i took a test in my health class today and decided to do some figuring after i finished. according to the "ideal" formulas, am the ideal weight for a person of my stature: 105 lbs. according to the same sources, i should be consuming 1600 calories every day to support my weight and activity level. well, this of course leads me to question how much food equals how many calories. i checked the backs of a couple things when i got home and mostly just debunked my faith in the fda.
a single serving of plain (as in no sauce, dressing, or salt) cooked pasta is 1 cup. this cup of noodles contains 210 calories; a serving of 2% milk is 8 ounces (half a soda can) and contains 180 calories; 1 cup of chili has 270 calories; 1/2 cup of peaches contains 80 calories; 3 pickles contain 5 calories (the same as a stick of gum); i couldn't find the calories for the carrot sticks and celery. now according to the fda, i'm supposed to have at least 6 servings of bread/pasta (1260 calories), 3 servings of milk (540), 2 servings of fruits (160), 2 servings of meat (340), plus 3 servings veggies (we'll be kind and count the 15 from the pickles), and enough water to cook the 6 servings of pasta. all of this comes to a grand total of 2315 calories. with this many calories in my diet, i would supposedly gain 2 lbs a week, even without the pasta sauce. i would also be extremely bloated, and i didn't even get pasta sauce.
there's something wrong with this. obviously, the "ideal diet" has not gotten me to my ideal weight and consumption level. on the flip side, however, were i to only eat the 1600 calories prescribed to me, i would be left with 3 cups of pasta, a cup of pasta sauce, a single 6 oz yogurt, 1/2 cup of peaches, and a tall glass (24 oz) of milk. this still leaves me hungry at the end of the day.
perhaps this helps explain the staggeringly high--and rising-- numbers of both anorexic and obese people in the united states. these are not words of great wisdom. problem.
8 comments:
i don't pay too much mind to that crap. my weight fluctuates and i eat way too many calories i'm sure. i eat as much as a small country, i should be a whale. but whatever. society just puts too much pressure on people to be really thin. the old ideal weight thing says i'm just right though ^_^
how do you think you did on that test anyway? i thought it was way easy.
both of mine say the same thing. i'm pretty much awesome, i guess.
thee test was really easy. it was kind of silly to just test us on how well we could understand his garbled equations.
Actually, I'd question the tests before I question the standards.
"Ideal" tests rarely take into account things like in-born metabolism. For example, take my little brothers. Three of them have my dad's metabolism: even if they sit around all day long, they will gain no weight. One of them, however, has my mother's metabolism. Couple that with his love for carbs and his lack of exercise, and he weighs more than his older brother. Even if he ate the exact same thing as the other brothers, he would put on weight where they lose it.
i thought the garbled equations were a bit retarded. i kept mixing up X and.. variables.
my ideal weight and new ideal weight were like 30 pounds apart..
yeah, there are some big problems that those equations don't take into account. supposedly the metabolism factor is taken care of with the mezomophic powers, but i don't believe it.
i still don't exactly understand the mezo ecto mecto porkomorph stuff. well i understand, i just don't get how you figure it out. i can put my fingers around my wrist.. so what?
don't ask me,i don't understand it either.
Yeah, I've lost a lot of faith in that, too... Seriously. Nice calculations, though! Maybe you should drink calorie-less water just in case... ;)
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