If you offer someone a plateful of food and the person does not dig at once, do not be offended. It may not be because the food you offered is unpalatable and revolting. The person could be a health fanatic or simply weight conscious and he or she is contemplating the calorie content of the food you offered.
You would always know when a person is weight conscious. Reading labels of food packages to know the calorie content is a telltale sign. Aside from this they would take small bites or sips or in most cases would totally ignore food on their plate. If you are a happy eater you would frown at the fastidiousness of these people. You would think that with the food shortage in some parts of the world they should be overly thankful for the food in front of them. Keeping a serious count of the calorie intake however is very important if you want to stay healthy.
Many years ago, if one would want to measure the calorie content of a certain food, he would have to use a bomb calorimeter. The device is simply a thick walled metal can with attached wires. You put the food inside and apply heat. The calorie content of the food is measured by the total heat output. Most probably the phrase “burning off calories” came from this process. Counting the calorie content of food these days is a much simpler task. You can do away with the need to set up the calorimeter. Years of research yield a simple formula to calculate food calorie content. More or less this is the formula: you get four calories for every gram of protein and carbohydrates and nine calories for every gram of fat.
If you think you can now have the sexy body you have been aiming for, think again! Of course this is not a very accurate measurement of calories. You still need to figure out the correct amount of carbohydrates, protein and fat in every food you take. And for this, you may want to search the net for a calorie counter or for a food calories list. Armed with the food calories list you can now count your calorie intake for every portion of food you eat. Most food packages have calorie count so that measuring the calorie intake is as easy as multiplying the portion you have consumed with the calorie content of the food. However, if the food package have no nutritional information it would be best to use a calorie food counter.