Calorie Visualization: How Much Are You Really Eating?

When it comes to dieting, most of us know a lot, but have little clue as to how to make it meaningful. I always assumed it was hard to keep up with health obligations — I thought that, to eat healthily, I would have to pre-plan what I eat and restrict myself to only a few food items, like salad. Even the thought of having a veggie burger made me feel guilty. But going hungry is not an option for someone with a busy day.

I met with Michele Lefebvre, Director of Nutrition Management at Cornell Dining, to talk about healthy eating at Cornell. She said that a lack of good eating strategies is an acute problem. “Some students tend to get a whole day’s calories out of one single meal, and that’s not always the best route to a balanced day,” said Michele, acknowledging the predicament many students face nowadays. She showed me some examples of a meal that easily tops 2,000 calories, the amount an average American needs for a whole day’s activity. For instance, this fried fish and mac & cheese combination, ubiquitous at the North Star Dining Room, contains a mind-boggling 2,060 calories.

Qijia Yu / The Sun Contributor

So does this mean I have to sacrifice my love for mac & cheese to eat healthily? Not necessarily, according to our dietician. She said that, holding everything else constant, you can knock off 525 calories just by switching from fried fish to broiled fish, and replacing coleslaw with steamed broccoli. It may seem improbable, but it’s true.  You can even have dessert: Replacing the hard ice cream with soft ice cream saves 80 calories!

Qijia Yu / The Sun Contributor

See? Making substitutions and slightly reducing portion size actually goes a long way. It even allows you to keep one or two of your “guilt food” items.

So what about a-la-carte dining locations? If I have to pay per item, how can I eat healthily? Michele offers answers to these questions as well. It turns out that even with a restricted set of options, the nuances of each order can make a difference.

Here’s a burrito from Trillium:

Qijia Yu / The Sun Contributor

And this is almost the same burrito. Without the wrap, the calories are cut in half.

Qijia Yu / The Sun Contributor

For me, a salad is a salad, and there is no better way to cut down on calories, right? Nevertheless, a salad can contain a lot of calories if you’re not careful about selecting ingredients. For example, these two salads look somewhat alike:

Qijia Yu / The Sun Contributor

But if you take a closer look, they are not the same. The one on the right has three times as many calories as the one on the left. So next time when you are ordering the salad, keep in mind that all salads are not created equal.

Left:

Right:

A few more takeaways from the dietitian:

1. You don’t have to forgo your favorite foods just to eat healthily — you can decrease calories by leaving out other unhealthy foods that are not your favorite.

2. Be careful of the “extras” on your plate. The calories of dressings and sauces can add up in your total calorie intake. For example, 2 tbsp. of mustard contains a mere 30 calories, while the same amount of honey mustard dressing contains 160 calories.

3. Fill yourself up with veggies and legumes. These foods are high in minerals and vitamins, and make you feel full without making you feel that you are skimping on a meal.

Winter is drawing near and around a third of the semester is already behind us. To weather the upcoming challenges, both in academics and in life in general, we need a lot of fuel each day. But before you sit down at one of Cornell Dining’s delicious dining locations and start enjoying your meal, you might want to keep an eye on what you have been piling up on your plate. With a few useful strategies in mind, you don’t need to make unreasonably significant compromises to cut down on calorie intake.