Pop Quiz.

How well do you know the food you’re putting into your body?

Both Ross Enamait and Scott at Modern Forager posted a neat-o food quiz from Consumer Reports comparing calories and fat of various foods.  As is always the case with these types of things, the answers are probably the opposite of what you’d expect. 

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Of course, quizzes like these are just for fun, but they reiterate an important point: Most people have no concept of food, aside from “That’s beef”, or “That’s a durian.”  They have no idea how many calories they consume, what the composition of the food is, or the food’s impact on their body.

Most people probably don’t even realize that an avocado, a tablespoon of peanut butter, and a pound and a half of broccoli each represent 200 calories worth of food.

Nutrition doesn’t have to be complicated.  But you do have to learn how to speak its vocabulary.  And if that requires that you take note of what you’re eating in a food journal or even go to such lengths as to measure your food portions, then so be it.