How do I define calorie?
Calorie is the amount of energy in any drink, food or snack we consume. Food weight is measured in Kilograms, food liquid is measured in liters and food energy is measured in calories. The amount of calorie you take in your food could increase or reduce your body weight. More calorie consumed stores fat in the body and consuming less calories helps loose weight. Empty calories are foods with lots of energy and little or no nutrients
How much calories are enough?
That depends on you and your lifestyle. A resting adult would need less calories than a working adult and a too active adult like an adult involved in professional sports would need even more calories than the resting and working adults.
What is a calorie count diet? Being conscious of the amount of calories in everything consumed in a day. you would be able to tell how many calories you had in your breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack and drinks in a day.
Do I have to go on a calorie count diet? If you are thinking of losing weight, gaining weight or maintaining your current weight the answer is Yes.
How many calories should I eat per day? First you need to know your BMI to know if you are under weight, over weight or the right weight. Then you need to know how many calories you currently consume per day. Equipped with this information, you can have more, less or the same number of calories a day.
Food Calorie
Some food have more calorie than others. The amount of calories in Fatty foods are the highest followed by Carbohydrates. Calories in Protein are less than those in carbohydrates but more than in Vitamins.
How many calories in – African foods?
Fats
Palm oil – 1 tablespoon – 9 cal
Sunflower oil – 1 tablespoon – 8 cal
Margarine – 100g – 717 cal
Carbohydrates
Yam – 100g – 130 cal
Gari – 100g – 350 cal
Rice – 100g – 103 cal
Green Plantain – 100g – 116 cal
Ripe Plantain – 100g – 122 cal
Proteins
Beans – 100g – 63 cal
Smoked Fish – 100g – 220 cal
Chicken – 100g – 187 cal
Goat meat – 100g – 143 cal
Vitamins
Sources of vitamins are mostly in fruits and vegetables
Okra – 100g – 33 cal
Scotch Bonnet – 100g – 28 cal
Onions – 100g – 35 cal
Tomato – 100g – 14 cal
Orange – 100g – 36 cal
Banana – 100g – 81 cal
I personally believe a 2000 calorie diet is pretty high for what we may need. our bodies more so function off of nutrients than they do calories. When we provide our bodies with the proper nutrients based on our lifestyles, the calories will show up. I think this is one of the great secrets when we talk about fitness and healthy lifestyles. Great read here
thanks Wil,
Hi Juliet. Very informative. It is truly important that we recognize the effects, calories and fats and carbs, of what we put into our bodies. That rice looks really tasty. I had heard about okra being useful for diabetes but I didn’t know that it was the seeds that were actually used. Are you going to add more recipes? I think I would like African food as you cook with many ingredients I grew up eating.
Blessings,
Debby
Yes Debby, I will be adding more photos and recipes. Thanks for coming by,please come by again to check my updates. I also have a book called “African Flavours; Soups and Stews”(on my Resource page)
Hi Juliet that was a very interesting article that you wrote as you attempted to educate to the reader about healthy eating and the amount of calories a body needs daily in order to keep the body healthy.
I have a bicycling niche as one of my websites and have focused in with articles surrounding on the concept of one’s having a healthy diet.
You took the time to note how many calories are contained in certain African foods. It is also a known fact that some foods are better than others regarding one’s having a nutritious diet. Foods that contain a lot of fat or have been processed with unhealthy ingredients, (sodium, sugar, etc.) do a lot of damage to one’s body.
I did note that you did not mention any fruits, and their caloric content. Here in the U.S. where so many people are overweight there has been a push by dieticians and nutritional experts for many people to consume more fresh fruits daily as part of their food intake. Fruits are also known to contain less calories than such things as cakes, cookies, ice cream and other snacks that Americans consume to much of in this country.
Still you did a great job both in educating the reader about how to understand their BMI reading and off of that an understanding about how many calories they need to consume in order to live a healthy lifestyle.
Jeff
Thanks Jeff,
I’m happy you read and like my post. The fruit bit noted. Thanks for coming by
This is a very informative website about healthy eating. I enjoyed reading your article, A Smoothie A Day Keeps The Doctor Away. I wasn’t aware of all the health benefits you can get from a smoothie, like preventing cancer. Another thing that grabbed my attention was the benefits of okra. Before viewing your website, I didn’t know it was used as a medicine in Turkey for diabetes. My website focuses on natural treatments for diabetes. Last thing, I like the image of the rice on your homepage. It looks very appetizing.
Thanks for coming by Natia, I appreciate your comment. I’ll be posting regularly on health, do come again.
Hi there,
I always find it a struggle to lose weight. i try dieting from time to time but never really count the calories, for me its more about trying to eat more healthy foods and stay away from the junk and fatty foods. A lot of the African foods you’ve listed seem quiet healthy. What are the recommended calorie intakes for the average man or woman?
Hi Adam,
An average man on a balanced healthy diet would need about 2500 calories a day. For an average woman it would be 2000 calories. Other factors such as current weight, level of their activities etc need to be considered as well. Thanks for coming by Adam