Published by Omar Elamam BA, PTS, 4th Degree Black Belt International Instructor
We’ve all heard the advice: watch your calories! While it’s important to monitor our daily intake, we must be mindful of the sources of those calories. Merely tracking the number of calories consumed won’t guarantee improved health. Instead, focusing on the right foods and consuming them at the right times will yield optimal results and promote long-term wellbeing.
So what exactly are calories and what do they do for your body? The energy contained in our food are measured in terms of calories. Calories do not discriminate between foods. A chocolate bar can have more calories than an apple, but is it a better health choice? The answer is an obvious NO. How many calories a person needs throughout the day is highly dependent on factors such as age, height, sex, and how active you are.
So what do calories look like? The following is a list that compares the same portions of healthy vs un- healthy food and their calories.
- 50 Calories and Under
- The Good : ½ Banana, 12 cherries, 14 seedless grapes, 6 oz eight-vegetable juice, 1 dill pickle, 1 brown rice cake, and ¾ cup of almond milk.
- The Bad :2 Hershey kisses, 1 popsicle, root beer float, 1 cup of jello, 20 jelly beans, and 1 marshmallow with chocolate dip.
- 100 Calories to 50 Calories
- The Good : ½ cup of cottage cheese and 1 slice of cantaloupe, 14 almonds, 1 baked apple with cinnamon, 1 cup of blueberry smoothie, and 1/3 cup edamame.
- The Bad : ½ cup of slow-churned ice cream, 2 mini-quesadilla, 1/3 plain bagel, 1/6 of McDonald’s large french fries, and 1/3 of a Krispy Kreme doughnut.
- 150 Calories to 100 Calories
- The Good : 1/2 cup of cooked oats, 1 can of chickpeas w/2 tablespoons of olive oil, ¼ cup of Guacamole w/1 slice of red bell pepper, and 4 cups of air-popped popcorn (no butter).
- The Bad : 2 tablespoons of Nutella, Starbucks tall caffe latte w/2% Milk, 5 chocolate dipped strawberries, 1 butterscotch bar, and 1 serving (12 chips) of Doritos cool ranch.
- 200 Calories to 150 Calories
- The Good : 1425 grams of celery, 357 grams of canned green peas, 3 eggs, 33 grams of mixed nuts, 333ml of whole milk, and 553 grams of honeydew melon.
- The Bad : 226 grams of Ketchup, ½ muffin, ½ Snickers chocolate bar, 1 marshmallow bar, 38 grams of Cheetos, and 28 grams of butter.
That’s quite the comparison! The most staggering thing that comes to light is the quantity of food we can intake when it comes to choosing between healthy vs. unhealthy food. We can easily consume more than twice the amount of healthy food while in-taking less than half the calories contained in that unhealthy junk! The phrase ‘watch what you eat’ has never had more meaning!