Assignment #5: Breakfast Calculations

It is easy to determine the ENERGY available (kilocalories, kcal, the dietary Calorie) if you know the kcals in fat, protein, and carbohydrate:

Carbohydrate = 4 kcal/gram [note use of the metric system]

Protein = 4 kcal/gram

Fat = 9 kcal/gram

Your textbook has an example on page 9 that you will find useful.

The assignment is as follows:

-Based on what you ate for breakfast today (or dinner last night if you didn’t eat breakfast)—the complete meal:

1. Estimate as best (and honestly) as you can the PORTION SIZES of each item you consumed.

2.  Using the web, search a site like caloriecount.com to determine the grams of each nutrient (carbohydrate, protein, and fat).

3.  Clearly showing the calculations, show the calories provided by each of the nutrients.

4. Using the example on page 9 as a guide, determine the percentage of the total calories that each of the nutrients provides. 

MY EXAMPLE:

This morning, I’ve eaten 2 large eggs and 2 cups of Diet Mt. Dew. (I know, the Dew isn’t very good for me).

1 large egg

5 g fat x 9 = 45 kcal from fat

0.6 g carbohydrate x 4 = 2.4 kcal from carbohydrate

6 g protein x 4 = 24 kcal from protein

Total kcal from fat, carbohydrate, protein = 71.4

Now, for the percentages:  45 fat kcal / 71.4 total x100 = 63% of the calories are from fat

                                                  2.4 carbohydrate kcal / 71.4  x 100 = 3.36% of the calories are from CHOs

                                             24 protein kcal / 71.4 x 100 = 33.6% of the calories are from proteins

Diet Mountain Dew

Note the 2-liter bottle says 0 for each, and there is a note that says 0 calories per 12 oz serving.  If you look at a 20 oz bottle, the bottle states there are 10 calories in a 20 oz bottle!  HMMMMMMM.

NOTE, it says that it is a “Low Calorie Soda” not actually calorie free.  Why?  Diet Dew actually contains 0.5g sugars per 240 mL (per cup). Which means that I actually consumed 1 gram of sugar from the 2 cups I consumed.  The intake was actually 1 gram x 4 = 4 kcal, all from carbohydrate. 



Do you see why it frustrates me when people say that carbohydrate is BAD for you and PROTEIN consumption helps you lose weight?

Do you see why it frustrates me when people say that when you combine certain foods, they can’t absorb the calories?

These are reasons why the constant silly diet after silly diet—with no weight loss or health improvement—occurs with most people.  There is no magic bullet.