When calories are converted to Joules, it's possible to calculate how much mechanical energy they provide.
Judy Wilken is a science educator in Carmel who cares about children's health and is doing something about it through her website,StarChild Science.
I wasn't familiar with the site until she emailed me after reading the blog post about hamburgers. She's done research on McDonald's and found what we already know: Most items are filled with trans fats. On her website, she drives the point home in a cartoon that highlights a trans fat-free menu that consists of a grilled chicken sandwich with barbecue sauce, grape jam, strawberry preserves, ketchup, sweet and sour sauce, Coke or iced tea.
As you might expect, most non-trans fat foods are filled with sugar.
You'd never think that eating one chocolate kiss could provide enough energy to lift an 8,600 pound SUV over six feet into the air. After all, according to the label, there are a mere 26 calories in that one piece of chocolate. But there is a different way of looking at calories and energy. And the end result illustrates that there's way more energy in your food than what you may think.
This clearly shows that the amount of energy in food is huge, and if we don't work it off, we store it.
If this is so, no wonder many children in this age of high tech are suffering from obesity. They aren't 'walking the walk,' literally!