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2000 Calories

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2,000 Calories

Ever wonder what it looks like?

Health Canada recently put together a website called “My Food Guide” that tells you what you are supposed to eat.

So here’s how it works

You enter your gender and your age and it tells you how much of each food group you are supposed to eat.

For me it was:

8 Vegetables and FruitPicture 1

8 Grain products

2 Milk and Alternatives

3 Meat and Alternatives

Next you get to pick the food you like…

For Fruits and Veggies I chose:

  • Asparagus
  • Broccoli (x2 servings)
  • Sweet Potato
  • Sweet Pepper (x2 servings)
  • Apricots
  • Apple

For Grains I chose:

  • Bagel ( 0.5 bagels is a serving)
  • Oatmeal (3/4 cup is a serving)

For Milk and Alternatives I chose:

  • MilkPicture 9
  • Cheese
  • Yogurt

For Meat and Alternatives I chose:

  • eggs
  • Chicken

Now that hard part…putting these things into meals:

Breakfast: 900 Calories

  • 2 egg omelet with asparagus, avocado. (1 meat, 1 veggie, 2 fruit)
  • 1.5 cup oatmeal (2 grain)
  • glass of milk (1 Milk)
  • 3 apricots ( 1 fruit)

Lunch: 650 Calories

  • 1 Bagel ( 2 grains)
  • 1 apple (1 fruit)
  • 1 Yogurt ( 1 milk)

Dinner: 300 Calories

  • Chicken breast (2 meats)
  • Sweet Potato (2 grains)
  • Broccoli

Snack: 200 Calories

  • 1 English Muffin (2 grains)

My grand total calories for the day  would be 2,050 Government approved as healthy as you can get Calories!

Actually this number isn’t that bad for me.. it’s a little low for weight maintenance for my current weight..but like I said..it’s not too bad.

But here’s the deal… Take a look at how BORING those meals are..

A plain bagel? A plain English Muffin?…nothing in your oatmeal?

B-O-R-I-N-G Honestly….I couldn’t eat like that.

So if we spice them up JUST A LITTLE BIT, while still trying to do the typical North American version of “eating healthy”

Breakfast: (ADDS 250 Calories)

  • 1 ounce organic cheddar in the omelet (0.3 of a dairy serving)
  • 1 teaspoon brown sugar, 2 TBS Almond milk in the oatmeal (wouldn’t count)
  • 1 medium coffee with 1 cream, 1 sugar (really..wouldn’t count)

Lunch: (ADDS 50 Calories)

  • 1 tablespoon low-fat cream cheese for the bagel (not sure..maybe 0.1 of a serving?)

Dinner (ADDS 100 Calories)

  • TINY bit of Butter for the sweet potato and for the broccoli

Snack (ADDS 200 Calories)

  • No sugar added natural Peanut butter for the English bagel (0.5 of a meat serving)
  • A glass of organic skim milk to wash it down. (1 extra dairy serving)

Now the meals are actually looking like something I MIGHT eat..and I’ve bumped the Calories up to almost 2,700!

Lastly, lets add in one  little ‘indiscretion’…a mid morning Starbucks run to get:

  • 1 Cafe Latte
  • 1 Apple bran muffin ( 1 extra grain serving)

So now you have Mid Morning Snack (ADDS 500 Calories)

This is a great example how an average person trying to eat healthy can still eat over 3,000 calories every day…but THINK they are eating closer to 2,000 (And according to the Canadian Food guide!)

This is WITHOUT any beer watching the game, cookies with the kids, chips at break time, chocolate bars for charity, wine with dinner, snacks at the office…etc.

It Adds up Quick!

BP

PS- Of course, the easy way to get around all of this is to simply choose not to take part in these shenanigans once or twice a week! (cough, cough, subtle nudge..>Eat Stop Eat)

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