I know most of us who are health conscious are ready to put down the diet or gym regime for the mere 1 week just to let off some steam and to indulge a bit. Hell I'm already starting to lose some weight now in preparation for CNY's mega feast.
We all know we are bound to put on that extra weight. How much depends on how much we eat and drink. Don't forget: Soft drinks are lined with sugar that gives you that extra weight! Not to mention alcoholic beverages which pack in more calories!
I came across this facebook photo. Since it was about CNY cookies, it did raise my brow to read and look at the picture more closely.
Have a look at the picture:
Wow. Looks like a nightmare with all the 3 digits calorie gain with just a few pieces of intake.
Okay. Since there is a source for the picture, I checked out the website. So it's not a scientist or some healthcare professional. Nor is she related to anything related to science.
So here I stand, as a humble food tech grad student, just to prove the discrepancies of the data in the photo. Because I think it may create some unease to those who are really crazy of their body weight.
Let's start with some basics in food science. Let's learn about calories.
FACT 1: Calories are contributed by macro nutrients. The list of macro nutrients and their contribution of calories per gram are listed as below.
1 gram of fat = 9 calories
1 gram of alcohol = 7 calories
1 gram of protein = 4 calories
1 gram of carbohydrate = 4 calories
FACT 2: According to the Law of Conservation of Energy, the total energy of an isolated system cannot change, which means energy cannot be created and destroyed. In layman terms for this situation, how much food you eat, will result in how much calorie intake, which in the end will determine your weight gain.
Ok let's get started. For easier calculation, we're going to take "1 gram of fat = 10 calories" for worse case scenario, as fat contributes to the most calorie intake per gram, and marking it up to 10 calories is to simplify calculation.
Case 1: 1 piece of nian gao fritters = 220 calories.
220 calories / (10 calories/g of fat) = 22 g of fat
As far as I know, Nian gao fritters are made up of nian gao (flour + alot of sugar, hence carbohydrate predominantly, 1 piece of potato and 1 piece of yam (also predominantly carbohydrates). Even the batter use to coat the whole 3 pieces is made of flour!. Only the frying requires oil, which in the end does not make up to even 20% of the whole piece of nian gao fritters.
If I were to go harsh and more precise, 220calories / (4 calories/g of carbs) = 50 g of carbs, which I would say that one piece of nian gao fritter is around 30g-ish.
But then let's get back to the declared value in the picture. If your nian gao and potato are really made up of 100% fat, weights 22 g for each piece, then no doubt you will get 220 calories.
Case 2: 4 pieces of love letters = 210 calories
First of all, I'm gonna say I will be pathetic as we all know love letters a.k.a. kuih kapit is NOT being deep fried but being baked on a charcoal griddle, so no added oil and fat.
But still for the sake of proofing, I'd still use "1 gram of fat = 10 calories"
210 calories / (10calories /g of fat) = 21g of fat.
So 4 pieces of kuih kapit is made entirely out of fat, with each piece weighing 5 g. I thought putting 100% of butter on a charcoal griddle just gets the butter melted?
A more precise calorie count for love letters :
Case 3: 1 piece of bak kua 370 calories
Sounds logical. Bak kua IS oily.
370 calories / (10calories /g of fat) = 37 g of fat.
1 piece of bak kua made out of 100% fat, weighs 37 g, will give you 370 calories. But my science teacher taught me that meat is protein wor...
Well let's take a look at Bee Cheng Hiang's Nutrition Panel shall we:
1 serving = 40g = 146Kcal or in normal conversation 146 calorie. 370 calorie is just a number plucked from the sky!!!
*note: Food manufacturers HAVE to be careful when declaring these numbers on their Nutrition Panel. Cause a deviation of less than 80% or more than 120% will land them in hot soup according to Malaysia's Food Regulation. Why I know? Cause I'm working in the food industry :p
I can go on and justify each picture but why waste my time? I just want you guys to enjoy Chinese New Year, put on that little but acceptable weight for this auspicious celebration.
And not to be bugged and mislead by some baseless numbers put up on Facebook without any proofs!
So now that you guys know how to calculate the calories you take, I hope that you can control yourself during the festive period!
Ciao. Sherlock is outta here...
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