Wow. Our original post about this topic “What 200 Calories Looks Like” (which you can see HERE) attracted some serious attention and at the time of writing was viewed over 900,000 times. So we thought we’d continue the discussion with part 2.

As reported by Foodporn, 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.

So… based on the following pictures, which would you eat?

Pictures of 200 Calories of Various Foods

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? WiseGeek could have chosen any amount of Calories for this project, but they wanted something that gave tangible volumes for the entire range of items. They 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 WiseGeek chose just happened to be in the WiseGeek pantry; they chose the others because they wanted to display foods in a wide variety of categories. WiseGeek stayed away from prepared foods such as funnel cake and spanakopita because their Caloric content is closely tied to the particular recipe used; they 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; that’s why you will find coke among 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.