Be Calorie Conscious | Nutrition Fit

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The word calorie is quite a common word.

‘Ice cream is loaded with calories’ or ‘watch your calories to lose weight’, ‘Count the calories’ and so on…

But, when people talk about the calories in food, what do they exactly mean? Let’s find out.

A calorie is a unit of measurement – a unit of energy. When you hear something contains 100 calories, it’s a way of describing how much energy your body would be able to generate from eating or drinking it.

Are Calories always Bad for You?

Calories aren’t bad for us at all. Our body needs calories for energy. But eating too many calories – and not burning enough of them off through activity – can certainly lead to weight gain. Hence, the need to know which foods have how many calories or in other words, which food will provide you with how much energy to the body.

Most foods and drinks contain calories. Some foods, such as ice berg lettuce, contain less calories. (A cup of shredded lettuce has less than 10 calories.) While other foods, like roasted peanuts, contain a lot of calories. (A half of a cup of peanuts has approx. 427 calories.)

Simple measurements and their meanings-

1 kilo joule(kj) = 1000 joules

1 kilo calories = 1000 gram calories

1 calorie = 4.18 kj

1 g fat= 9 cal=38 kj

1 g carbohydrate= 4 cal= 17 KJ

1 g of protein = 4 Cal = 17 kJ

The above means that if you know how many grams of each nutrient (read fats, proteins or carbs) are in a food, you can easily calculate the total calories. You would multiply the number of grams by the number of calories in a gram of that food component.

For example, if a serving of french fries (about 10 fries) has 10 grams of fat then this implies that 10gms of fat x 9 calories per gram = 90 calories are from fat. Simple!

We should ideally aim for eating a healthy, balanced diet that provides us with the right number of calories – not too many and also not even too few!

Calorie counter

The calorie counter or chart given on this page makes calorie counting simple for foods like vegetables, fruits, cereals, breads and milk products. You can use this chart to know the calories in your favorite vegetable, fruit or cereals and make your own low calorie recipe.

Calorie Counting Chart:

Know the calorie content of various food items.

Calories in Fruits per 100 Grams

The values are in Calories. Multiply by 4.18 to get values in kJ.

Apple 56

Pear 190

Banana 95

Chickoo 94

Cherries 70

Dates 281

Grapes 45

Guava 66

Kiwi Fruit 45

Guava 49

Lychies 61

Mangoes 70

Orange 53

Orange juice 100ml 47

Papaya 32

Peach 50

Pears 51

Pineapple 46

Plums 56

Strawberries 77

Watermelon 26

Pomegranate 77

Watermelon 16

Calories in Vegetables per 100 Grams

Broccoli 25

Brinjal 24

Cabbage 45

Carrot 48

Cauliflower 30

Fenugreek (Methi) 49

French beans 26

Lettuce 21

Mushroom 18

Onion 50

Peas 93

Potato 97

Spinach 100g 26

Spinach 1 leaf 2

Spinach 1 bunch 78

Tomato 21

Tomato juice 100ml 22

Calories in Cereals per 100 Grams

Bajra 360

Maize flour 355

Rice 325

Wheat flour 341

Calories in Breads per piece

1 medium chappati 119

1 slice white bread 60

1 paratha (no filling) 280

Calories in Milk & Milk Products per cup

Butter 100gms. 750

Buttermilk 19

Cheese 315

Cream 100gms. 210

Ghee 100gms 910

Milk Buffalo 115

Milk Cow 100

Milk Skimmed 45

Calories in Other Items

Sugar 1 tbsp 48

Honey 1 tbsp 90

Coconut water 100 ml 25

Coffee 40

Tea 30

Be calorie conscious but not only about the number of calories in your diet. What’s much more important than the number of calories is the quality of the calories or the source of the calories in your plan i.e.- whether you get 300 calories from a can of cola or a chicken sandwich.

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Source by Dr. Panchali Moitra