Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet and Snacking

In a similar vein to my _ what actually is five serves _ post, Columbus Foodie has pointed me to a series of pictures on Wisegeek, called what does 200 calories looks like.

To put this in some context, 200 calories is the old money equivalent of 836 kilojoules. Depending on your height and activity level, if you’re a women you need between 7,600 and 10,000kJ per day. Whereas men will need 9,400 – 14,000kJ per day, to maintain your current weight.

Therefore, for most people, each of these pictures roughly represents the number of kilojoules you should be eating as a snack. While even I couldn’t eat 1.4 kg of celery, it’s an interesting series of pictures.

Do remember that kilojoule content is not the only criteria for choosing a food. For example, while nuts are very high in energy (and are near the bottom of the guide), they’re also packed full of minerals, essential fatty acids and vitamins – all good stuff, that we want in our diets.

08 January, 2007