I’ll start off by saying that we don’t eat out much. We’re kind of picky about where we go, and we really look forward to those outings. That said, the last time we went out, we had a big surprise. Now, we’re fully aware that (most) restaurant food isn’t the best for you. We don’t partake very often, but when we do, we enjoy it with the full knowledge that it is an indulgence. But now, with a new law on the books, must I get this special indulgence with a side order of caloric guilt? C’mon …
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Posts Tagged ‘calories’
Lunch, Interrupted.
Thursday, July 29th, 2010Doing the Math on School Lunch Guidelines
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010When we got the Easy Lunchbox System, we started thinking more about how our kid’s lunches were presented, and how many nutrients and calories were part of their lunch. For some reason, when we were using a host of different containers, we were fully aware of how many things were in the lunch, but didn’t often spend too much time thinking about the lunch as a collective whole. Now that we’re working on a new site feature for showcasing lunches using the Easy Lunchbox system, we’re also thinking more about the daily requirements, and how what we pack for lunch works within those recommendations. (more…)
Much Ado About Dietary Fat
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
Which of these shortening-laden measures represents a gram of fat? Read on to find out…
Dietary fat got a bad reputation in the 90s, when the dieting trends were about eating foods low in fat. Unfortunately, most products (and people) started replacing fat in their diet with increased levels of sugar. Several recent studies show that fat need not be treated as the enemy we were led to believe it was. However, you should be aware of the amount and type of fat you are choosing to eat.
There are several sources of healthy fats (monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and omega-3 fatty acids), including:
- olive oil
- canola oil
- avocados
- walnuts
- almonds
- fatty fish
- flaxseeds
How many calories do you need?
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009As the question implies, it’s based on you as individual. Male, female, young or old, active or sedentary, these variables all impact what your body “needs” calorically.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture authored a document titled “Dietary Guidelines for Americans” in 2005. The document is “is intended to be a primary source of dietary health information for policymakers, nutrition educators, and health providers.” So, we can look to it for some guidance on calorie needs.
On page 23, there’s a very useful table that provides guidance on calorie consumption based on gender, age and activity level. We summarized the data into a chart below. For example, a 23 year-old active woman requires 2,400 calories per day. The dietary guidelines provide a range for some combinations of gender, age and activity. We’ve represented the minimum recommendation in these charts. (more…)
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