Calories

All food were not created equal, at least as far as calories.  In order to begin your journey to living a healthy lifestyle and eating a balanced diet, you need to know one thing about the food that you are consuming.

There is series of numbers named the 4-9-4 'rule' which relates to the amount of calories in certain types of foods that we eat. The breakdown is:
4 calories per gram for carbohydrates
9 calories per gram for fats
4 calories per gram for proteins

Carbohydrates: There are two types of carbohydrates, 'simple' which are fruits (fructose), table sugar (sucrose), honey, milk (galactose) and 'complex' carbohydrates which are typically grains like wheat flour, bran, rice, pasta, potatoes.

Fats: This category includes all oils, canola, vegetable, olive, peanut, safflower, etc...  Butter, margarine, all animal fats (Beef, pork, chicken, fish, lamb).

Protein: All meat products, beans, dairy, wheat germ.

So you can see that there are twice the amount of calories per gram of fat compared to protein and carbohydrates. This is the primary reason why people tend to be overweight, it's basically because 'we' like to eat foods that are rich as the fat molecule brings a richness to foods in the mouth. Foods like a hamburger, cheese, ice cream, chocolate, french fries are all high in fats and are foods that many people like to eat. Foods with a higher fat content have much more calories than a balanced meal like a turkey sandwich and fruit.

Here is a sample 2,000 calorie menu, of which 50 - 60% of the total calories are from carbohydrates:

• Breakfast
  
  • Cold cereal
    
    • 1 cup shredded wheat cereal
    • 1 tbsp raisins
    • 1 cup fat-free milk
  • 1 small banana
  • 1 slice whole-wheat toast
    
    • 1 tsp soft margarine
    • 1 tsp jelly
• Lunch
  
  • Smoked turkey sandwich
    
    • 2 ounces whole-wheat pita bread
    • 1/4 cup romaine lettuce
    • 2 slices tomato
    • 3 ounces sliced smoked turkey breast
    • 1 tbsp mayo-type salad dressing
    • 1 tsp yellow mustard
  • 1/2 cup apple slices
  • 1 cup tomato juice
• Dinner
  
  • Grilled top loin steak
    
    • 5 ounces grilled top loin steak
  • 3/4 cup mashed potatoes
    
    • 2 tsp soft margarine
  • 1/2 cup steamed carrots
    
    • 1 tbsp honey
  • 2 ounces whole-wheat dinner roll
    
    • 1 tsp soft margarine
  • 1 cup fat-free milk
• Snacks
  
  • 1 cup low-fat fruit yogurt

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