Reminder: food is fuel

200 calories goes a long way

By Kim Carlson

January 8, 2007

What does 200 calories look like on a plate? Two of my favorite food sites, Ethicurean and Slashfood, both spotted an intriguing post on Wisegeek this weekend. Check it out; maybe a photo of your favorite food is there. (If you click on the individual photos you’ll see a bigger shot of each item that you can more easily compare to the others; all foods and drinks were photographed on the same plate or in the same glass or bowl.)

Those pictures got me thinking: How much exercise do I need to burn off those leftover holiday Hershey’s Kisses I ate throughout the afternoon yesterday or that bowl of yogurt I had for breakfast? Here’s one source that says “skipping” (rope, I assume) and “spinning” (I am so not a gym rat) each burn up the 200 calories quickest, in less than 15 minutes. A close second was body combat — ouch — followed by tae bo and squash.

Numbers 9 and 10 on the list, cycling and walking, aren’t as sexy, but it’s nice to think you can combine them with other things, like getting to the market to buy your calories for the day.