Calories are found in food in the form of carbohydrates, fat and protein. The American Heart Association recommends eating a balanced diet, with approximately no more than 30 percent of calories from fat, about 20 percent of calories from protein and the remainder from carbohydrates. Understanding how to properly identify the amount of calories in food can help in monitoring total calorie intake and portion size.
Tips and Warnings
- Use the USDA's Nutrient Database for Standard Reference for foods that are not packaged. These could include fresh fruit and produce, food cooked at home or food from a restaurant. Enter each food separately, along with the portion size. For example, for a turkey sandwich, enter the portion of turkey to identify the calories, and follow this process for bread and other components of the sandwich. Many smartphones have applications that can be downloaded that provides the amount of calories in foods. Enter the food into the program with the appropriate portion size to calculate the number of calories.
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