Thanks to your friends at LifeQuotes4U, here is the ultimate calorie infographic that explains: what a calorie is, calorie recommendations, examples in fast food and take-out meals and how calories are burned in exercise and through sport. It’s a real eye-opener!
THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO CALORIES
The calorie infographic above gives you an idea of how calories are measured and how they are burned (or not burned) off through fitness and exercise. Just Add Good Stuff believes that it is important for all of us to be more aware of what we are putting in and on our bodies and understanding what calories are and where they come from is essential in controlling our nutrition and diet. It’s up to us to make sure that we are feeding ourselves with nutritional foods and not empty calories. As mentioned in this calorie infographic, a calorie is the approximate amount of energy that is required to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius. The term ‘calorie’ was first used in 1824 as a unit of measurement of heat. It has now come to be used as a unit of measurement of the energy contained within food and drink. When you look at labels, cal (all lower case) is 1 small calorie. This is NOT to be confused with Cal (with a capital ‘C’) which is equivalent to 1000 small calories (cal). The Cal is also known as the kcal (or kilocalorie). Remember that most packaging labels use cal and NOT kcal or Cal.
Calorie Recommendations according to…
As you see in this calorie infographic, the NHS (Great Britain) recommends that the average man requires 2,500 Calories per day. The average woman, in comparison, requires only 2,000 Calories per day. On the other hand, the USA Government recommendations for daily Calorie intake is as follows:
2-3 Years Old = 1,000 Cal for males | 1,000 Cal for females
4-8 Years Old = 1,400 Cal for males | 1,200 Cal for females
9-13 Years Old = 1,800 Cal for males | 1,600 Cal for females
14-18 Years Old = 2,200 Cal for males | 1,800 Cal for females
19-30 Years Old = 2,400 Cal for males | 2,000 Cal for females
31-50 Years Old = 2,200 Cal for males | 1,800 Cal for females
51+ Years Old = 2,000 Cal for males | 1,600 Cal for females
The USA Government also recommends these levels of ‘empty calories’ per day for males and females (see below). The estimated empty calories intake is for unusually physically active individuals. Empty calorie are those that are derived from solid fats or added refined sugars. Cakes, sweets, soft drinks, fast food, all contain a high number of empty calories as seen in this calorie infographic:
2-3 Years Old = 135 Cal for males | 135 Cal for females
4-8 Years Old = 120 Cal for males | 120 Cal for females
9-13 Years Old = 160 Cal for males | 120 Cal for females
14-18 Years Old = 265 Cal for males | 160 Cal for females
19-30 Years Old = 330 Cal for males | 260 Cal for females
31-50 Years Old = 265 Cal for males | 160 Cal for females
51+ Years Old = 260 Cal for males | 120 Cal for females
The Problem Starts Here > Calories in Fast Food
In 2013, the top 10 most unhealthy foods from America’s five most popular fast food chains are absolutely horrific when you are looking at empty calories intake. The problems with fast foods from Hardee’s, Burger King, McDonalds, Wendy’s and KFC are that they contain a whole lot of empty calories and not much nutritional value. Here are the 10 most unhealthy foods from these popular fast food chains according to the calorie infographic:
10. Burger King – Tendercrisp Chicken Sandwich (750 cal)
9. McDonald’s – Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese (750 cal)
8. KFC – Chicken Pot Pie (790 cal)
7. Hardee’s – 1/3 lb Original Thickburger (810 cal)
6. Wendy’s – Baconator (970 cal)
5. Burger King – Double Whopper With Cheese (990 cal)
4. Wendy’s – ¾ lb Triple (1,060 cal)
3. McDonald’s – Big Breakfast with Hot Cakes (1,090 cal)
2. Burger King – Triple Whopper with Cheese (1,230 cal)
1. Hardee’s – The Monster Thickburger (1,300 cal)
And The Problem Continues with Calories in Takeout Foods…
But the problem with empty calorie intake doesn’t stop at the top five fast food chains. Popular takeout foods are also loaded with carbs and empty calories as noted in this calorie infographic:
5. Fish and Chips (838 kcal)
4. Kebabs (1,000 kcal)
3. Indian Foods like Chicken Tikka Masala, Pilau Rice, and 1 Plain Naan Bread (1,338 kcal)
2. Chinese Foods like Sweet/Sour Chicken, Egg Fried Rice and Vegetable Spring Roles (1,436 kcal)
1. Pizza – 12” standard size (1,835 kcal)
But, Calorie Intake is not the only problem…
As you know, eating is not the only problem in America. It’s also the lack of exercise that is causing us to be the most obese nation in the world. Take for instance the examples in this calorie infographic. Calories burned by a 150 lb person during 1 hours participation in exercise:
Dancing > 370 cal > The average Chinese takeaway would take 3:53 (yes, that’s 3 hours and 53 minutes) of dancing to burn off the calories consumed in Chinese takeaway food.
Football/Soccer > 468 cal > A McDonald’s Big Breakfast with Hotcakes would take 1 hour and 20 minutes to burn off when playing intense football/soccer.
Swimming > 603 cal > A Hardee’s Monster Thickburger would take 2 hours and 9 minutes to burn the calories when swimming!
Jogging > 675 cal > The average Indian kebab takes 1 hour and 29 minutes to burn off when jogging!
Other Calorie Inforgraphic Interesting Facts and Figures:
In 2011, Americans spent $117,000,000,000 on fast food. There were 311 million people living in the United States in 2011, making the giant fast food industry approximately $376 per person! Per campita consumption of fast food in 2005 around the world was: $566 in the US, $456 in Canada, $390 in Great Britain and $363 in Australia! In the UK in 2011, there were 5,400,000,000 visits to fast food restaurants. Even more striking is that half of all meals consumed in Britain are from fast food joints!
More information is online here: http://visual.ly/ultimate-guide-calories
