So let's talk about my sausage-fest...

I stand fixed on it, watching the full 2 inches rotate round and round.

5 seconds pass...

Slowly heating up and oil dripping down the sides.

10 seconds pass....

It is starting to bulge a bit a mix of moisture and oils



18 seconds pass...

The heat becomes too much, *BLAM!* it explodes covering the insides with matter.

"Darn it," I mutter as I grab a tissue to wipe down the mess. I reach for the plastic container taking a look at the backside.

300 calories per 100grams. ☝

After pulling my half blown mini-sausage out of the now newly cleaned microwave I wonder to myself, "You know American food was way too big, but at least I could tell the amount I was eating by serving sizes!"

Right now I'm focusing carefully on what I have been eating, and for quite some time. Having returned to Japan I'm finding it quite annoying dealing with judging the amount of calories I'm taking, both for losing weight, and/or gaining weight. Never mind the fact that everything seems horribly processed half the time, I just want to know how much I'm ingesting calorie wise!

Does anyone have any tricks to this, or am I going to literally get a food scale and start weighting things just to find out because someone can't label how much a single sausage has?

I assume I at least have it right that kcals are the same as "Calories" in the US...

Yes, kcals are the same as Calories, or a food Calorie.

One thing you could do is get a thermos and set up a stand to place the sausage on inside the thermos. Then, place a container full of a known amount of water on top of an open end of the thermos such that it covers it. Make sure you have a thermometer in the water. Then, ignite the weener and see how much the temperature of the water changes. Now it takes a calorie (NOT food Calorie, see the difference?) to heat one gram of water by one degree Celsius. So we can use the equation, calorie = grams water X change in temp. in Celsius, or for food Calories, Calorie = kilograms water X Change in temp. Celsius.

This method has two advantages. First, it's a more direct method of finding the amount of Calories in your food without relying on pesky food labels. Second, it destroys the food, so if you were worried about gaining weight now you can't eat! Good luck my friend!

Half-n-Half said:

One thing you could do is get a thermos and set up a stand to place the sausage on inside the thermos. Then, place a container full of a known amount of water on top of an open end of the thermos such that it covers it. Make sure you have a thermometer in the water. Then, ignite the weener and see how much the temperature of the water changes. Now it takes a calorie (NOT food Calorie, see the difference?) to heat one gram of water by one degree Celsius. So we can use the equation, calorie = grams water X change in temp. in Celsius, or for food Calories, Calorie = kilograms water X Change in temp. Celsius.

Click to expand...

Why didn't I think of this?! Thank you! You're a genius!