Name Date Guide to Good Food
Chapter 24 MyPyramid Activity
Counting Discretionary Calories
Many of the calories in most cakes, cookies, and pies come from solid fats and sugars. All the calories
in candies come from these ingredients. These calories count as discretionary calories. These are the
calories left in your daily allowance after making the most nutrient-dense choices possible for all your food
group servings.
Your discretionary calorie allowance is based on the daily calorie need for your age, sex, and activity level.
For teens, the allowance ranges from 195 calories daily for inactive girls to 650 calories for active boys.
It is easy to use up this allowance if you do not make careful food choices. Consider a meal of a roasted
chicken thigh with skin, a biscuit, and broccoli with cheese sauce. This might sound like a fairly nutritious
meal. However, each of these food choices contains solid fat that counts toward discretionary calories.
In fact, 70 calories from the chicken, 60 calories from the biscuit, and 75 calories from the cheese
sauce count as discretionary calories. In other words, this one meal would go over the daily limit for
discretionary calories for an inactive girl. That does not account for any snacks, sodas, or other lessnutrient-dense food choices the girl might consume throughout the day.
Now consider choosing a roasted skinless chicken breast, whole wheat bread, and steamed broccoli. This
would cut all the discretionary calories from the meal described above. Making nutrient-dense choices like
these would allow room in your diet for treats like cakes, cookies, pies, and candies.
Figuring the number of discretionary calories in cakes, cookies, and pies can be a bit tricky. One way to
get a good estimate is to check the recipe ingredients. Look for sources of solid fat and sugar. Use the
following amounts to calculate the total number of discretionary calories in a recipe. Then divide this total
by the number of servings the recipe makes. This will give you an estimate of the number of discretionary
calories per serving.
Sources of Solid Fats
Food
butter
cream cheese
shortening
stick margarine
whipping cream
Calories per
Tablespoon
105
50
115
105
50
Sources of Added Sugars
Food
brown sugar
chocolate syrup
corn syrup
honey
maple syrup
marshmallows
molasses
powdered sugar
white sugar
Calories per
Tablespoon
51
43
61
65
61
10
60
24
45
Sources of Both
Food
chocolate chips
fudge sauce
Calories per
Tablespoon
54
63
Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.
Permission granted to reproduce for educational use only.
Name Date Figure the number of discretionary calories provided by a serving of each of the following recipes.
Activity Questions:
1. Cocoa Cake
2¼ cups cake flour
1½ cups sugar
⅔ cup cocoa
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup shortening
1½ teaspoons vanilla
1 cup fat free milk
2 eggs
Serves 12
2. What type of cake would provide fewer discretionary calories per serving?
3. Chocolate Chip Cookies
⅓ cup margarine
½ cup sugar
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts
Makes 5 dozen
Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.
Permission granted to reproduce for educational use only.
Name Date 4. How can you reduce discretionary calories when preparing recipes for cakes, cookies, and pies?
5. Apple Pie
Crust
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup shortening
¼ to ⅓ cup cold water
Filling
½ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup flour
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon lemon juice
6 cups sliced, pared apples
1 tablespoon margarine
Serves 6
6. The previous recipe is for a double-crust pie. How would the number of discretionary calories be
affected if you changed the recipe to a single-crust pie?
Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.
Permission granted to reproduce for educational use only.