Calories in a Banana

November 30, 2008

Like other fruit, the question of calories in a banana is mainly answered by one word: sugar. Sugar is 35% of the banana’s weight and is responsible for more than 50% of the calories in a banana. So let’s check out the actual calories in a banana numbers:

• Small banana (101 gr, 6-7″): 90 calories in a banana
• Medium banana (118 gr, 7-8″): 105 calories in a banana
• Large banana (136 gr, 8-9″): 121 calories in a banana

Please bare in mind we are talking about fresh and raw bananas. The calories in a banana can change if you cook, fry or dry the banana. You would also loose all sorts of healthy nutrients. So as a general rule, it is preferred to eat the banana raw. Let’s compare for example the calories in a banana vs the calories in banana chips:

• 100 gr (3.5 oz) fresh and raw banana:89 calories
• 100 gr (3.5 oz) dry banana chips: 519 calories

One of the reasons for this huge difference in the calories in a banana is water. In a fresh banana 25% is actaully water, and in dry banana there’s is very little water.

It is also good to remember that besides the calories in a banana, the banana also a good source of vitamin C. A small banana consists of 15% of the recommended intake for adults, and a large banana has upto 20%.

Cucumber Calories

November 25, 2008

Surprisingly enough, cucumbers are actually considered fruit! That means that cucumber calories, like fruit calories are influenced by the amount of sugar in the cucumber. But unlike other fruit, the amount of sugar is not very high and the sugar counts for less than half of the cucumber calories.

Cucumber Calories (with peel)

• 100gr (3.5oz) - 15 calories
• 1 large cucumber (8-1/4″, 301gr) - 45 calories

Cucumber Calories (peeled)

• 100gr (3.5oz) - 12 calories
• 1 small cucumber (6-3/8″, 158gr) - 19 calories
• 1 medium cucumber (201gr) - 24 calories
• 1 large cucumber (8-1/4″, 280gr) - 34 calories

Cucumber Calories - Tips

You should know that the peel is considered healty for you. So besides envaluating the cucumber calories, you should consider other nutrients as well.

Another point you should take in account is that we are talking about fresh and raw cucumber calories. Any cooking or pickling changes the nutrition values and the cucumber calories count. Sour pickled cucumber may have less calories and sweet pickled cucumber may have more than the raw cucumber calories, so you need to check whatever you eat.

Calories in Grapes

October 14, 2008

Who doesn’t love grapes? I love them. But like other things I like to eat, there is always the question of the calories. In this case the calories in grapes. So how many calories do grapes have? Let’s see.

Surprisngly enough a single grapes has very few calories: only 3-4 calories.

But ask yourself: how many grapes to I eat in a sitting? Or let me rephrase that: how many calories in grapes am I eating at in one sitting?

So here’s some more figures about the calories in grapes that would help you out:

• A single grape: 3-4 calories
• 10 Grapes: 34 calories
• 1 oz of grapes: 20 calories
• 100gr (3.5 oz) of grapes: 70 calories
• 1 cup of grapes (150 gr): 105 calories

Now we all know that there are green grapes, red grapes, american style and european grapes, but there is hardly any difference in the calories in these grapes. So don’t bother checking out specific nutrition data about the grapes varieties. Using the above calories in grapes numbers is a very good estimate.

If you are wondering where do the calories in grapes come from, here’s your answer: like other fruit most of the grape calories come from sugar. Sweet but with calories.

Although grapes can be good for your health, especially if you drink a bit of red wine here and there (drink wisely!), don’t mix the calories in grapes with calories in wine. It is different.

Calories in Strawberries

October 3, 2008

Surprisingly enough the calories in starwberries are not extremely high. One could expect this sweet and juicy fruit to be very high in sugar and calories, but the truth is that the amount of calories in strawberries are lower than a few other types of fruit.

Can you guess the number of calories in a single strawberry?

Can you believe it can be as few as 2 calories?!?! OK, that’s for a pretty small strawberry. But even if we take large strawberries, it’s only 10 calories per strawberry.

OK, that doesn’t mean you can start a strawberries feast or eating them endlessly. We are still talking about calories. And the calories in strawberries, like any other calories, add up! So eat a few, or pile them in a cup - that should be a prefect and relatively low calorie dessert.

But I bet you are looking for the specific figures for calories in strawberries. So here there are:

• 100 gr (3.5 oz) of strawberries - 32 calories
• 1 cup of whole strawberries (144 gr) - 46 calories
• 1 cup of sliced strawberries (166 gr) - 53 calories

One of the reasons strawberries are low in calories is their water percentage. 90% of the strawberries content is actually water, so you’re not consuming a lot of calories. Another thing that helps is the low sugar percentage - again, compared with other fruits. Apples for example have 10% sugar, but strawberries have less than 5%. So although around 60% of the calories in strawberries come from sugar, it is still a low number of calories.

So as you can see, 1 cup of strawberries can be a great option for a dessert or a snack. Remember to keep the number of calories in strawberries low by not adding extra sugar or cream. Enjoy your treat in its natural tasty way.

Calories in an Apple

August 25, 2008

There is basically 1 thing you need to know in order to calculate the number of calories in an apple: its size. Most of the apples are roughly the same, and it is important to know that besides 70-120 calories in an apple, it has a few other goodies as well.

Watch this funny video to get the full info and some fun facts: