A Pat of Butter or a Mile More

One of the things that motivates me to watch my diet is thinking about additions to my diet in terms of how much exercise they "cost." In general it burns about 100 calories when you either run or walk a mile. That's roughly the same number of calories in a pat of butter. When you start to look at things this way, you tend to make wiser food choices.

Oh, and the baked potato that you're going to put that butter on, it's 100-150 calories or so. Some people will tell you that the spud lacks nutrition, and they may be right, but it's high in fiber and therefore very filling, so I don't regard it as a bad food.

Similarly, a can of soda is usually about 120 calories (those bottles usually proportionately more). So, if you have the soda, plan on another mile and a quarter. (I recommend that soda, even diet, be limited to 2-3/week. Why? Most sodas contain phosphoric acid, and to eliminate this, the body excretes calcium phosphate. The process is not well understood, so it's possible that the calcium is coming from food, but it's also possible that it's leaching from bones. If you're concerned about osteoporosis, [and don't say, "I'm not worried, I'm a man," while osteoporosis is less of a problem for men, it's still a problem.], then you should be severely limiting soda intake.

This discussion could go on and on, but you get the idea. Make a little effort to make intelligent choices and your waistline will shrink.