Only You Will Know
Is this food (or drink) calorie-worthy is one of the best questions you can ask yourself before you eat. Only YOU will know if it’s worth the calories (or kilojoules) to YOU. This article will help you to work it out.
Why am I talking about about calories (or kilojoules)? Because, at the end of the day, it’s all about the calories – how many we eat and drink versus how many our body uses. We all have a certain number of calories that matches what we use, which changes all the time. Eating crab king more calories than we use means we’ll gain weight. Eating fewer calories than we use means we’ll lose weight.
That’s why any ‘diet’ that makes us eat or drink fewer calories, whatever way, will work – in the short term anyway. So if we all have a calorie ‘budget’, as food lovers, we will want to spend it wisely, on foods we consider to be worth it.
Having focused on calories, I’m now going to switch to kiloujoules (kJ), because that’s how we talk about energy in Australia, using the metric system. Kilojoules are what is on our food labels here.
Do you know the kilojoules?
Scroll through these snacks and drinks and try to guess the kilojoules? Then compares your guesses with the answers further down.
Know Your Heart
Being able to decide whether something is calorie-worthy means knowing your heart and knowing the kilojoules (roughly). You may find you’re surprised how many, or how few, calories some foods have.
Stop and think about the way you really like to eat.
What kind of food lover are you?
A savoury or sweet person?
What are your 5 favourite foods?
What would you miss the most if you could never eat it again?
What would you take with you to a desert island?
Whatt can you never say no to?
Once you know what you truly like to eat most, you then need to know the rough kilojoules. Only then can decide whether something is really calorie-worthy for YOU!! Is it worth spendiing your kilojoule budget it on.
How to Find Out the Kilojoules
There’s three ways to find out the kilojoules if you don’t know already. You only need to know the rough figure.
1. Read the Label
In many countries food manufacturers are required to include the kilojoules of a food or drink on the label. Sometimes it’s per 100g which is handy if you need to do some maths on your serve size. Or it might be per suggested serving size, which is easy if it matches what you’d like to eat.
But you need need to be careful with kilojoule values for serving size. This packet of salty snacks is not really that big and it would be easy to eat it all at once without realising that’s 3x599kJ or about 1800kJ.
2. Use an App or a List – or Google
There’s plenty of apps to that can help you find out like the free Easy Diet Diary app (iphone) or the My Fitness Pal app (iphone or android). Otherwise there’s still some hard copy lists around too, but these are less handy. Of course, as always, you can google it.
3. Estimate
You only need to know the kilojoules roughly so estimating can be good enough. Think of something similar that you do know the kilojoules of and think about how it compares. You can also add up the kilojoules in the parts of the dish that you think it’s made from. The Food Lovers Meal Planner can help here, because it gives you the kilojoules for common serves sizes of foods. For instance for a sandwich you could add the kilojoules for two slices of bread, a few fat serves, a small protein serve and some salad.
So it is calorie-worthy?
Scroll through those earlier photos of snacks and drinks again. Here they are grouped in similar kilojoule values.
Are there any that surprise you?
Do some seem better value than others?
Which ones are easy to eat mindlessly without really enjoying them?
Would you now say ‘yes’ or ‘no’, knowing the kilojoules?
Around 100kJ
Around 200kJ
Around 300kJ
Around 400kJ
Around 500kJ
Around 600kJ
Around 700kJ
Around 800kJ
Around 900kJ
Around 1000kJ
Around 1800kJ
Remember, only you will know if it’s worth spending your calorie budget on.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this article and I look forward to sharing more with you.
Would you like more? Would you like me to be your Food Coach? Why not try my new Food Lovers Dietitian Coaching Program?
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I really like this concept and the idea of deciding positively to eat and enjoy something because it is calorie worthy for you.
So pleased you like it Five Beans Food. I think it’s one of most useful ideas for delicious healthy weight – along with mindful eating.
I think it’s a great question to always ask Michele.
When I first heard someone say it out loud I thought, yea, that’s a great way of thinking about the food set before me. “Is it worth sacrificing my daily calorific intake quotient just for a moment of pleasure with no real benefit other than a momentary taste of something nice?”
Thank you Gary! If it’s really nice it might well be worth it, but often it’s not even that nice, we just eat it without thinking. Or we don’t head for quality, settle instead for less, when we could have much better calorie value from something more pleasureable!