How Much Calories Your Body Needs Everyday.

Calories is the unit for measuring the energy contained in the food you eat. Every body’s calorific need is not the same. Some people need more calories than others.

There are several factors that determine the calories need of every body.

Age: young people, especially teenagers, need more calories than older ones. This is because they are still in the process of growth and development. Thus, their bodies need more materials. They are also the most active and uses up more energy everyday.

Sex also influences calorific needs. Men seem to need more calories each day than women.

Size also matters. Large sized people need more calories.

Pregnant and breast feeding mothers also need more calories. The reason is not far fetched. When they eat, they eat for themselves and their babies. This means the normal calories they need plus the calories their baby needs.

Chronic illness like diabetes mellitus can also increase calorific needs. They tend to need more calories to prevent or reduce the risk of hypoglycemia.

The national academy of science (a U.S. based organization) recommends the following calorific need for various groups of people.

• 1,600 calories – many sedentary women and older adults.
• 2,200 calories – children, teenage girls, active women and many sedentary men. Pregnant women need extra 500 calories while breast feeding mothers need 300 calories more.
• 2,800 calories – teenage boys, active men and very active women.

Diabetes Diet Exchange List

in my last post, i started a topic on diet.this post the complete part of it. this is the list of various food exchanges. they are to help you choose the varieties of food easily and eat good food. each food in a list may be used alternatively. for example, in list one, 1 cup of buttermilk is equivalent to 1/2 cup of evaporeated milk. this means that you can take i cup of butter milk in place of 1/2 cup of evaporated milk and still be taking thesame calories your body needs.

List 1: milk exchanges


Carbohydrate 12 gm, protein 8 sgm, fat10 gm., per serving.

Food __________________________________one exchange
_________________By measures ______________by weight _________________________________________In gms.

Milk ______________1 cup (8 oz) ________________240
Milk, evaporated ________½ cup_________________120
Milk, powder, whole ______¼ cup 3 level tablespoons ____35
Buttermilk* _____________1 cup _________________240
Milk, skim * _____________1 cup _________________240
Curds _________________1 cup _________________100


*Add 10 gm. Fat (2 fat exchanges; see list 5). Most commercial butter-milk is skimmed. Check local supplies.

List 2: vegetable exchange

Group A


Carbohydrate, protein and fat negligible in amounts ordinarily used. If more than one cup in cooked form is used at one meal, it should be calculated as one serving of group B below.

Asparagus, gourds, watercress, Broccoli(), lady’s fingers, greens(), Brussels sprouts, mushrooms, beet greens, Cabbage, parsley(), chard, Cauliflower, pepper( green)(), kale, Celery, radish, mustard, Cucumber, rhubarb, spinach, Egg-plant (bringer), sauerkraut, turnip greens, French beans (young), summer squash.

Note: in southern Asia, there are numerous green vegetables with light spongy texture or nutritious leaves. These cannot be listed here but can very well be included in this list.

() these vegetables are of high vitamin A content. Use at least on e serving each day.

Group B

CHO 7 gm., protein 2 gm., fat negligible per serving (1/4 cup, 100 gm.)

Beets, pears ( green), squash (winter)*, Carrots*, pumpkin, turnip, Onions, rutabagas.

List 3: fruit exchanges

Fresh, cooked, canned, or frozen unsweetened. CHO 10 gm., protein and fat negligible per serving.

Fruits ________________________ one exchange
___________________By measures _____________by weight
___________________________________________In gms.

Apple, 1 small ________2’’ diameter ________________80
Apple sauce __________ ½ cup __________________100
Apricots, dry __________4 halves _________________20
Apricots, fresh _________2 medium _______________100
Plantain _____________½ small _________________50
erries (blackberries),
Raspberries ____________1cup __________________150
Cherries ___________10 large or 15 small ___________75
Dates ___________________2 large ______________15
Figs, fresh _________________2 large _____________50
Figs, dried ________________1 small ______________15
Grape-fruit _______________½ small _____________125
Grape-fruit juice ____________½ cup ______________100
Grapes ___________________12 _________________75
Grape juice ________________½ cup ______________60
Guava ___________________2/3 cup ______________120
Jack-fruit _________________½ cup _______________60
Melon, yellow_______________ ½ fruit _____________150
Mango ___________________½ small ______________70
Lime* ____________________1 small ______________100
Orange juice* _______________1/2 cup _____________100
Papaya ___________________1/3 medium __________100
Palmyra fruit _______________one ________________15
Peach ___________________1 medium _____________100
Pear ____________________1 small _______________100
Pineapple _______________½ cup cubed ____________80
Pineapple juice ____________1/3 cup _______________80
Plums __________________2 medium _____________100
Prunes, dried ______________2 medium ____________25
Raisins __________________2 table sp., level ________15
Rhubarb __________________see list 2A
Loose skin limes _____________1 large _____________100
Water-melon________________ 1 cup diced
_________________________1 slice 3” by 1½” ______175

*these vegetables are of high vitamin a content. Use at least one serving each day

List 4: bread exchanges

CHO 15 gm., protein 2 gm., fat negligible per serving.

Food ______________________________ one exchange
______________________By measures __________by weight
__________________________________________In gms.

Bread, baker’s _____________1 slice ________________25
Scone, roll _______________2” diameter _____________35
Muffin _________________2” diameter _____________35
Corn-bread ______________1 ½ cube _______________35
Cereals, cooked ____________½ cup cooked ___________100
Cereals, dry (flakes, puffed
and Shredded varieties) ______¾ cup scant ____________20
Rice, macaroni,
Noodles, spaghetti ___________½ cup cooked __________100
Biscuits ____________________½ cup ______________20
Corn ______________________1/3 cup _____________80
Parsnips ____________________ ½ cup ____________ 125
Potatoes
White baked _________________ 2” diameter ________ 100
White boiled or mashed _________½ cup _____________ 100
Sweet or yam ________________¼ cup _____________ 50
Ice-cream, vanilla _____________ ½ cup _____________ 70
(Omit two fat exchanges)
Sponge cake, no icing __________1 ½ cube ____________ 25

*These fruits are rich sources of vitamin c. use at least one serving each day.

List 5: fat exchanges

Carbohydrate and protein negligible, fat 5 gm., per serving.


Food ____________________________one exchange
_______________________By measures ________by weight
__________________________________________In gms.

Butter or margarine _________ 1 level tsp _____________5
Cream, light, sweet or sour 20% _ 2 level tsp ____________ 30
Cream, heavy – 40% _________ 1 level tsp ____________ 15
Cream cheese ______________ 1 level tsp _____________ 15
French dressing ____________ 1 level tsp _____________ 15
Mayonnaise _______________ 1 level tsp _____________ 15
Oil or cooking fat ____________ 1 level tsp _____________ 5
Olives ______________________ 5 small _____________ 50
Avocado _____________________ 1 tbsp _____________ 15

List 6: vegetarian foods of high protein value exchanges

Group A

Foods high in CHO and protein. Fat negligible. CHO 2 gm., protein 7 gm., per serving.

food ____________________________________one exchang _________________________________________by weight
Common dry beans ( ½ cup = 3 oz. ) ___________________ 1 oz.

Dry peas ______________________________________ 1 oz
Green beans ____________________________________ 3 oz
Whole wheat flour* _______________________________ 2 oz
Fresh skin cow’s milk ______________________________ 8 oz.
Buttermilk _____________________________________ 8 oz.
Dhal, grams dry wt. _______________________________ 3 oz.

*leave off 3 bread exchanges.

Group B

Foods high in protein and fat. CHO 7 gm., protein 7 gm., fat 8 gm., per serving.

food __________________________________ One exchange
_______________________________________By weight

Soya beans dry _______________________________ 2/3 oz
Almonds ____________________________________ 1 oz.
Peanut butter or roasted peanuts ___________________ 1 oz.
Walnuts _____________________________________ 1 oz.
Whole cow’s milk or curds* _______________________ 7 oz.
Cheddar cheese () ______________________________ 1 oz.
Egg () _______________________________________ 1

Group C

Foods high in protein low in fat. CHO 7 gm., fat 2 gm. Per serving.

food ____________________________________ One exchange __________________________________________By weight

Cottage cheese ___________________________________ ¼ cup
Skim milk ______________________________________ 8 oz
Powdered milk ¼ cup ____________________________ 35 oz
Buttermilk _____________________________________ 8 oz.

*add two fat exchanges when curds are used.
() add one fruit exchange.

so let's take an example. a man weights 95 ib which when converted to kg gives 48 kg. thus he needs 1080 calories, 108 gm. Protein 48 gm. Fat 50 gm. this is how it will be calculated.

Food _________________number of _________weight in gms
______________________Serving _____CHO ____P ____F

Milk exchange _____________2 _________24 _____16 ____16
Vegetable exchange 2A _______1 _________0 ______0 _____0
Vegetable exchange 2B _______2 _________14 _____4 _____0
Fruit exchange _____________2 ________20 ______4 _____0
read exchange _____________2 _________20 _____4 _____0
Fat exchange ______________4 _________0 ______0 _____20
Veg. protein exch. 6A ________ 1 _________20 _____7 _____0
Veg. protein exch. 6B ________2 _________14 _____14 ____16
__________________________________________________
_________________________________112 _____49 _____52
__________________________________________________

Food Guide Pyramid – How To Use A Food Pyramid.

The food guide pyramid is mend to help you eat healthy and well everyday. Leaning to use it well will surely improve your physical health which will in turn enhance your psychological and social health. For those suffering from diabetes mellitus, food pyramid helps to control and manage the illness.

Before using a food pyramid, it is best to study the various food pyramids available to discover which one contains more the various food choices that you are used to. This will help you eat what you are comfortable with everyday.

Every food you find in each group of food pyramid can be viewed as exchanges. An e exchange is a variety of food you can eat in place of another. For example, in the vegetarian food pyramid whole grain group, you can 1 serving of oat meal in place of bread. the calories you need each day depends on several factors. you can follow the link to find out how much calories you need each day.

How To Use A Food Pyramid

• Choose a variety of food from each of the major food group in the food pyramid. Doing this ensures that you get the entire nutrient you need.
• Combine foods from each major group anyway you like.
• Plan your meals to match your taste and preferences.
  Select your meals and snacks wisely.
• You can also use the food pyramid to guide your choices. Choose low fat dairy and lean meat. Limit saturated fat to 10% of the calories you eat. Base the fats you eat on your body’s calories needs.

Diabetes diet and healthy living – how to make healthy food choices

Healthy feeding is good for everybody; diabetic or non – diabetic. It makes you live healthy, happy and more meaningful life. It becomes more important to take in healthy food when diabetes is being treated.

It entails eating the food that is good for your body and doing away with those ones that harm or do nothing good for you. Animal fat (fat gotten from animals) are known to cause harm to your body. They should be eliminated in diet, if possible.

A healthy diet (or food) is a diet that contains the combination of all food classes in their right proportion and the elimination of harmful and useless ones.

A diabetic, most especially, needs to eat good food in order to be healthy and stay alive. This is because healthy food helps to keep diabetes in check.

To help you easily get healthy diet, nutritionists have made simple rules and guidelines which you can follow when selecting your food substances. I have listed them below;

1) Know your ideal weight. Your ideal weight is the weight which you are expected to have to be healthy. It is different from your actual weight. It is derived from a standard weight chart. Tell a doctor or any healthy worker to show you a standard weight chart. use the chart to check your ideal weight. if the chart is calibrated in pounds, convert it to kilogram by roughly dividing it by 2.

2) Realize that you need to eat 25 calories for each kilogram of your body weight each day. Therefore, to get the calories of food you need each day, multiply your body weight in kg. by 25. What ever you get is the total calories of food you need each day. If you do strenuous work, increase the total by 50% to 75%. People who want to loose weight can also reduce the figure.

3) Out of this 25 calories per kilogram, your body needs one gram of protein. One gram is equivalent to 4 calories. This means that your body needs 4 calories of protein for each kilogram of body weight. So, to get the total protein your body needs, multiply your body weight by 4.

4) Also, your body needs 40% of carbohydrate from the total (25 calories) each day. 40% of 25 calories is equal to 10 calories. thus, to get the number of carbohydrate you need each day, multiply your body weight by 10.

5) The remaining calories should come from fat. this is equivalent to 11 calories. this value should also be multiplied by the body weight to get the total fat needed by your body.

In conclusion, out of the 25 calories per kg you need everyday, you need 10 calories of carbohydrate, 4 calories of protein and 11calories of fats and oil per k.g of body weight.

Also,

1 gram of carbohydrate = 4 calories
1 gram of protein = 4 calories
1 gram of fat and oil = 9 calories

A person who has 60kg weight, for example, will need 25 x 60 = 1500 calories of energy each day which is made up of 10 x 60 = 600 calories of carbohydrate. 4 x 60 = 240 calories of protein and 11 x 60 calories of fat each day.

In order to help you spice up your life with good food while Selecting varieties of food, nutritionists has worked of a formula and list to help you. This is called per serving exchanges. you can follow the link to read more about food exchanges

Recently, a more improved and easy to use nutritional guide has been developed. it is called the food pyramid guide. you can also learn more about it in my post on food guide pyramid

Diabetes Care And Management - How To Live Healthy And Enjoyable Life Even With Diabetes

Diabetes has no known cure but it can be managed. When the disease is well managed, the diabetic enjoys healthy life. There are several diabetes cares and management steps you can adopt to enjoy better life.

Firstly, you must go to the doctor to confirm that you have diabetes. He will perform a urinary test (or any other effective test) on you.

When you are confirmed diabetics, you might find out that you are psychologically affected thus; the first diabetes care you have to consider is your psychology. You have to realize that you can still live long and healthy physical, social and emotional life. You might even end up liveing more healthier and meaningful life than people without diabetes. Yes! The reason is simple. Diabetes care and management is all about forming healthy lifestyles which is a prerequisite for longer and healthier life.

Another thing you have to do is to take balanced and healthy diets. It is a very vital diabetes care and management strategy. Healthy diets help your body to get all the nutrients and energy it needs. It is very important because it forms a major determinant of whether the disorder is well controlled or not.

Diabetes care and management also has to do with exercise. Exercise is good for you. It helps to burn unwanted fat. Little daily exercise alone can improve your health to a great extent. While exercising, go on exercises that are mild for you and avoid bruising yourself.

Your drugs, tests and treatments should also be taken seriously. Always go to your doctor for advice and report any strange change in your body promptly.

Never for any reason miss or ignore your treatments. You might meet people who might want to dissuade you from taking your treatments, most especially on the ground that diabetes has cure. Never listen to them. Remember that your life is what is at stake. Diabetes has no proven cure. Don’t risk your life. Diabetes care and management is the proven best way. Guard your life jealously. It is yours and yours alone.

Diabetes Causes And Prevention - What You Can Do To Prevent Diabetes From Touching You

The main diabetes causes are not all known yet there are evidences that indicate that it has a genetic disposition to it. This means that whether you will have diabetes or not is determined by your gene.

Another known diabetes cause is obesity. This is the most common type-2 diabetes cause in children, adolescents and young adults.

Sedentary life style also another diabetes cause. It influences the onset of diabetes a great deal. In a study involving diabetic school children, it was observed that during school days, they tend to need diabetic drugs like insulin but when there was break or holiday, they needed their drugs less and sometimes seemed to be able to do without them. The reason is not far fetched, children are more active during breaks and holidays than on school days when they sit in class and learn.

There is also increasing evidence that some toxic gases like bisphenol-A Influences the onset of diabetes.It is a rare diabetes cause.

Though there might still be other (yet unknown) prevention of diabetes, the best preventions are influencing the genetic factor and loosing weight. Influencing the genetic factor might be difficult but loosing weight is within everybody’s power and only needs will power.

Diabetes Symptoms - signs of diabetes

Basically there are 3 symptoms to look out for before suspecting that somebody is beginning to suffer from diabetes. These diabetes symptoms are sometimes called classical diabetes symptoms.

1) Frequent urination. In medical terms, this diabetes symptom is called polyuria. When this happens, the person urinates more frequently than normal.

2) Increased thirst and consequently increased fluid intake. This is caused by the loss of water from the body due to frequent urination. A person who urinates more frequently is dehydrating and needs more water. In response to that, the person’s body reacts in form of thirst; thus making him/her to take more water. Medically, this diabetes symptom is called polydipsia.

3) The third of the signs of diabetes is increased appetite for food, which is called polyphagia. this diabetes symptom can make the patient eat like a gluton.

These signs are more noticeable (and profound) in type one diabetes. In type 2 diabetes, they may take time, sometimes years, to show.

Type 1 diabetes can cause rapid weight loss and irreducible fatigue. Though irreducible fatigue can occur in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus, it does not lead to weight loss.

There is yet another way to know that a person is suffering from diabetes, though it is not medically and hygienically advised. It is simply by tasting the urine. The urine of a diabetic patient tastes sugary.

The surest way to confirm that a person is diabetic is to go for test in medical laboratory.

Types Of Diabetes Mellitus (Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus And Others) - Exploring The Divisions Of Diabetes Mellitus

Scientists like to classify diabetes mellitus according to where things go wrong in the insulin cycle. When I say insulin cycle, I mean the movement of insulin from the sight of production, the pancreas, to the final point (the tissue).

Broadly speaking, there are two types of diabetes mellitus. Type 1 diabetes mellitus and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Type 1 diabetes mellitus most times begins at childhood age, for that reason, it is called juvenile diabetes. There are also other names associated with it such as childhood– onset diabetes and insulin dependent diabetes (IDDM).

it is the type of diabetes in which the body is unable to produce inadequate insulin. Insulin is a hormone which makes it possible for your body tissues to absorb blood sugar. This inability occurs when the beta cell (which is found in the pancreas become defected or destroyed. This destruction is caused by an auto immune attack. This attack is mediated by a type of cell called thymus cell (or T-cell). Auto immune attack is an immune response of an organism against its own cells and tissues. This happens when it (the organism) is unable to recognize its own constituent part as self.

Type 1 diabetes mellitus has a genetic predisposition to it. This means that the likelihood of every body to have type 1 diabetes mellitus is in the gene. It is believed to be triggered by environmental factors such as certain drugs and virus infection.

Type 1 diabetes mellitus has no known cure. It is treated with the injection of insulin into the patients’ body. There are also non insulin treatment such as monoclonal anti bodies and stem cell. Type 2 diabetes mellitus, on the other hand, often begins at adult age thus it is also called adult onset diabetes. It also has other names associated with it such as obesity related diabetes and non - insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM).

It (type 2 diabetes mellitus) is the type of diabetes in which the body tissues are insensitive or resistant to insulin. This leads to an abnormally high concentration of glucose in the blood. In medical terms, it is called hyperglycemia.

This insulin resistance and insensitivity in type 2 diabetes mellitus is caused by several factors such as aging, family history and obesity, especially central obesity. Central obesity is the concentration of non subcutaneous fat around the waist.

There is increasing evidence that some environmental factor such as pisphenol (a gas) in the air can trigger the onset of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Pisphenol is a constituent of polycarbonate plastic.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is treated by increasing physical activity i.e. exercising more frequently, reducing the intake of fat and loosing weight.

It can also be treated with drugs known as anti diabetic drugs for example, sulfonylurea which regulates inappropriate release of glucose by the liver and attenuate insulin resistance And thiazolidine which substantially attenuate insulin resistance.

There are also other types of diabetes mellitus which cannot be sharply classified as type 1 or 2 example type 1.5 diabetes mellitus which is also referred to as insulin resistant type 1 diabetes mellitus and gestational diabetes mellitus which occurs during pregnancy. This type is totally treatable and goes away after delivery.

information on diabetes- what you need to know about diabetes

Diabetes is a disease that, when caught, leads to excessive urination and increased thirst.
There are two kinds of diabetes; diabetes mellitus and diabetes insipidus. These grouping is like when you say that there are several kinds of fever; typhoid fever, yellow fever, malaria fever etcetera
Diabetes mellitus is the most popular and dangerous kind of diabetes. This is why when you hear people call the word diabetes; they are usually referring to it. In this site, I shall be doing the same (calling diabetes mellitus just “diabetes”). It is the type of diabetes that occurs when the body is unable to secrete adequate quantity of insulin. It also occurs when the body tissues are insensitive or resistant to it. Insulin is a hormone which kelps on the conversion of blood sugar to energy.
Diabetes insipidus, on the other hand, is a diseased cause by the inability of the kidney to concentrate urine. This is caused by the deficiency of vasopressin in the body or the insensitivity of the kidney to it. It can also be induced by drugs. Vasopressin is a hormone produced in the thyroid gland. It helps the kidney to concentrate urine.
Both diabetes mellitus and diabetes insipidus can be treated.