If you know your total calorie intake requirement but are unsure about the ideal ingredient proportions in terms of their mass, this tool will assist you in determining those ratios.
The 'Total Amount of Calories' field represents the total calories you wish to consume per meal. For instance, if your recommended daily intake is 2500 kcal, and you plan to consume equal amounts of food five times a day, then your 'Total Amount of Calories' for each meal would be 500 kcal.
For each ingredient (or 'product') in your meal, you need to fill in the 'Name', 'Nutritional Value', and either 'Calorie Ratio' or 'Fixed Mass' fields.
After filling in the 'Name' field, a link will appear allowing you to look up its nutritional value (i.e., how many calories it contains per 100 grams). You can then insert the looked-up value into the 'Nutritional Value' field.
In the last input field, you can switch between the 'Calorie Ratio' and 'Fixed Mass' inputs using the radio button located just below the input field.
By default, the 'Calorie Ratio' input field is selected. Use it to indicate the proportion of calories you want to attribute to the given product.
However, if you have a fixed amount of a certain product in your fridge that you'd like to consume entirely, switch the input field to 'Fixed Mass' using the radio button and input the product's mass.
You can input a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 12 products. Adjust the number of products using the ' - ' and ' + ' buttons.
Once you submit the inputs, the application will provide you with the grams of each product you should consume to meet the provided total calorie value.
EXAMPLE 1:Suppose you want to consume rice, salmon, and vegetables, aiming for a total of 600 kcal. You'd like 60% of the calories from rice, 30% from salmon, and 10% from vegetables. Enter '600' in the 'Total Amount of Calories' field. For 'Product #1', enter 'Rice' in the 'Name' field, look up its nutritional value, insert the value, then enter '60' in the 'Calorie Ratio' field. Use the '+' button to add new products and follow similar steps for salmon and vegetables with '30' and '10' in their 'Calorie Ratio' fields, respectively. Finally, submit the form.
EXAMPLE 2:Suppose you prefer not to use percentages and would like the amount of calories coming from rice to be twice as large as the amount of calories from salmon and vegetables. For every 2 calories from rice, you want 1 calorie from salmon and 1 calorie from vegetables. In this case, follow the same steps as in Example 1, but enter '2', '1', '1' in the 'Calorie Ratio' fields for rice, salmon, and vegetables respectively.
EXAMPLE 3:Now, if there's only 120 grams of vegetables left and you need to consume it all, leave the vegetable section unchanged. Use the radio button to switch the last input field to 'Fixed Mass' and insert '120'. A hint will appear indicating the percentage of total calories attributed to the vegetables. For instance, if it indicates that 120 grams of vegetables provide 5% of your total calories, adjust the calorie ratios for the other products accordingly. For example, if you enter '75' and '20' in the 'Calorie Ratio' fields for rice and salmon, their mass values will comprise 75% and 20% of total calories, respectively (with the remaining 5% attributed to the vegetables).
In general, a balanced distribution of calories is recommended: approximately 50% from carbohydrate-rich products (e.g., rice, buckwheat, whole-grain pasta), 25% from fat-rich products (e.g., olive oil, nuts), 20% from protein-rich products (e.g., fish, poultry, red meat), and 5% from vegetables and fruits.
