'Tis the Season

In my last entry, I talked about the holiday season and all the food that comes with it.

This entry is about the "C" word--not Christmas, Cookie Monster, or Curlup, but "Calorie".

Why talk about calories? Because people gain more weight during the holidays (2 months) than they do the rest of the year (10 months)!

Body weight is all about calories, keeping a balance between how much you burn and how much you eat. It's simple math, really. If you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight. If you burn more than you eat, you lose weight.

A calorie is a unit of energy. Food contains energy, so the more energy in a food, the more calories it has. Here are a couple of examples:

1) A medium banana = 100 calories.

2) A can of Coke = 200 calories.

3) A cheese stick = 100 calories.

The trick is to eat foods that fill you up without laying on the calories: ones with water in them (fruits and vegetables) or ones with protein (lean meat, cheese, nuts, eggs). Not only do those kinds of foods have more nutrients and vitamins, they will keep you fit and trim.

In the example above, you could have either #2, the can of Coke (200 calories), or #1 AND #3, the banana and cheese stick (also 200 calories). Which is better? The banana/cheese combo. It's the same amount of calories, but is more filling, better for you, and will help you maintain healthy weight. So, go out and THINK about what you eat. There are healthy choices all around. You just have to look for them.

Last post's answer: Kwanzaa was begun in 1966.

New question: how many calories are in a pound of body fat? I'll have the answer next time. . .