SubscribeDiet Detective's Countdown: For the Calorie Obsessed
The Diet Detective's Count Down by Charles Platkin is a paperback loaded full of food calorie tables. In total there are a massive 7500 food items.
For each food item a list of figures including nutrient information and exercise times are listed. The exercise times list how many minutes of walking, running, biking, yoga, swimming, or dance is required to "burn off" the item.
There are some gaps here:
- Only carbohydrate and fat grams (along with Calories) are listed: Where is the protein?
- Exercise minutes are listed only for a person weighing 155 pounds (which means it could be significantly different for you).
A great effort from the "Diet Detective" Charles Stuart Platkin. However the thought of turning every item of food I eat into an "exercise burden" gives me the shudders (although it may work for some people).
Gulp down a Starbucks Grande Caramel Mocha (skim milk) and you'd have to have to walk for one hour and 7 minutes...
More like this in Books · Jan 7, 2007
I saw a write up on the book 1 gingerbread cookie = 18 minutes of swimming!
I guess it's a useful tool for people to understand that a few seconds of chewing takes minutes/hours to burn off but I can't ever imagine buying it. To be fair, I'm not into calorie counting either. If you listen to your body (errr that would be the stomach not raging hormones) then counting calories and compensating with exercise isn't necessary...
ReplyI kind of think that way about certain foods. If I eat something decadent, I plan to work out a little more to compensate for it. Since I don't eat junk most of the time, I really don't sit there and convert every single thing into exercise.
ReplyOne of the fitness magazines I read does that, too. It's depressing if you realize just how long you'd need to exercise to burn off one high-calorie indulgence. I'd rather stay within my calorie limit and exercise a normal amount.
ReplyYes, it's definitely enough to turn a person away from eating a lot of crap. It's really just not worth it.
ReplyThose seem like regular portions though. A fitness magazine I read puts insane portions like an entire jar of Nutella or a large-sized chocolate Easter egg. Anyone eating those in one sitting has a problem much bigger than food choices.
I remember years ago reading a humor book that did the same thing with sexual acts. It listed stuff like 1 apple = 38 minutes of kissing, and so on.
ReplyLOL, Jan, that's hilarious. I wonder how much "action" my husband would have to put forth in order to burn off the entire pepperoni pizza he ate last night, hahaha. I know what you mean though...lots of those magazines put insane portions on those things (probably to scare people away from eating them!). I mean, why would you eat a 1600 calorie burger just so you could run for 3 hours to burn it off? Insane.
ReplyA 1,600 cal burger is still easier for me to imagine a person eating in a single sitting than 18 ounces of chocolate. That is 18 fun-size bars. I've never seen anyone who can eat an entire pizza or huge burger stomach that without getting sick.
Reply1600 calorie burger? Google for "heart attack grill".
ReplyI believe that the super mega whatever from Burger King is about that many calories, isn't it?
ReplyYes, i belive it is the Texas Triple Whopper. You know, the real food that real men eat when they want a real manly heart attack. Haha
ReplyYes. You wouldn't want to have a stroke, that is so girly. Go for the manly heart attack.
ReplyHA HA HA HA HA I'm sorry- the idea of a 1600 kcal burger makes me hysterical laughing. I'm a really SLOW eater and my friends make fun of me for it - I must have a small jaw or something... it would probably take me the whole darn day finishing one of those! Heh heh heh I can just imagine going to BK with my friends and ordering a Texas Triple Whopper...they would be twiddling their thumbs for a very long time....
ReplyThat's what the 'Doggy-Bag' used to be for...Yikes!!
Reply:-)
Seriously...my husband and I were recently on a trip and we had to eat lunch at Carl's Jr. where he ordered the "Thickburger" combo meal. The burger alone had 1400 kcals and then the fries have another 500 or so. Plus the beverage (he's not a diet beverage drinker) for another 2-300. And he barely batted an eyelash at the portion size. The burger came in a box that I swear was almost as big as my head. Just the thought of eating all that made me sick.
ReplyI kind of think that way about certain foods. If I eat something decadent, I plan to work out a little more to compensate for it. Since I don't eat junk most of the time, I really don't sit there and convert every single thing into exercise.
Reply