Creative Computation Assignment: Sodium content of prepared calorie-source foods
The FDA recommended maximum intake of sodium is 2400 mg
(about a teaspoon of salt) per day.
The actual requirement seems closer to 500 mg/day for average activity,
though this may vary significantly with activity and temperature.
The recommended caloric intake is also on the order of 2400
(nutritional = kilo) calories per day.
Interestingly, the maximum recommended sodium works out to about 1 mg
per (required) calorie, a nice, easy-to-remember expression.
Despite the popular demonization of "calories" as "bad",
the fuel they represent, in a very real sense, is the most important of all
nutrients. You need more fuel than any other nutritional resource
(unless you count water and air), your body cannot recycle it,
and you die if you do not average above a fairly hard lower bound
(maybe 1600 cal/day if you don't move much)
So, get thee to a grocery store (or go virtually online).
Locate 5 specific instances (brand and product) of the calorie-source
food in the class assigned to you (e.g. breads).
Try to find a wide variety of products.
Look at the nutritional label, and compute the amount of sodium in
units of milligrams per calorie for each of the examples.
Record the brand and product, the amounts, and classify each as follows:
- Less than .2 (mg/calorie), Very Low.
- .2 to .5, Low.
- .5 to 1.0, Moderate.
- 1.0 to 2.0, High
- Greater than 2.0, Very High
Food Classes:
- Breads (e.g. Loaves, rolls, burger buns, tortillas, etc.)
If you can find them, compare white, whole-wheat, rye, etc.
- Ready-to-eat breakfast cereals (e.g. corn-flakes, Total,
Cheerios, Special-K ...)
- Breakfast sweets (e.g. donuts, cinnamon rolls, danish,
croissants, twinkies, ding-dongs, etc.)
- Canned main entrees (e.g. stews, soups, Rice-a-roni,
baked-beans)
- Fozen entrees (e.g. pizza, pasta dishes, Lean-cusine meals etc.)
- Snacks (e.g. corn chips, potato chips, pretzels, crackers,
Cheese doodles, nuts, honey roasted peanuts, ...)
- Desserts (e.g. cakes, pies, ice cream,)
- Calorie-rich condiments (e.g. butter/margarine, mayonnaise,
salad dressing, cream-cheese, barbecue_sauce, jam, ...
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