How much food is too much? Well it depends on the amount of energy you are expending in your daily activities. If you are sitting or lying down for most of the day then your caloric requirements would be far less than the active sports people. Patricia Thompson, nutritionist says that the caloric needs of each person is unique but generally for most women, 1,600 to 2,000 calories each day is the usual range for maintaining their weight in normal limits. For men the usual range is 2,300 to 2,800.
Mrs. Thompson states in "Caribbean Calorie Counter' that calories are provided mainly by three of the nutrients in food - carbohydrate, protein and fat. Another source of calories is alcohol. Weight for weight, protein and carbohydrate will yield the same amount of calories that is, four calories per gram. Fat gives more than twice this amount for the same weight of food that is, nine calories per gram and alcohol yields seven calories per gram.
Watching your fat intake, especially saturated fat, will therefore go a far way in a weight loss programme. If, for example, your total calorie intake is 1,500 calories per day and if for example, your target is to keep fat down to 20 per cent of total calories, then you should be consuming only around 33 grams of fat each day. It is very easy to eat much more than that if you are not paying attention to what you eat.
Consider the following:
One tablespoon of butter = 12 grams of fat (so just 3 tablespoon during the day puts you over your limit)
One large serving of French Fries = 22 grams of fat
One cup of Gourmet ice cream = 24 grams of fat (low-fat frozen yogurt will save you nearly 20 grams).
One tablespoon of regular salad dressing = 7 grams of fat (who puts just one tablespoon of dressing on their salad ?).
