Calories from Protein, Carbs and Fat
June 23, 2009 by Gail Grannum
Filed under Healthy Eating Nutrition
Know Your Calories From Protein, Carbs and Fat
Calories from Protein, Carbs and Fat
Foods that we eat contain calories from different nutrients. Pick up any packaged food item at the grocery and read the nutrition label. The nutrition facts will tell you not only how many calories the food contains but also how many calories of protein, carbohydrates and fat it has.
Do you want to know how many calories are in every gram of protein, carbohydrates and fat? Every gram of protein has 4 calories. Every gram of carbohydrates has 4, as well. And every gram of fat contains 9 calories. So if you were to eat something that has all three of them, you can look at the nutrition label and figure out how many calories each of the three is bringing in.
Let’s take for example 100 grams of bacon. It roughly contains 37 grams of protein, 2 grams of carbohydrates and 42 grams of fat. The remaining grams come from cholesterol, sodium, calcium and potassium. If we focus only on the grams from protein, carbohydrates and fat, we can calculate the calories as such:
(37 g protein x 4) + (2 g carbs x 4) + (42 g fat x 9) = 148 + 8 + 378 cals = 534 cals
Thus, 100 grams of bacon, which is just a little less than one serving, already contains 534 calories. And that number doesn’t even include the calories from grams outside of protein, carbohydrates and fat. For most people, 534 calories already make one-third or one-fourth of the daily amount of calories they need in order to maintain weight. A serving of bacon already makes one-third or one-fourth of the daily amount of calories for weight maintenance.
Calories also increase blood sugar which refers to the glucose in the bloodstream. This glucose produces the energy we need to perform our daily activities. The level of glucose should always be brought back to normal, a task that insulin from the pancreas is responsible for. People suffering from diabetes do not have enough insulin to control their glucose level. This is why it is even harder for them to manage their calorie intake. Their diet should contain large amounts of dietary fiber. They should decrease their intake of fat and carbohydrates, too.
But diabetic or not, we all have to be mindful of what we eat. We should be aware of the amount of calories we consume per meal. Exercise should be a regular part of our schedule. Through exercise, we burn calories to maintain or lose weight.
Calories truly cannot be ignored. They are in everything we eat and they have an impact on our health and well-being. If you want to be fit and healthy, start minding your calories today. Be aware of how many calories your meals are giving you and set a goal for yourself. Start eating healthy today.
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Is Fruit Juice on the Good Side or on the Bad Side of Healthy Eating?
June 23, 2009 by Gail Grannum
Filed under Blog
Replace Fruit Juices With Whole Fruits
Recent studies have pointed to children as the largest group of juice consumers today. And this is not surprising considering that historically, pediatricians and health experts have recommended fruit juice as a healthy source of vitamins, calcium and other nutrients. Most recently, there were claims made that some fruit juices even contain anti-oxidants that may help to fight systemic diseases like cancer and heart disease.
Although fruit juice is often thought of as an alternative to soda and other sugary juice cocktail and sports drinks, nutritionist still do agree unanimously that fruit juice cannot replace the nutrients derived from a whole fruit. Why is this so?
What it has …
A typical juice box in the supermarket contains only a little amount of real fruit juice and much more contains a blend of sweeteners that are high in calories and is really no healthier than a can of soda.
Some brands also contain high amounts of artificial colors and flavors and are dehydrated, rehydrated and pasteurized prior to packaging.
And what it doesn’t have …
A 100% fruit juice does not contain fiber which is the key nutrient that a piece of fruit provides. In addition to this, a fruit’s skin and pulp can also be sources of other nutrients needed by the body.
What it does to our body …
Fruit juice since it is loaded with a high sugar concentration can lead to dental problems. It can stimulate the production of insulin in the body and limit the body’s ability to burn fat thus will lead eventually obesity. Or, the other side of the coin can be increasing the risk of malnutrition since it can displace other more nutritious foods from the diet. Among children, cases of flatulence and diarrhea were traced to excessive amount of sugar in the gut.
Based on these, the overall health worthiness of fruit juice, we can say is a lit bit tilted to the bad side. But this doesn’t mean that adults and children alike should stop drinking fruit juices. The best healthy choice is to still drink and supply the body with at least 60 ounces of water each day. The key here is learning to set limits and being wise enough to be selective in what we are drinking.
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How to Use Nutritional Labels
June 23, 2009 by Gail Grannum
Filed under Healthy Eating Nutrition
Serving Size Tells Your Accurate Calories
How to Use Nutritional Labels
Fact – you have full control of your own health. It’s a good thing that almost all foods we buy come with nutrition labels. Of course, it’s also the age where there are more foods that are unhealthy for us, which makes the nutrition facts label on foods all the more important. Nutrition labels tell you what exactly your favorite can of soup contains, and I don’t mean the ingedients. The nutrition label is also sometimes called Nutrition Facts.
The first thing you should look for in the nutrition label is serving size, which usually uses a common measurement unit such as ‘cup’. It also indicates how many grams that one serving makes. Right below it can be found exactly how many servings there are in one pack (or can). Pay attention to this part of the nutrition label because if you don’t you may actually consume two servings instead of one, essentially doubling your calorie intake.
The next part to look at on a nutrition label is the amount of calories per serving. This is useful when you already know how many calories you need in a day in order to maintain, lose, or gain weight. If the nutrition label on the canned soup tells you that one serving already contains 120 calories, you can deduct that amount from your recommended daily amount of calories and see how much more calorie allowance you have for that day.
The nutrition label also tells you how much of the different types of nutrients you’re getting. This is expressed in grams or milligrams. The three main sources of these are fat, carbohydrates and protein. The nutrition facts label tells you directly how many calories come from fat. It’s important to take a look at the fat content, cholesterol and sodium because these are the nutrients you have to eat less of.
Below the number of grams per nutrient, the nutrition label also tell you how much Vitamin A, C, calcium and iron is present. These, including dietary fiber are the nutrients that you need to eat more of. The percentage in which these are expressed in shows how much it covers your recommended daily amount. When a nutrient is 5% in daily value or below, you’re getting a low amount of it. When a nutrient is 20% in daily value or above, it’s a bit high. This part of the nutrition label will help inform you if you’re getting too much fat from a product or too little dietary fiber, for example.
Reading and understanding a nutrition label is not rocket science. It just requires common sense, knowing the good stuff from the bad and making the right choices based on that. Nutrition labels – always check them out.
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Go For Those Calorie Burning Activities !
June 20, 2009 by Gail Grannum
Filed under Exercise & Fitness
There are many roads leading to weight loss but the most proven and effective way is still through proper diet and exercises that focus on how to burn calories. And to understand how calorie burning works is to first know how many calories you are burning for each activity you undertake. How many calories do you burn with each activity?
The number of calories that you burn in any activity depends on a lot of factors such as age, body structure, heredity and lifestyle. Below is a table that shows the amount of calories burnt on some examples of outdoor activities per 3 levels of weight: 100 pounds, 150 pounds, and 200 pounds.
| Activity Calories Used Up
100 150 200 (pounds) |
| Step Aerobics with a 4 inch step 145 218 290
Hiking 155 232 310 Basketball Game 220 330 440 Canoeing (2.5 mph) 70 105 140 Golfing (walking, no cart) 100 150 200 Jogging (5 mph) 185 278 370 Mowing 135 202 270 Swimming (25 yards per minute) 120 180 240 Walking (3 mph) 80 120 160 Washing car 75 112 150 |
Based on this chart, it shows how every step and every movement can help lead you to a healthy path. Exercising doesn’t have to start in a gym and spending hours on cardio machines, simply walking uphill and running laps through water will burn those calories down. Learning how your daily routines match up against a regular workout on the treadmill can help you plan your exercise routine based on your fitness level, time and even your budget. Turn everyday activities into calorie-burning workouts now!
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How to Burn Calories with Activity
June 20, 2009 by Gail Grannum
Filed under Metabolism
Everything we eat, no matter how healthy or unhealthy, contains calories. Calories in food provide the necessary energy for us to do our daily activities. In a week, we use up an average amount of calories per day. This is called Basal Metabolic Rate. To manage your weight, it’s important to know your BMR. Your BMR refers to the amount of calories you consume in order to perform your regular activities and maintain your weight.
Read Body Mass Index Defined for more information about BMR and BMI
How To Burn Calories
However, most don’t really want to maintain weight, but rather shed weight or gain weight (former more common than latter). Losing weight requires a deficit in calorie intake. We have to consume calories in a day that is lower than our BMR. To do that, we have to minimize high-calorie foods, control portios AND burn calories through exercise and activities.
There are three types of activities we can do to burn calories:
- Sports
If you already play sports, keep it up. For example, you can burn calories at a rate of 200 calories per hour playing golf? But increase the number of hours or days that you play as an hour’s worth of golf barely burns a regular latte. If you play tennis, you’d be glad to know it burn calories at the rate of 560 per hour. That’s a significant amount! Another sport that burn calories great is boxing. This can burn calories at approximately 420 per hour.
- Exercise
You can go to the gym or work out at home. By running on the treadmill for half an hour, you burn calories at a rate of 150 to 250 per hour. Try to increase the intensity by setting it at a faster pace. That will surely burn more calories. Lifting weights is also an important part of a workout regimen. You can burn 170 to 250 calories for an hour of light to moderate weight lifting. If you’re looking for something that’s not as strenuous, you can try Tai Chi, a Chinese martial art, one hour of which can burn calories at 280 per hour.
- Everyday activities
You’d be happy to know that simple everyday activities can expend those calories. Walking your dog for half an hour can burn calories at 100 to 150 per hour. So don’t break your promise of an afternoon walk with Fido; it will benefit you both. Do some sweeping inside the house or out in the driveway; a half hour will burn 120 to 170 calories for you. Carrying your baby while doing some mall shopping can burn calories at around 200 to 300 per hour. Now, there really isn’t any excuse for you now, is there?
The idea of having to burn calories with activity shouldn’t elicit a groan. When you exercise more, you grow muscles which burn calories more and raises your BMR. You should actually be happy because there are just so many things you can do on a daily basis that will help you burn calories and lose weight.
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