How Many Miles Per Gallon Do YOU Get?

 

Today's Snack: Fuel your engine - your body - with one of the best energy-supplying snacks of all: a classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat bread. Fill 'er up with a tall glass of milk, and gentlepersons, start your engines!!!

 

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Food is to your body as gas is to a car's engine. Everything we eat and drink, except water, contains calories. Calories are the source of our body's energy, just as gasoline provides energy for a car to run.

 

 

 

Now, you would never, ever drink gasoline - it's poisonous and can kill you. But did you know that a gallon of gasoline contains about 31,000 calories? That would be enough to keep a medium-sized person going for more than two weeks!

 

Our bodies are so efficient that if humans could drink gasoline instead of eating pizza and burgers for calories, we could run more than 300 miles on just one gallon of gasoline!

 

But eating food is SO much tastier. And our bodies do a great job of extracting the energy we need from the foods and drinks we consume. Our bodies are the ultimate hybrid engines!

 

As with vehicles, different sizes of people, doing different things with their bodies, will have significantly different fuel needs. A lean athlete who exercises hard, two hours a day, will be able to consume more calories than a person of the same weight who is basically sedentary, without gaining weight. The human body at rest uses just 12 calories per pound per day. The more you move around, the more calories you burn - and the more you can eat.

 

You can figure out how many "miles" per "gallon" of calories YOU can get, and practice your math skills, by visiting this site. It will help you learn more about how our body reacts to calorie intake, diet, and exercise, and how math can help you keep tabs on it all:

 

http://home.howstuffworks.com/diet1.htm