Calorie content of common foods

After reading the last post you may want to work out how much exactly your child is eating each day. For this we need to know how much calorie we get from the foods we commonly eat (‘cal’ generally means kilocalories here).

You might know this:
1 gram of carbohydrates and proteins give you 4 cal of energy
1 gram of fat yields 9 cal of energy
Older children should get 50 percent to 65 percent of their calories from carbohydrates, 20 percent to 30 percent from fat, and 15 to 35 percent from protein. Infants and children less than 2 years may need a slightly higher proportion of fat (25 to 40 percent).

Here is a list which may be useful:

Rice: Rice is the staple food for most of us.
100grams rice = 370 cal and 7-8 gram proteins
Rice also contains B group vitamins (brown rice) and starch.

Bread: 1slice = 70 cal (white), 60 cal (brown)
Also contains proteins, iron and B complex vitamins

Milk: As everyone agrees very nutritious for children, contains high quality proteins, vitamins and calcium. Most children need 2-3 glasses of milk everyday.
100ml full fat milk= 66 cal, 3.9 g fat (1 serving = 8 oz gives 150 cal)
100ml semi skimmed milk= 47 cal, 1.6g fat, 3.2 g proteins

Cheese: Cheese is modified form of milk.
100gram cheese = 400cal
Also rich in Vitamins A, D, calcium, fat and contains salt.

Fish: Rich in vitamins A, B, and D; zinc, iron, and calcium;
Omega 3unsaturated fatty acid essential for the body
150gm white fish meat = 138cal, 30g protein

Coconut: Contains saturated fat, fibre, potassium and iron
50g coconut flesh = 170 cal, 2g of protein, 18g of fat, 7g of fibre.
250ml cup of coconut milk = 575cal, 8g of protein, 63g of fat.
Since coconut contains a lot of saturated fat it is not so health friendly.

Eggs: Very nutritious and easily available.
Egg white contains proteins and egg yolk minerals and fat.
1 egg (boiled) = 75 cal,
1 raw egg = 108 cal
Egg also contains on average 6g of protein and 6g of fat.
Also very rich in iron and zinc; Vitamins A, B group, D, and E.

Potato (100 gram/ 1 medium, boiled) = 53 cal
Apple (1 medium) = 53cal
Banana (1medium) =143cal



Some of you might be familiar with the ‘Food pyramid’. This gives the ranges of various food portions which should be included in your child’s diet.

How much should our children eat?

Every child needs an appropriate amount of carbohydrates, fat, proteins, minerals and vitamins to grow normally. Food is consumed mainly in three forms: carbohydrates, fat, proteins. Carbohydrates and fat are the main source of energy and protein helps to grow.

Carbohydrates: Food containing carbohydrates include rice, bread, pasta, potatoes, lentils, cereals, beans, sugar, sweets, sugary drinks, jam and so on. Carbohydrates provide energy.

Fat: Foods rich in fat include butter, vegetable oil, cheese, cream, fried foods, meat etc. Fat also provides energy. Everyone understands that eating too much of fat is not good for health. There are 2 types of fat: unsaturated (eg.vegetable oil and fish) and saturated (other animal fat). Unsaturated fat is better for our body.

Proteins: Essential for growth. Milk, beans, cheese, eggs, fish, meat, soya are rich in proteins.

For a child who is growing normally, there is no need to count how many calories (energy) he is consuming each day. But, it may be of interest to some parents to know how much your child should be getting (approximately). Energy and protein requirement varies from child to child and depends on the age, sex, weight and activities of the child. Food consumption also varies every day. Here is a rough guide to show many calories children need at different ages (protein requirement in brackets):


0-6months: 100 kcal/kg body wt/day (2.2gram/ kg body wt/day)

6-12 months: 90cal/kg body wt/day (1.6 gram/kg body wt/day)

Toddlers : 1,300cal (1.1grams/kg body wt/day)

4- 10yrs: 1,800- 2,000 cal (1.0 gram/kg body wt/day)

Adolescents: 2,500-3,000cal (0.9gram/kg body wt/day)

Adults: 2,500cal (0.8grams/kg body wt/day)

In general boys require more calories than girls. Children who are very active will need more calories than the ones with sedentary lifestyle.