The Modern American Table: Is a Calorie a Calorie? We’ve all heard the dictate that a calorie is a calorie regardless of its source. But are all foods truly created equal in terms of how they affect our health and weight? Given the barrage of competing information directed at us every day, what do we really know about healthy eating? Robert Lustig, MD, is Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at University of California, San Francisco, and the author of Fat Chance: Beating the Odds against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease. Christopher Gardner, PhD, Professor (Research) of Medicine is a nutrition researcher at the Stanford Prevention Research Center whose research has been investigating the potential health benefits of various dietary components or food patterns, explored in the context of randomized controlled trials in free-living adult populations