, tells us. Contrary to what you’ve probably thought all your life, calorie absorption can vary depending on who’s chowing down. “Our understanding of calories and weight management is evolving as research reveals how digestion, gut microbiome and food structure influence how much energy we actually absorb from the foods we eat,” Tannaz Eslamparast, founder and CEO of Empowered Eating Nutrition & Wellness and a digestive health specialist says. “This shifts the focus from just counting calories to considering individual biology and the types of foods we consume.”

So is everything we’ve ever been taught about nutrition labelling a lie? Here’s everything you need to know about how calorie absorption works and why it can differ from person to person.

Why calorie absorption differs between people

Before we dive in, we first need to explain what the term ‘calorie’ really means.

“The easiest way to think about the topic of calories and absorption is that a ‘calorie’ is the measurement of the energy your body gets from consuming and breaking down that food,” Maddie Pasquariello, who runs the Brooklyn-based practice Nutrition With Maddie, explains. “So if your body can’t digest something, it won’t gain any calories from that thing. The food just passes through with calories unabsorbed.” So in other words: Calories only ‘count’ when whatever you eat has been fully broken down.

But people exhibit natural differences in digestion and metabolism that can affect this process, according to Eslamparast. “This includes variation in digestive enzyme levels, gut transit time (how quickly food moves through the digestive system) and gut microbiome composition,” she says. Below, we’ll explain some of these forces in more depth.

While around 90% of calories from food are absorbed in the small intestine, some of the remainder (namely, those endemic to the hard-to-digest stuff that survives unscathed, like fibre) are further absorbed by gut bacteria in the colon. “Although the differences here aren’t typically major, everyone‘s gut microbiomes are naturally a bit different and some are better than others at getting energy from the same meal,” Pasquariello says. This distinction is a result of the balance of microorganisms in your gut, according to Dada: For example, high concentrations of methane-producing microbes are associated with enhanced energy extraction from high-fibre diets. Resulting short-chain fatty acid compounds can contribute up to 10% of your daily calories.

Because of these differences in energy extraction efficiency, “the composition of the gut microbiome can result in more or less calories absorbed by two people from the same food,” Pasquariello says. Take a baked potato. Depending on the population of resistant-starch-reducing bacteria in someone’s microbiome, “one person might extract more energy from a baked potato than another,” Eslamplast says.

Digestion is largely mediated by proteins known as digestive enzymes in the small intestine. Most digestive enzymes are produced by the pancreas, but some originate in the mouth, stomach and small intestine itself. Enzymes are often targeted to specific nutrients. Lipase breaks down fats, amylase breaks down carbs and proteases and peptidases both break down proteins, to name a few. If digestive enzymes “are absent or not present in sufficient amounts, it can result in the body’s inability to break down sugars, fats, proteins and dairy products” (and thus the inability to extract the resident calories), Pasquariello says

Health conditions that can cause this issue include:

• Congenital sucrase-isomaltase deficiency, which prevents your small intestine from producing the enzymes sucrase and isomaltase, both necessary to break down certain sugars, like sucrose and maltose and certain products of starch digestion, like dextrin.
• Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, which prevents your pancreas from producing enough of the enzymes needed to digest carbs, proteins and fats.
• Lactose intolerance, which prevents your small intestine from producing enough lactase, an enzyme needed to digest lactose, a sugar naturally found in dairy products.

Numerous other diseases and disorders can also mess with calorie extraction, though not through the digestive enzyme route. People who have celiac disease, Crohn’s disease or IBS “can all absorb nutrients differently or at a deficit, meaning someone might absorb fewer calories from the same meal as someone else without one of these conditions,” Pasquariello says; a phenomenon known as malabsorption. When a person with celiac disease eats gluten (a protein found in grains like wheat, barley and rye), for example, it triggers an immune reaction against tiny bumps called “villi” that line the small intestine. Villi help your body capture nutrients from food, so an attack on them reduces the absorptive surface and hurts this essential function. Crohn’s likewise affects the villi. Meanwhile, IBS can reduce GI transit time, triggering increased contractions that accelerate the movement of food so that it doesn’t make contact with the surface long enough for calories to absorb.

What this means for you

Overall, “this is not something I’d spend a lot of time worried about” (assuming you don’t have one of the medical conditions mentioned above), Pasquariello says. While it’s important to make sure you’re digesting food properly and address any concerns with an expert, you’ll be “much better off focusing on the overall nutrient density and quality of the foods in your diet than focusing on how every gram of food is or isn’t being absorbed compared to someone else.”

So practically speaking, this information doesn’t have too many applications. Conceptually, however? The implications are huge. Calories “are not always a fixed measure of energy for every person,” Eslamplast says. “Instead, calorie absorption is influenced by individual biology and food structure, supporting a more personalised approach to nutrition and weight management rather than focusing solely on calorie counting.”

If everyone extracts a slightly different number of calories from food, after all, then you don’t know exactly how many you’re actually consuming regardless of the number on the nutrition facts label. Far from representing a loss of control, however, this might free you up to eat intuitively rather than obsess over your stats.

“When we focus on numbers like weight [in kilograms] and calories, it leads us astray,” Dada says. “Whereas if we were to focus more on things that felt more intuitive, such as, ‘How does the food feel in my body? Am I paying attention to the different signals that my body is giving me about how much I’m eating?’”well, that’s when you’re on the right track.

I bet you’ve experienced this: While you’re working, friends are posting vacation photos. Suddenly, you feel FOMO—not just because you’re missing out, but because you could really use a break from work yourself. Although you may brush this off as an intense yearning for that which you cannot have yet, business coach Hazel Anderson-Turner sees this as a potential warning sign: It may actually indicate that your body is crying out for rest.

A longer gap between two holidays could take a toll on your mental well-being. Find out here why experts recommend consciously scheduling a break at least every 43 days.

“43-Day Rule”: Here’s how it works

Anderson-Turner cites British research showing that the feeling of refreshment after a vacation lasts an average of about 43 days. This means we should plan a couple of days off from work roughly every six weeks—apart from weekends

Many employees carry over unused vacation days from one calendar year to the next—and as a result, later find themselves under pressure to take those days off in a timely manner. It might be worth spreading out vacation time more consciously throughout the year instead of saving it for later as those who consistently forgo rest increase their risk of chronic stress and exhaustion. Regular breaks, on the other hand, can help strengthen mental resilience.

The “43-Day Rule”: This could be a sign you need a break urgently

The ‘Fear of Missing Out’ is often not just a brief flash of envy, but rather a signal from your body. What does it mean? Simply put, that it’s time for a break. And we’re talking about a conscious break from work that truly recharges your batteries.

5 questions about true breaks and relaxation

According to Anderson-Turner, it’s worth reflecting on the breaks that have left you feeling truly rested all around and identifying the key elements for long-lasting relaxation. She recommends asking yourself the following questions to identify your state of being:

• During which breaks do I feel particularly connected to my own values?
• Based on what I know about myself and my energy levels, how often do I need a break?
• Are regular long weekends, less frequent but longer breaks or a mix of both best for me?
• What balance of rest and activity works best for me?
• What do I need to do to plan my vacation for next year (or as much of it as possible) by the end of this week?

Here’s how you can easily put the “43-Day Rule” into practice

I didn’t have the best summer. While my friends were in Spain and Italy, driving through Sweden in a VW bus, or chilling out for three long weeks on the Croatian Adriatic coast, I was at home. That’s because my planned vacation—a hiking trip in the Alps—was completely rained out. I cancelled the mountain huts and my vacation days.

Unlike in previous years, though, I found myself spending more time on Instagram and other social media, following who was posting the most beautiful sunset or the most spectacular photo of an amazing vacation destination—and when and where. I’m not usually prone to FOMO, but this summer, I felt a slight “I want that too” urge. But what do you do when you don’t have any time off in the forseeable future? It’s simple: look for microadventures, not well-being getaways just for yourself.

That could be a lazy day at the lake in the summer or a weekend at a cabin in the fall; often, all it takes is a good 24 hours to yourself to recharge your mental batteries. The important thing—at least for me—is to put your phone away or at least switch it to airplane mode. You can take photos of your time off and share them later with friends and on social media.

Even if you can’t plan your next vacation right away, that doesn’t mean you have to go months without a break. Even short breaks can help recharge your batteries—and that’s exactly what the 43-Day Rule is all about.

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Chicken Road is a crash‑style title that lets you chase adrenaline in under a minute per round. The game’s core – a chicken sprinting across a busy road – turns every tap into a heartbeat‑driving decision.

Section 1: The Pulse of a Quick Session

What a Rapid Play Looks Like

Picture this: you open the browser, hit “Start,” and the chicken appears on the left side of a neon‑lit asphalt strip. In a flash you set a €0.05 stake and pick “Easy” for a 24‑step run. The multiplier climbs from 1x to 1.05x as the chicken hops forward. Each step is a single click that either pushes the chicken further or ends the round if it lands on a hidden trap.

The thrill comes from the instant feedback loop:

• Single tap = next step.
• Real‑time multiplier display.
• One click to cash out before the chicken gets fried.

Because each round lasts less than a minute, you can fit multiple sessions into a coffee break or between emails.

Section 2: Why Chicken Road Thrives in Short Bursts

The game’s design intentionally rewards speed. Its four difficulty modes let players calibrate risk while keeping rounds short:

• Easy – 24 steps, low volatility.
• Medium – 22 steps, moderate risk.
• Hard – 20 steps, higher stakes.
• Hardcore – 15 steps, max risk with higher loss chance.

A fast pace keeps the adrenaline alive and reduces the temptation to over‑think each move. The higher the difficulty, the more you can win quickly – but the probability of a trap rises in lockstep, keeping your brain on its toes.

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No one sets out to figure out how to stop being defensive because nobody sets out to be defensive. It’s a label that reads as a critique: you overreact, you’re too sensitive, you’re unwilling to listen. But in reality, defensiveness isn’t a character flaw so much as a reflex.

At its core, that knee-jerk combativeness is a heightened sensitivity to perceived criticism—one that prompts your brain to scan for signs you’re being judged or misunderstood. It’s why one offhand remark (“Oh, you’re still single?”) can eclipse an otherwise reasonable conversation, or why you find yourself overexplaining your work competency even though no one was questioning it in the first place.

Sometimes that response is rooted in a deep desire to be understood—or to protect how you’re seen. Other times, defensiveness shows up around topics you genuinely care about, which makes it only natural to jump in and fight for your case. But in those moments of correcting, interrupting and debating, you’re not really listening. Instead, “your focus shifts to how people perceive you and whether they’re getting it wrong,” says Carolyn Rubenstein, a Miami-based clinical psychologist and author of Perseverance: How Young People Turn Fear into Hope—a pattern that exhausts not only you, but those around you.

So how do you interrupt something that feels more like a reflex? Here are a few therapist-approved techniques on how to stop being defensive.

1. Pause before you react

According to Dr. Rubenstein, defensiveness doesn’t start with words: It begins in your body. Your jaw tightens, your heart races, your breathing shortens. These are early warning signs that your nervous system has registered a “threat,” which is why the first intervention is physical, not verbal. Unclench your jaw. Let your shoulders drop. Uncross your arms. Take a slower breath than feels natural. These small shifts should disrupt the automatic, “brace for impact” response—and give you the chance to respond more thoughtfully (and less reactively).

2. Get curious before you counter

It’s easy to zero in on what feels unfair—someone’s tone, phrasing or timing—while ignoring everything else. Your partner’s frustration about your tardiness becomes, in your mind, an indictment of your character. A manager’s blunt feedback registers as disrespect, not guidance.

However, curiosity can interrupt that narrow-minded thinking, according to Maya Nehru, a psychotherapist offering services in anxiety and trauma in San Diego and Washington. “Even if you initially disagree with the delivery or what they’re saying, ask yourself, ‘Is any of this even 5% useful?’” Acknowledging one valid critique doesn’t mean endorsing everything they said or did: Your friend shouldn’t have used expletives, but maybe they do bring up a good point about your unhealthy situationship. That passive-aggressive email ruined your mood, but the feedback about your project was pretty accurate. “What this does is it helps bypass the all-or-nothing thinking we tend to fall into,” Nehru says, making it easier to hone in on what matters—not what stings.

3. Repeat back what you heard

In most cases, you’re not reacting to what was actually said—you’re reacting to what you think it meant. “They’re frustrated about the dishes” sounds a lot like, “They don’t think I do anything around the house.” “They asked where this relationship is going” becomes “They believe I’m wasting their time and have commitment issues.”

A simple way to fact-check yourself? “Just repeat back what you think you heard,” Nehru says. For example, “If I’m getting this right, you’re frustrated about my lack of communication this week,” or, “Are you saying you want more help with laundry going forward?” Clarifying keeps you from arguing against a version of the conversation that only exists in your head.