Are you consuming more calories than you need?
Dec 13, 2012
More often than not, we crave certain foods and beverages, with little, or no knowledge about how they could affect our health and wellbeing.
By Musa Kasajja
More often than not, we crave certain foods and beverages, with little, or no knowledge about how they could affect our health and wellbeing.
Did you know that it is from the foods and beverages we consume daily that calories are obtained and converted into the energy the body requires?
As a matter of fact, women aged 18-30 need to consume between 1,600 and 1,800 calories per day, while men in the same age group need between 2,000 and 2,500 calories daily, coupled with exercising so as to maintain a healthy body weight.
Sedentary individuals (those requiring sitting or little activity)would have to consume fewer calories than the active and moderately active individuals, that is between 1,800 and 2,000 calories for women and between 2,000 and 2,500 calories for men.
If more calories are consumed beyond the recommended ranges without doing physical activities, this is likely to bring about weight management challenges, thus leading to excessive weight gain which is a vessel of chronic non-communicable conditions, like diabetes and obesity.
If you particularly enjoy meat, beverages, shelled nuts and snacks, you need to go slow because these foods contain high amounts of calories and cholesterol per 100g.
Eat a lot of fruits and vegetables as these contain fewer calories per serving and have a lot of vitamins, minerals and fibre that the body needs most daily.
Dieting for an appropriate weight is all about having self-discipline, in as far as nourishment is concerned and staying focused on the weight loss exercise objective set by you and your fitness specialist.
For an accurate amount of calories to be consumed per day, depending on your body composition, age and exercises, you should consult a nutritionist, or a health and fitness consultant.
With all the air and water pollution in the form of carbon emissions, electromagnetic radiations, noise, the foods we eat, the work we do, family and accumulated stress. It affects our health if we do not exercise.
Just think about it.
Below is a table that shows some of the foods that we are likely to consume and their caloric contents:
trueFoods and their caloric content
Grains per 100g — calories
-Cooked white rice — 114
-Congee — 32
-Rice-flour noodles — 109
-Spaghetti/ Macaroni — 158
- Instant noodles — 472
- White bread — 252
- Whole wheat bread — 227
- Croissant — 398
- Cornflakes — 382
- Oats — 367
- Potato — 76
- Dry vermicelli (a type of noodle) — 360
Egg and dairy products per 100g — calories
- Egg white — 46
- Egg yolk — 317
- Whole milk — 66
- Skimmed milk — 35
- Condensed milk — 332
- Cheese — 305
- Yoghurt — 73
- Bean curd — 81
Seafood per 100g — calories
- Abalone — 84
- Cardinal fish — 100
- Crab — 95
- Lobster — 100
- Oyster — 81
- Sardine — 99
- Scallop — 77
- Shrimp — 88
Meat per 100g — calories
- Beef — 106
- Mutton — 217
- Pork (lean) — 143
- Chicken 133
- Duck — 90
- Pigeon — 201
- Turkey (Skinless) — 119
- Bacon — 458
- Ham — 330
- Sausage — 286
Beverages per 355ml — calories
- Coffee — 5
- Tea — 1
- Tea with milk — 160
- Soybean milk — 46
- Apple juice — 167
- Orange juice — 149
- Tomato Juice — 60
- Watermelon Juice — 99
- Cola — 146
- Mineral water — 0
- Beer — 153
- Champagne — 190
- Milkshake (chocolate) — 364
- Milkshake (strawberry) — 345
- Milkshake (Vanilla) — 323
Vegetables per 100g — calories
-Asparagus — 18
- Broccoli — 22
- Carrots — 41
- Chinese cabbage — 13
- Corn — 106
- Flowering Chinese cabbage — 12
- Green peas — 81
- Lettuce — 18
- Mushroom — 20
- Onion — 42
- Spinach — 14
- Tomato — 20
- Beans — 125
- Pak Choy (Chinese vegetable) — 17
- Cauliflower — 29
- Fried onion — 355
Shelled nuts and snack per 100g — calories
- Almond — 514
- Cashew — 553
- Hazelnut — 542
- Macadamia — 718
- Peanut — 585
- Pistachio nuts — 557
Snacks
- Cake — 347
- Chocolate — 535
- Cookies — 546
- Potato chips — 249
- Ice cream — 187
- Mango pudding — 93
- Popcorn — 387
- Apple pie (1) — 294
- Hot dog (1) — 255
- Hamburger (1) — 235
- French Fries (100g) — 350
- Fried drumstick — 344
- Roasted chicken — 195
- Fried pork chop — 451
- Roasted pork shank — 317
- Fried bacon — 674
- Ham (fat) — 389
- Roasted lamb shank — 355
- Steamed chicken — 198
Oil and flavoring per 15ml — calories
- Corn oil — 134
- Olive oil — 135
- Peanut oil — 135
- Butter — 111
- Margarine — 109
- Jam — 42
- Peanut butter — 89
- French salad dressing — 69
- Lard (pig fat) — 135
- Honey — 44
- White sugar (1 teaspoon) — 14
- Tomato sauce — 10
Fruit per 100g — calories
- Apple(1) — 52
- Banana(1) — 91
- Grape — 70
- Grape fruit — 27
- Kiwi — 56
- Mango (1) — 65
- Orange(1) — 47
- Lemon (1) — 20
- Pawpaw — 27
- Pear — 73
- Pineapple — 41
- Strawberry — 30
- Watermelon — 25