New site developments

As we aim to make the www.calories-in-foods.com site more user friendly and straight forward, we are implementing menus for the different types of foods that we have listed.

The two latest menus feature calories in nuts and seeds, and also calories in fish and seafood.

They make it incredibly easy for the user to distinguish between different foods, and negate the need to fiddle around with drop down boxes, or having to type in different foods, like they would have to on other sites. All you need to do on our site is click the mouse and read away, it could not be more easy to use.

The following menus are constantly being added to as we strive to make the site bigger and better, if you have any ideas for foods or beverages that you wish to see added, please leave a comment here, or on our facebook page.

http://www.calories-in-foods.com/calories-in-nuts-seeds.php

http://www.calories-in-foods.com/calories-in-fish.php

http://www.facebook.com/pages/calories-in-foodscom/167776159969126

Snack on nuts and seeds

Any time you think of a snack, the first things that come to mind are chips, cookies, and other such tasty treats, even though we all know that they are not good for us. The problem is that they are always so readily available, they fill a gap, and they taste great.

However, the fact is that they don't do us any good at all as they are loaded with sugar, and contain barely any nutrients.

There are loads of foods that are good for you, and taste nice as well, that can act as highly nutritious snacks, and none more so than nuts and seeds.

On my website I am currently developing an extensive menu showing not only how many calories are in nuts and seeds, but also their nutritional values. This is because I feel that it makes sense to highlight exactly how good a food is for you, so that people don't just make a decision on whether to eat something based on the calories that it contains.

Let's look at a couple of examples.

Calories in almonds, and their nutritional benefits

You may look at almonds and think that they are relatively high in calories, this is because in just 1 oz of them there is 164 calories. However, look at the nutritional values that this serving contains:

Vitamin E - 7.3 milligrams, 37% of the total you need in a day.
Protein - 5.9 g, 12% of the total needed in a day.
Fiber - 3.4 g, 14% of your RDA.
Vitamin B2 - 0.3 mg, 17% if all you need in a day.
Magnesium - 75 mg, 19% of all your body needs in one day.
Phosphorus - 136 milligrams, 14% of all you require in a day.
Copper - 0.3 mg, 14% of your RDA.
Manganese - 0.6 mg, 32% of your RDA.

There are some serious nutritional benefits to take note of here, and they are surely enough to positively outweigh the almond calories that you may have initially been concerned about.

Even with there being 13.8 g of fat in this quantity, it is vital to recognise that just 1 g of this is the saturated fat that you want to avoid.

So that is a great example of how the calories in nuts, should not put you off eating them.

How about seeds?

Seeds aren't just something you feed to birds, there are thousands of people into their health foods that will strongly praise the many benefits that you can obtain from eating seeds such as sunflower and squash seeds.

Just like in 1 oz of almonds, there are 164 calories in the same quantity of sunflower seeds. There is also a total of 14.4 g of fat, but again a very small amount of this is saturated fat, 1.2 g to be precise.

But just look at the nutritional benefits of sunflower seeds, before you discount them.

Protein - 5.8 g, 12% of your RDA.
Fiber - 2.4 g, 10% of all you need in a single day.
Vitamin E - 9.3 milligrams, 47% of the total you need in a day.
Vitamin B1- 0.4 mg, 28% of your total daily requirement.
Vitamin B3 - 2.3 mg, this is 12% of your RDA.
Vitamin B6 - 0.4 mg, 19% of your RDA.
Folate / Vitamin B9 - 63.6 micrograms, which works out as 16% of the total you need in a day.
Magnesium - 91 mg, 23 % of your RDA.
Phosphorus - 185 mg, 18% of your daily intake.
Copper - 0.5 mg, this is 25% of the total needed in a day.
Manganese - 0.5 mg, which comes to 27% of your total daily requirement.
Selenium - 14.8 micrograms, 21% of your RDA.

Again there are some massive nutritional benefits to take note of here, and there is no way that any kind of 'conventional' snack would put these kinds of numbers up.

It would be a very wise idea to use nuts and seeds as a snack, and not just on the odd occasion. They are highly nutritious, and there is such variety in them. Why not take a small quantity of them in to work or college with you, and pick on them if you are feeling hungry between meal times.

Additionally, if you keep these stocked in your house instead of sweet snack foods, then they are there when hunger strikes.

To check out our ever growing calories in nuts and seeds menu, please click on the link below.

http://www.calories-in-foods.com/calories-in-nuts-seeds.php

Find out about the calories in salmon

We have just put up a page covering the calories in salmon. On the page we have provided examples using the various different types of salmon that you can buy. These are:

• Atlantic
• Sockeye / red salmon
• Chinook / king salmon
• Keta / chum salmon
• Silver / coho salmon
• Pink / humpy salmon

We have covered the many ways that you will eat your salmon as well, smoked, baked, and even information on the calories in raw salmon.

Besides covering the calorific values of what is an incredibly popular seafood, we also highlight what the nutritional benefits of salmon are, as this is a fish that is a fantastic source of protein, as well as the minerals selenium and phosphorus.

Check out the latest page of the website via the following link:

http://www.calories-in-foods.com/calories-in-salmon.php

We are going to be making a specific seafood section in the coming month in order to cover a wide range of fish and shellfish, showing the calories they contain and the nutritional benefits that they can bring to your diet.

You can always leave your feedback on the page/site here on the blog.

 

Why should you eat carrots?

Ask anyone to name their favorite vegetable, and I guarantee you that a large proportion of the answers will be the carrot. The bright orange vegetable is one that is even promoted by celebrities, well if you can call Bugs Bunny a celebrity that is.  The main reason that a food is favored by anybody is the fact that it tastes good, hence why so many millions of people eat nothing by junk food these days. However, other reasons include the nutritional benefits that can be obtained from eating a food. Lets look at some of the main features of the carrot:

Number of calories in carrots:

In a large raw carrot weighing 2 oz there are just 32 calories

The three main nutritional benefits of carrots:

1. Vitamin A - You are going to be aiding the health and longevity of your vision by getting enough vitamin A. In just 100 grams of carrot you can get 835 milligrams of vitamin A, which is over the entire total that your diet requires in a day. So carrots are one of the best sources of vitamin A that you are going to come across.

2. Vitamin K - Another important vitamin that you need for a variety of reasons, these include to ensure your ability to absorb other nutrients, and to help blood to clot when needed. You can get a massive 13.2 micrograms of vitamin K in 100 grams of carrot, that is 16% of the total you should be eating in a day.

3. Vitamin C - You are able to get a brilliant dose of vitamin C through eating carrots. In fact just 100 grams of carrot will provide you with 10% of the total required in a day, equating to 5.9 milligrams. What an easy way to contribute to an critical vitamin that helps to keep your immune system strong, eating an incredibly tasty carrot!

High in fiber and water, and low in fat, what more can you want from a food that genuinely tastes fantastic?

There are many more vitamins, and also minerals that the carrot contains, and this makes it a very effective contributor to the nutrient levels in your body.

Eating foods that taste great such as the carrot, really is the simplest of way to keep yourself healthy and to avoid any nutritional deficiencies.

If you would like to learn more about carrot calories and the various other nutrients that the carrots contain, please visit the following page of my website:


http://www.calories-in-foods.com/calories-in-carrots.php

Double bubble

A lot of hard work has gone into the site over the past month in order to increase the number of foods and beverages that we have covered. We now have in excess of 100 pages crammed with not only information on calories in foods, but also the nutritional values that come with them as well.

We are aiming to build upon this in the coming weeks and months in order to make the site as simple and informative as possible.

We are also trying to focus on this blog to make it as topical and interesting as possible for people who are interested in the subject of calories, diet and weight loss.

If you are happening to have a quick read of this why not submit a comment and let us know what you think of the site and what you would like to see on there?

Wimbledon has arrived, and that means strawberries!

Unfortunately this year I am not going to be able to make it to the Wimbeldon tennis championships, which is a real shame as this is usually the highlight of the sporting calender for me. However, that does not mean that I can't enjoy all of the action from SW19 from the comfort of my living room while I am working on my laptop. One other thing that I would also have been enjoying there, along with the glut of top class tennis, is some strawberries!

Strawberries are without a doubt my favorite fruit, and it is a shame that they only pop up in England for a few months over the summer, and then seem to disappear for months on end. They are one of few foods that I can literally taste with my eyes, and even looking at pictures of them online makes me hungry! At Wimbledon they go through a horrendous amount of strawberries,  some 35 tonnes I believe, over the two weeks that the tournament is on. That and a hell of a lot of cream to go with them too, as this tasty combination are synonymous with Britain's biggest annual sporting event.

In a 5 oz cup of strawberries there are some 45 calories, which isn't a lot, but then when you go adding cream or sugar to them, that tasty treat becomes bulging with calories. Just one tablespoon of sugar to go on your 5 oz portion has another 45 calories in, and in a serving of fresh double cream there are several hundred calories. So unless you like your strawberries on their own, you could be exceeding 400 calories!

Fortunately I don't do cream, and I will have to limit the sugar to a teaspoon, which itself is 16 calories. So 60 calories a couple of times over the two weeks will just have to be a treat, or currently a replacement, for the beer consumed while the European football championships were on. I think once the summer of sport is over I will need to be getting back on that exercise bike.

To find out about strawberry nutrition facts and calories check out my page devoted to the sumptuous fruit on my websites.

Is cantaloupe fattening?

Having discovered the wonderful fruit that is the cantaloupe for the very first time a few months ago, I have been wondering whether this delicious melon-type example is too good to be true. I have checked out it's nutritional benefits, the number of calories in cantaloupe, whether it has any common side effects or irritations, and I am unable to find a chink in it's armor. One of the things that looked up first was whether cantaloupe is fattening.

It is common knowledge that fruits and vegetables are the the best examples of nutritious foods that we are ever likely to come across, and with the cantaloupe fitting into this bracket, there is a whole list of nutritional benefits that promote it's goodness. But how about the fat content, is the cantaloupe fattening at all?

Well the answer is no, plain and simple.

In a 3.5 ounce serving of cantaloupe there is less than 0.2 grams of fat, which is literally nothing. There are also just 35 calories in the same size serving, again a very minimal amount. Just like other types of melon, the cantaloupe has a high water content, and as we all know water is calorie and fat free.

What's more is that cantaloupe is crammed full of nutrients, just like other natural foods, so the only effects that the fruit is going to have on your body, your diet, and your weight, are positive ones.

In that same 3.5 ounce serving you can get almost half of the vitamin C that you need in a whole day and just under a quarter of the vitamin A that your body requires a day too.

I would recommend to anybody that is looking to make their diet a little more interesting by trying new foods, to give the cantaloupe a go. It tastes absolutely fantastic, can help towards topping up the levels of pretty much every vitamin and mineral that your body makes use of, it is not fattening, low in calories, helps to hydrate you due to it's high water content and provides energy due to it's potassium and sugar content.

If you don't know what to look for when it comes to the cantaloupe then check out the picture below, which shows a picture of what is rather a unique looking fruit. You are unlikely to get this mixed up with anything else, especially the regular watermelon.

So hopefully this post has been able to encourage you to try a new fruit today, especially with the summer months drawing on and fruits such as the cantaloupe being as prominent as ever in shops and at food markets. I also hope that you are no longer unsure as to whether or not cantaloupe is fattening.

For more information on cantaloupe calories, and exact figures of the nutrients it contains, please check out the cantaloupe page on my calorie site, via the link below.

http://www.calories-in-foods.com/calories-in-cantaloupe.php