A food calorie is a unit of energy, an essential nutrient that the body uses to fuel its daily activities. Understanding the nutrients in foods that you eat helps you make informed choices about a healthy diet. While counting calories in food is important, so is assessing the type of nutrition those calories provide. Foods with a high nutrient density put calories to their most efficient use and keep you from becoming overweight. To learn how to find nutritious food within a reasonable calorie intake, take advantage of these caloric analysis tools provided by the federal government.
Dietary Guidelines
Evaluating your daily calorie intake requires some context for comparison. To get the big picture on calories in food, learn what the daily allowance is; what represents good nutritional value; and which foods fill both requirements. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Dietary Guidelines for Americans show a caloric analysis of an average 2,000-calorie-per-day healthy diet, with sample meal plans.
Among the essential nutrients to emphasize in this total are calcium, potassium, fiber, and vitamins A, C and E. How can you find out if a food contains these compounds? The guideline appendices have abbreviated food lists, and the following resources offer further specific nutrition information.
Food Label Facts
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standardizes nutrition facts, including a caloric analysis, on packaged foods in the United States. A label's first main section shows you which nutrients you should limit, including fat, cholesterol and sodium. The second section lists the vitamins and minerals that are important to get. Amounts are listed as the percentage of the recommended daily allowance the food item provides. If the label shows 5 percent of this daily value (DV) or less, consider the content low; consider 20 percent DV or more high.
To fit a food into your healthy diet, first check the percent DV of calories. Factor that into your calorie count for the day. Then look at the vitamin and mineral content, to see where their percent DVs fall on the nutrition scale of low to high. You can decide to eat more or less of that food based on what you learn from the label.
Comparison of Calories in Food
Once you know the number and type of calories that are desirable in a healthy diet, you can begin to plan meals ahead of time. This is an excellent way to track your level of nutrition and control your weight. The USDA Nutrient Database contains a comprehensive list of popular foods with a nutrient and caloric analysis.
Compare the number of calories in foods you like on the alphabetical list, or sort food items by content, from high to low. The top of this list reveals highly caloric foods, such as fried chicken, and the bottom of the list shows 0-calorie items, such as water and baking soda. After getting your calorie count, you can search for other nutrient contents as well.
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