What Does 200 Calories Look Like?

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Some foods have significantly more Calories than others but what does the difference actually look like. Each of the photographs below represents 200 Calories of the particular type of food; the images are sorted from low to high calorie density.

When you consider that an entire plate of broccoli contains the same number of Calories as a small spoonful of peanut butter, you might think twice the next time you decide what to eat. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average adult needs to consume about 2000 - 2500 Calories to maintain their weight. In other words, you have a fixed amount of Calories to "spend" each day; based on the following pictures, which would you eat?

Pictures of 200 Calories of Various Foods

(After the page loads, you can click on thumbnails for full versions)

Celery 1425 grams = 200 Calories	Mini Peppers 740 grams = 200 Calories	Broccoli 588 grams = 200 Calories
Baby Carrots 570 grams = 200 Calories	Honeydew Melon 553 grams = 200 Calories	Coca Cola 496 ml = 200 Calories
Red Onions 475 grams = 200 Calories	Apples 385 grams = 200 Calories	Canned Green Peas 357 grams = 200 Calories
Whole Milk 333 ml = 200 Calories	Kiwi Fruit 328 grams = 200 Calories	Canned Sweet Corn 308 grams = 200 Calories
Grapes 290 grams = 200 Calories	Ketchup 226 grams = 200 Calories	Sliced Smoked Turkey 204 grams = 200 Calories
Balsamic Vinegar 200 ml = 200 Calories	Lowfat Strawberry Yogurt 196 grams = 200 Calories	Canned Chili con Carne 189 grams = 200 Calories
Canned Black Beans 186 grams = 200 Calories	Canned Pork and Beans 186 grams = 200 Calories	Eggs 150 grams = 200 Calories
Cooked Pasta 145 grams = 200 Calories	Avocado 125 grams = 200 Calories	Canned Tuna Packed in Oil 102 grams = 200 Calories
Fiber One Cereal 100 grams = 200 Calories	Flax Bread 90 grams = 200 Calories	Dried Apricots 83 grams = 200 Calories
Jack in the Box Cheeseburger 75 grams = 200 Calories	Jack in the Box French Fries 73 grams = 200 Calories	Jack in the Box Chicken Sandwich 72 grams = 200 Calories
French Sandwich Roll 72 grams = 200 Calories	Blueberry Muffin 72 grams = 200 Calories	Sesame Seed Bagel 70 grams = 200 Calories
Tootsie Pops 68 grams = 200 Calories	Hot Dogs 66 grams = 200 Calories	Wheat Dinner Rolls 66 grams = 200 Calories
Corn Bran Cereal 60 grams = 200 Calories	Bailey's Irish Cream 60 ml = 200 Calories	Smarties Candy 57 grams = 200 Calories
Uncooked Pasta 56 grams = 200 Calories	Blackberry Pie 56 grams = 200 Calories	Cranberry Vanilla Crunch Cereal 55 grams = 200 Calories
Cornmeal 55 grams = 200 Calories	Wheat Flour 55 grams = 200 Calories	Peanut Butter Power Bar 54 grams = 200 Calories
Puffed Rice Cereal 54 grams = 200 Calories	Jelly Belly Jelly Beans 54 grams = 200 Calories	Puffed Wheat Cereal 53 grams = 200 Calories
Brown Sugar 53 grams = 200 Calories	Glazed Doughnut 52 grams = 200 Calories	Salted Pretzels 52 grams = 200 Calories
Medium Cheddar Cheese 51 grams = 200 Calories	Fruit Loops Cereal 51 grams = 200 Calories	Gummy Bears 51 grams = 200 Calories
Splenda Artifical Sweetener 50 grams = 200 Calories	Salted Saltines Crackers 50 grams = 200 Calories	Werther's Originals Candy 50 grams = 200 Calories
Snickers Chocolate Bar 41 grams = 200 Calories	Doritos 41 grams = 200 Calories	Marshmallow Treat 40 grams = 200 Calories
M&M Candy 40 grams = 200 Calories	Peanut Butter Crackers 39 grams = 200 Calories	Cheetos 38 grams = 200 Calories
Potato Chips 37 grams = 200 Calories	Hershey Kisses 36 grams = 200 Calories	Sliced and Toasted Almonds 35 grams = 200 Calories
Fried Bacon 34 grams = 200 Calories	Peanut Butter 34 grams = 200 Calories	Salted Mixed Nuts 33 grams = 200 Calories
Butter 28 grams = 200 Calories	Canola Oil 23 grams = 200 Calories

Answers to some questions and other notes:

Why 200 Calories? We could have chosen any amount of Calories for this project, but we wanted something that gave tangible volumes for the entire range of items. We felt that 100 Calories of butter or oil would have yielded diminutive portion sizes; on the other hand 500 Calories of celery would have been virtually incomprehensible.

How did you choose which foods to include in the project? Many of the items we chose just happend to be in the wiseGEEK pantry; we chose the others because we wanted to display foods in a wide variety of categories. We stayed away from prepared foods such as funnel cake and spanakopita because their Caloric content is closely tied to the particular recipe used; we also avoided some more obscure foods such as mangosteen and jackfruit.

The sorting can be misleading because items with liquid tend to appear less Calorie dense; thats why you will find coke amongst the vegetables and cooked pasta significantly higher than uncooked pasta.

All pictures were taken with the same camera (Nikon D70 digital camera) and with the same setup; in other words, the portion sizes displayed are all relative to each other.

The plate is 10.25" (26cm) in diameter and the bowl is 6.25" (16cm)

This article deals with Calories only. Don't forget that there are other considerations when choosing which foods to eat, such as nutritive value and diversity of your food choices.

The capital "C" in "Calories" throughout this article denotes dietary as opposed to physics calories.