The New Year Weight Gain Ultimate Culprit

Yo peeps! How was Chinese New Year? I hope all of you had a blast. And not to forget that feel inches around the waist and tummy. Hahaha.

It's not wrong to actually slack off or go into that annual indulgence (hashtag #YOLO). But are you really keen to find out which of the food and drinks contributes most to your weight gain?

Actually the main reason you're putting on weight is because of the high intake of sugary food, drinks and virtually no exercise (either you sit down chit chatting, gambling, or watching the television). But let's don't take that into account. Let us see which food gives the most calories.

For Chinese New Year cookie wise since there aren't really nutritional profiles we can look into and pin point the main culprit. But peeps if you really actually spend some time helping your mum or granny out making the cookies, you might have an idea or two. Else, having some basic knowledge on science is good enough.

Now remember Newton's Law of Conservation Energy. Weight gain's simplified equation is equated below:

What you eat - What you burn = Net Weight Gain/Loss

I know there are many factors that should be inside that formula. But let's just keep it simple. 

So let's list out some of the well known Chinese New Year cookies. Note that my deduction may not be 100% accurate. But it can certainly give you a rough idea. High calorie ingredients will be highlighted in bold

and explained

Peanut Cookies

 

Main Ingredients: Peanuts (carbohydrate), Sugar (carbohydrate), Peanut Oil -or- Porcine Oil (Fat)

Cooking Method: Baked in oven

Kuih Kapit 

 

Main Ingredients: Sugar (carbohydrates), Flour (carbohydrate), Eggs (protein)

Cooking method: Baked on a charcoal griddle. 

Kuih Bangkit

Main Ingredients: Flour (carbohydrate), egg yolks (protein), Sugar (carbohydrate), Coconut Milk (Fat)

Cooking method: Baked in the oven.

Kuih Sarang Tebuan (Beehive Kuih) 

 

Main Ingredients: Flour (carbohydrate), Eggs (protein), Sugar (carbohydrate), Coconut Milk (Fat)

Cooking method: Deep fried in oil.

My deduction for the culprit of all the cookies will be... Peanut cookies! That small guy is sweet, and oily (admit it. You'll need quite a hell load of oil to make that thing smell so seducing). My granny makes one of the world's most evil peanut cookies. Those that are hard and does not crumble that easily may have a lil' bit less in calories, but as an overall I'd still lock up this little guy as the main culprit. 

Second would be Beehive Kuih. Sweet and deep fried in oil.. Pffft. If it wasn't for the kitchen rolls you lay inside the tins, this guy would have been most wanted. The complicated patterns on the cookies makes it easier to trap droplets of oil inside the crevices, and into your body when you consumed them. 

Now onwards to the drinks! (We'll just keep an eye on the calories)

100Plus 

Energy /100ml : 27kcal

Coca-Cola

 

Energy/100ml : 42kcal (apparently Pepsi also gives a similar calorie count)

Yeo's Lychee Packet Drink

 

Energy/ 100ml : 44kcal (I'm surprised!)

Beer 

 Energy: 47 kcal/ 100ml

So I can conclude that most drinks, whether its soft drinks or packet drinks, they contribute to around the same calorie per 100ml. Except for a few exceptions. 

And FYI, a "less sweet" packet drink will give you a similar calorie reading as 100plus.

So now you roughly know what contributed to that weight gain over Chinese New Year huh?



P.S. Note that this is just a basic deduction with no solid experiment done to justify the claims. However all deductions are done based on a little understanding on basic science. I do not claim the data 100% accurate.

Any unwanted claims or critics are purely from a neutral point of view. No slander or brainwashing on a particular product is intended. 

Comments and criticisms are very much welcome.